Finance Operations Associate Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

THE COMPANY

Smarty Pants is a market research and strategic consulting firm on a mission to illuminate the business world with brilliant consumer insights, inspiring human stories and ingenious brand solutions. Since 2005, the world's most powerful brands have relied on Smarty Pants for niche consumer expertise, industry intelligence, creative research acumen, thought leadership, and a contagious passion for everything we do.

Smarty Pants leadsresearch and consulting initiatives for tech, entertainment, healthcare, toy, retail, CPG, finance, automotive and apparel/footwear giants. More specifically, we:

• Serve asstrategic consultants- educating and guiding them on trends, marketing strategies, best practices, etc.
• Design rigorous research programsto meet their unique informational needs
• Execute those initiativeswith our own industry-leading qualitative, quantitative and hybrid research professionals
• Carefully aggregate and analyzefindings, layering on our collective wisdom
• Create visually-compelling deliverables that energize and inspire
• Help our clients applythe learning to their business challenges

THE NEED

Named the market research and strategic consulting industry's Best Place to Work, Smarty Pants seeks a tech-forward business coordinator to support the critical financial and operational functions of our growing company. More specifically, we are looking for a person who will fill three specific roles: accounting support to our financial leaders, tech-based operational and compliance support to our virtual research teams, and administrative support to our leadership team.

The person who fills this role must be highly organized and efficient and have a strong understanding of complex business structures and processes. S/he will enable our business "machine" to go and grow. S/he must thrive in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving industry and be able to make smart decisions that impact the company's financial health, workflow systems and operational compliance.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Financial

• Precisely enter financial data and support financial tracking and analysis within QuickBooks
• Reconcile accounts to ensure accuracy, completeness, and alignment with financial records
• Maintain financial dashboards and pipeline tracking tools and generate reports to support financial visibility and decision-making
• Perform limited bookkeeping functions - e.g. employee expense reimbursement, research participant incentive payment, etc.)

Operational

• Accurately input and maintain project and operational data within company work management systems
• Manage and update client records within the CRM tool, ensuring data integrity and consistency
• Develop, document, and continuously improve processes to streamline workflows and increase operational efficiency

Compliance and Risk Management

• Ensure adherence to financial, data privacy, and internal procedural compliance standards
• Manage business certification and recertification processes, maintaining required documentation and timelines
• Conduct regular system and process audits to identify risks and ensure ongoing compliance

Virtual and Physical Office Management

• Oversee company asset tracking and management, ensuring proper documentation and utilization
• Manage purchasing, vendor coordination, and shipping logistics
• Provide general administrative support to ensure smooth day-to-day operations

Senior Executive Support

• Provide high-level administrative and analytical support to C-suite leaders, including data gathering, reporting, and materials preparation to inform strategic decision-making

Disclaimer

These descriptions reflect management's assignment of essential functions and other anticipated responsibilities; it does not proscribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Education, Skills & Leadership Requirements

Education & Experience

• Minimum of associate's degree - ideally in business or relevant field
• 3+ years in business operations, project coordination in a corporate/business setting
• Business experience working with QuickBooks
• Familiarity with financial reporting, KPIs and business analytics
• Experience with CRM and/or work management systems
• Experience in Microsoft systems with strong Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills
• Experience with AI-enablement and/or automation

Skill & Competency Requirements

• Impeccable organizational skills
• Strong communication skills
• Tech-forward with efficiency improvement experience
• Strong work ethic
• Detail, accuracy and efficiency focused
• A positive, relationships-first collaboration style
• Eagerness to work 5 days per week in Johnson City, TN, headquarters

Physical and Cognitive Capabilities Requirements

• Must be able to work on a company computer using digital platforms and industry-specific software for up to the full duration of the workday
• Must be able to effectively communicate and exchange information via phone, video, reading, writing, studying, analyzing and entering data
• Must be able to quickly shift gears and reprioritize tasks and workloads as needed to support the needs of various employees and clients
• Must be able to cognitively process business information, analyze situations and goals, and effectively collaborate with others without creating additional or undue work for others
• Must be able to travel to client/company meetings. Travel may include:
  • Personal (or rented) automobiles
  • Public transportation such as rideshare, train, bus or airplane
  • International travel that requires a valid US passport

Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this position.

Work Environment

• Work hours are 9am-5pm EST (excluding company closures, PTO, leave). Additional work outside these hours may be required based on client and/or company needs
• Work will take place five days per week at our company headquarters in Johnson City, TN
• Smarty Pants provides all office hardware, software, equipment, supplies and 24/7 tech support
• Infrequent domestic or international travel may be required to attend client or company meetings

Benefits & Perks

The Finance and Operations Whiz is a full-time, salaried position with generous benefits including:

• 15 paid vacation days
• Up to three paid personal/bereavement/floating holiday days
• 17 days of company closure (President's Day, Labor Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Indigenous People's Day, Juneteenth, Thanksgiving and the day after, the day before Christmas Eve through New Year's, etc.)

• Unlimited "Just Get Better" (sick) days
• Twice quarterly "Happy Hours" (half-days off) to do rewarding/fulfilling activities outside of Smarty Pants
• Paid family medical/maternity/paternity leave (after one year)
• Health insurance plan
• 401K retirement savings plan
• A 529 educational savings plan
• Automatic supplemental employer contributions to retirement at 3% of salary (after one year)
• Nursing mother shipping/storage reimbursement (while traveling for work)
• Eligibility for year-end and "spot" bonuses
• Employee referral bonuses
• Company swag
• Phone/data reimbursement/subsidy
• The pleasure of working alongside the best and brightest