# Manager, IT Financial Operations
**Kirkland & Ellis**

## About the Role
This role leads day-to-day financial management and governance for the IT technology portfolio. It turns strategic financial direction into repeatable processes that support budgeting, forecasting, investment planning, and reporting.

Reporting to the Associate Director, the position serves as a key financial partner to IT leadership. It helps validate technology investment assumptions, maintain financial transparency, and support decisions related to the technology roadmap. The role also works closely with Vendor Management, Procurement, and Firm Finance while mentoring analysts and improving financial workflows.

## Key Responsibilities
– Lead financial governance and operational management across the IT technology portfolio.
– Maintain portfolio financial models, planning trackers, and budget frameworks.
– Track actual spend against budget and forecast, and provide variance analysis with key drivers, risks, and trends.
– Support reforecasting cycles by validating assumptions and updated projections.
– Oversee project cost estimates across labor, infrastructure, software licensing, and vendor services.
– Review business case financial models and ensure alignment with governance standards.
– Maintain accurate portfolio spend tracking, reconciliations, audit-ready records, and recurring leadership reporting.
– Support vendor proposal review, consumption tracking, and financial analysis of renewals or pricing changes.
– Keep project financials aligned with intake and governance workflows.
– Improve templates, trackers, and governance tools to strengthen accuracy and efficiency.
– Mentor analysts and partner with IT stakeholders to reinforce financial governance practices.

## Required Skills
– Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
– 7–9 years of progressive experience in financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting, or IT financial operations.
– Strong understanding of IT cost drivers, including infrastructure, cloud consumption, software licensing, labor, and project-based investments.
– Experience managing budgeting and reforecasting cycles within technology organizations or IT portfolios.
– Experience with project financial governance, business case evaluation, and structured project review processes.
– Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel and financial reporting tools.
– Experience with financial systems and procure-to-pay (P2P) platforms such as Coupa.
– Familiarity with reporting tools such as Microsoft Power BI.
– Experience partnering with Finance, Procurement, and Vendor Management on vendor proposals, contract financials, and spend tracking.
– Ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining financial discipline and data accuracy.
– Strong written and verbal communication skills.
– Experience mentoring or supervising analysts and supporting their professional development.

## Preferred Skills
– Experience with cloud cost management or FinOps practices.
– Experience evaluating vendor proposals.
– Exposure to structured project governance frameworks.
– Financial consulting experience in professional services environments.

## Cloud Platforms & Technologies
### Cloud Platforms
– Cloud

### Financial Systems & P2P
– Coupa

### Reporting & BI
– Microsoft Power BI
– Financial reporting tools

### Spreadsheets
– Microsoft Excel

## FinOps Responsibilities
– Lead operational execution of FinOps initiatives across the technology portfolio.
– Monitor cloud spend and support financial transparency.

## Benefits
– Chicago base salary range: $162,000–$177,000, subject to geographic location and cost of living.
– Comprehensive healthcare.
– Paid time off.
– Retirement benefits.
– Personal support.
– Learning and development opportunities.

## Why You Might Be Interested
This role offers direct ownership of financial discipline across a technology portfolio. It combines budgeting, forecasting, reforecasting, vendor financial analysis, and project investment review with cross-functional partnership across IT leadership, Procurement, Vendor Management, and Finance. The position also includes FinOps execution and process improvement work, along with the opportunity to mentor analysts. It may appeal to someone who wants a hands-on finance leadership role with visible impact on technology investment decisions.