Finance Director

Finance Director

As the Finance Director for the City of La Mesa, you'll play a vital "hands on" leadership role in guiding the City's financial future. This dynamic position oversees all functions of the Finance Department including Accounting, Sewer Billing, Receivables, and Purchasing ensuring the integrity, transparency, and accuracy of the City's financial systems. The staff in the Finance Department are eager to expand their accounting skills. If you are a CPA who is passionate about GAAP accounting and keeping good books, your job will include teaching the Finance staff, who would love to learn accounting principles and best practices during their course of doing their jobs.

You'll be responsible for delivering timely financial statements and budget reports, managing department operations, and working collaboratively with City departments, external agencies, and the La Mesa community. As a key member of the City's executive leadership team, you will provide strategic and complex administrative support to the City Manager, contributing to a fiscally strong and well-managed municipal government. If you are a forward-thinking finance professional with a passion for public service and excellence, we invite you to bring your expertise to La Mesa and make a lasting impact.

Over the past several months, the Finance Department has been led by a dedicated Interim Finance Director who has made significant strides in strengthening internal processes. This transitional period has laid a solid foundation for long-term success of our accounting systems, with renewed focus on collaboration and efficiency for the organization.

The ideal candidate for this role will be ready to build on that momentum bringing vision, leadership, and continuity to the department. We're seeking someone who is eager to continue advancing a culture of integrity, accountability, and excellence in public service. This is a unique opportunity to lead a team of accounting staff who love their jobs, and who are ready to grow, evolve and make a lasting impact on the City of La Mesa.

The ideal candidate will be a "hands on" Finance Director with a detail fund accounting skillset, and a results-driven, organized, and proactive professional who possesses outstanding leadership, high integrity and ethical standards, and independent judgment. The successful candidate will have strong communication and interpersonal skills to enable him / her to build and maintain effective working relationships with staff, city leadership, elected officials and other stakeholders. The City is seeking a Finance Director who places high value on customer service with a high degree of government finance and accounting technical competency, including knowledge of the principles, techniques and practices of local government finance, accounting, investment, budgets, financial reports, audits, bank reconciliation and cash management; principles of supervision; program analysis and revenue forecasting; bond servicing; and pertinent local, state, and federal laws, rules and regulations.

If you are a high energy leader that understands how to implement accounting systems that provide the checklists and written procedures that will expand staff productivity and resources, this is an opportunity to be a part of a cohesive and solid leadership team, working with a supportive city council, and a cooperative management team across departments.

Key attributes and characteristics include :

• A solid leader and staff manager with a positive presence who demonstrates initiative, exercises good judgement, treats others with respect and is open and approachable
• Champions staff mentorship with an emphasis on cross-training and employee development
• Articulates complex concepts and ideas clearly and directly
• Is politically astute and knows when to escalate items
• Shows emotional intelligence and easily works and communicates with various work styles and personalities
• A leader who is collaborative and supportive in working with executive leadership and others to ensure the organization works towards innovative solutions and a common set of goals
• A person with the highest ethical standards who commands trust and respect of peers through conduct of high integrity and professionalism

Founded in 1912 and centrally located in the rolling hills of San Diego County with a population of approximately 60,000, La Mesa is known as the Jewel of the Hills. A near perfect climate, tree-lined streets, walkable neighborhoods, easy access to retail and commercial areas, and a quaint Downtown Village make La Mesa a highly desirable community in which to live and work.