Director of Global Finance Operations

About the Opportunity

Job Summary

The Director of Global Operations serves as the primary operational lead for Northeastern University's international finance and compliance function, reporting to the AVP of Tax. This role is responsible for ensuring the integrity, timeliness, and accuracy of financial operations across the University's international entities in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, and Canada, and is the central point of coordination for all cross-jurisdictional compliance obligations.

The Director partners closely with the AVP and University Controller, legal, treasury, and institutional leadership at each global location to ensure that statutory, regulatory, and operational requirements are met in each jurisdiction. The role requires both technical depth across international accounting and tax disciplines and the operational discipline to manage multiple concurrent compliance cycles across diverse legal and regulatory environments.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field required.

• CPA, CA, or equivalent professional certification strongly preferred.

• A minimum of 7–10 years of progressive experience in international finance, tax, or accounting, with direct exposure to multi-jurisdictional compliance environments.

• Prior experience in higher education, nonprofit, or professional services (public accounting) is preferred.

• Strong working knowledge of VAT/GST regimes, transfer pricing concepts, statutory reporting requirements, and international treasury operations.

• Experience with Workday Finance or a comparable ERP system preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent priorities across geographically distributed teams and third-party service providers.

• Excellent communication, organizational, and project management skills.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

International Tax and Other Compliance

Serve as the operational lead for all international tax compliance obligations across the University's global entities, including corporate tax filings, VAT/GST returns, withholding tax obligations, and transfer pricing documentation. Coordinate with external tax advisors in each jurisdiction to ensure timely and accurate filing. Monitor regulatory developments across active jurisdictions and assess impact on the University's compliance posture and financial reporting. Support the AVP of Tax in developing and maintaining the University's global tax strategy and intercompany pricing policies.

Maintain a comprehensive global compliance calendar covering all tax, statutory, payroll, regulatory, and reporting deadlines across active jurisdictions through partnership with local consultants and stay informed about upcoming changes in requirements. Proactively escalate risks to upcoming deadlines or required changes and coordinate remediation as needed. Serve as the institutional knowledge owner for each jurisdiction's compliance obligations, ensuring continuity and consistency as the University's global footprint evolves. Support onboarding of new international locations by establishing compliance frameworks and local service provider relationships from inception.

Coordinate with the University's dedicated legal resource on ongoing corporate governance obligations for each international entity, including annual confirmation statements and Companies House filings in the UK, CRO filings in Ireland, MCA annual returns and board resolutions in India, and equivalent requirements in other active jurisdictions. Serve as the finance function's primary liaison on legal entity matters, ensuring that finance-related obligations — registered office, financial year-end, authorized signatories, and statutory accounts filing — are tracked and met in coordination with legal. Support new entity formation from a finance perspective, including opening of bank accounts, establishment of local registrations, and configuration of Workday Finance (company codes, cost centers, currency settings, intercompany eliminations) in coordination with the systems team.

Partner with the International Payroll Manager and Payroll Director to ensure that international payroll compliance obligations are met on a timely basis across all active jurisdictions, including PAYE and National Insurance in the UK, PRSI and USC in Ireland, and PF, ESI, and TDS obligations in India. The Director serves as the cross-functional coordination point between payroll, tax, and local statutory requirements — ensuring that payroll-related tax registrations, year-end filings, and employer compliance obligations are factored into the global compliance calendar and escalated appropriately.

Oversee finance-side compliance with OFAC regulations and applicable sanctions regimes for all international payments, including vendor disbursements, intercompany funding transfers, and research-related wire transfers. Coordinate with legal and the University's compliance function to ensure that payment screening processes are in place and consistently applied. Monitor regulatory developments affecting international payment flows and escalate identified exposure to the AVP of Tax and AVP & University Controller.

Ensure that finance operations across international entities comply with applicable data privacy regulations, including UK GDPR and EU GDPR, as they relate to employee payroll data, student financial data, and vendor records. Coordinate with the University's data privacy and legal functions to ensure that cross-border data transfers involving financial information are appropriately documented and controlled. Serve as the finance function's liaison on international IT systems and technology compliance matters, including ensuring that financial systems, data storage, and reporting tools used in each jurisdiction meet local regulatory requirements for data residency, retention, and access controls. Coordinate with the University's IT and information security teams to ensure that Workday Finance and related systems are configured appropriately for each international entity and that technology used by international finance staff complies with applicable local regulations. Identify and escalate technology gaps — including jurisdictions where primary University systems are not available or fully operational — and support the development of compliant interim solutions in coordination with IT, legal, and the Controller's office.

Serve as the finance function's liaison to the University's Risk Management office on all matters related to international entity coverage, ensuring that appropriate insurance is in place — including general liability, employer's liability, directors and officers, property, and lease-related coverage — prior to operations commencing in each new jurisdiction. Maintain awareness of entity-level coverage requirements as the University's international footprint evolves and coordinate with Risk Management to address gaps or changes in coverage resulting from new entity formations, expansions, changes in local regulatory requirements, or new real estate commitments.

Coordinate the finance workstream for international real estate transactions, including lease negotiations, local property registration requirements, and lease accounting under ASC 842. Ensure that new international leases are properly evaluated for accounting treatment, reflected accurately in Workday Finance, and compliant with local regulatory requirements governing commercial tenancy in each jurisdiction. Liaise with legal, facilities, and local service providers on lease execution, renewal, and exit processes, ensuring that financial obligations — including local stamp duties, lease registration fees, dilapidations provisions, and security deposit requirements — are identified and accounted for. Maintain a global lease register for all international locations and support periodic impairment and right-of-use asset reviews in