Systems analyst associate Jobs in Chicago, IL

Overview

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing;Chicago; New Delhi; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; and Washington, .

NRDC is seeking a Financial Systems Analyst to work with the Finance team in any of our . based offices.

Position Summary

The Financial Systems Analyst will support the co-implementation and optimization of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as our finance and accounting system; and Coupa as our business spend management system over the next 12 months. This individual will support leadership to make key decisions on system design, features, and segmentation with respect to the financial accounting systems. Additionally, this role will serve as a critical liaison between key project stakeholders and the external implementation partner, ensuring that business needs are met and systems are delivered to spec, on time and within scope. The role will also be responsible for documenting business processes, creating functional/technical design documentation, creating user guides, and developing/conducting training sessions to help with adoption.

Beyond the financial system implementation, the FinancialSystems Analyst will continue to support the organization’s long-term digital transformation strategy by maintaining integrations, supporting system governance, managing financial configuration updates, assisting with system administration, providing systems support to end-users and supporting ongoing enhancements across NRDC’s financial systems ecosystem.

The position you are applying for is part of the bargaining unit represented by The Washington Baltimore News Guild (WBNG / ).

Responsibilities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the following essential functions:

• Serve as a system administrator for financial systems and procurement modules, ensuring efficient operation, alignment with business needs, and adherence to internal controls and security protocols.
• Provide ongoing user support, troubleshooting, issue resolution, and system maintenance.
• Work closely with Finance, IT, and key stakeholders to gather and document business requirements, translating them into technical specifications for system enhancements, configurations, and integrations.
• Design, configure, and maintain finance workflows, automation rules, and approval processes to streamline operations, reduce manual intervention, and improve efficiency across finance and procurement functions.
• Continuously assess and refine financial system processes, identifying opportunities for automation, simplification, and integration. Conduct routine systems maintenance to support organizational growth and change.
• Perform system testing, including unit and user acceptance testing (UAT), to validate system upgrades, new features, and process changes, ensuring workflow integrity and functionality.
• Work with Finance teams to develop reports, dashboards (Tableau, Excel), KPIs, and analytics to support decision-making, monitor system performance, and enhance financial insights.
• Develop and maintain user guides, training materials, and process documentation. Conduct training sessions for key stakeholders to ensure effective system usage across departments.
• Partner with internal teams, software vendors, external consultants, and the IT team to implement robust, integrated cloud-based solutions.
• Serve as a point of escalation between the Accounting & Finance department and other teams.

The above list of duties is not comprehensive but generally demonstrates the types of matters under this position’s responsibility. Other duties may be assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant IT field or proven experience/certification required.
• Additional education in finance, accounting, or business administration is a plus.
• 4-7 years experience in a finance/business system analyst or system administrator role.
• 2+ years experience with technical project management, preferably in ERP and/or spend management systems.
• Prior experience implementing large scale enterprise systems, preferably Coupa and/or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
• Experience with Tableau data sets, reports, dashboards, and data visualization tools.
• Experience managing system integrations and data flows between ERP, spend management, analytics platforms and data warehouse.
• Experience with querying relational databases is a plus (. SQL Server).

Skills, Abilities, Competencies

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including Macros. VBA experience is a plus.
• Strong ability to connect and build relationships, demonstrating excellent collaboration skills and cross-cultural communication.
• Stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence decision making across departments.
• Ability to translate strategic directives from the Financial Systems Lead into system designs and actionable deliverables.
• Advanced problem solving, root cause analysis, and process re-engineering skills.
• Strong written communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Unwavering professional and ethical standards with a strong sense of responsibility and ownership
• Ability to travel to NRDC . based offices, approximately 10-15% annually
• Commitment to NRDC’s mission, values, and DEI principles

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We offer competitive salaries, , and a supportive working environment. Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and is commensurate with skills and experience. Internal equity will be reviewed and considered to determine a final offer. For this position, the salary range is $100,000 to $120,000.

NRDC operates under a hybrid work model. Employees are required to come to the office 8 days per month.

As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination, those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions via NRDC Employee Relations. NRDC treats all vaccine-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws.