General Manager

Company Overview

WHO WE ARE

We are not your average bookkeeping firm. Our niche is charities and nonprofits, and our first love is arts and culture. Young Associates is a fully-remote financial services firm offering a range of bookkeeping, payroll, business management, training, and consulting services to arts and other charitable organizations. Young Associates partners with clients to unify their records-keeping and management functions into processes that result in sound decision-making, well-supported by accurate and timely reports. Young Associates is a growing and dynamic organization offering services to over 80 clients across Canada since 1993.

Job Description

Open until position is filled

Estimated start date: March 17, 2025

THE ROLE

As the General Manager at Young Associates, you will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. Through collaborative leadership, you will work with the Principal and Department Managers in Financial Services, Payroll and Operations to maintain a strong and healthy workplace characterized by a positive culture, thriving staff, satisfied clients, and a strong and growing bottom line. 

You will support the Principal in realizing her vision for the company. This will include collaborating on the strategy for developing our clientele and service offerings, and the structure that supports them.

Working under the general direction of the Principal, your primary responsibility is to optimize the practice. You will execute strategy and monitor feedback (in the form of metrics, financials, and qualitative evaluations) to ensure the company is fulfilling its objectives. You will provide both guidance and direction to department managers, helping them to fully realize their own abilities and to create the same opportunities for their team members. Aiming for continuous improvement, you will determine the best way to achieve the company’s goals while balancing competing wants and needs; for instance:

• client pricing expectations and staff compensation expectations; 

• investment in staff and investment in technology; 

• hands-on service and automation; 

• a flexible self-managed approach and rigorous attention to compliance and best practices;

• growth and stability.

KEY VALUES

We’re looking for a leader to help grow our business while keeping the experience of our team at the forefront. Here’s what this looks like through the lens of our values: 

• Ethical: you care about our team and our clients, and you lead with integrity when making decisions that affect them.

• Collaborative: you prioritize collaborating with your direct reports and with the rest of the leadership team. Nonetheless, you bring a decisive lens to our team and you’re willing to make the tough calls.

• Knowledgeable: you may not be familiar with the financial services industry, but you’re a curious and continuous learner eager to gain expertise in our space. You contribute complementary expertise in people management and leadership. You value a culture of knowledge sharing, and you are passionate about helping your colleagues reach their goals for mastery.

• Reliable: you do what you say you’ll do, whether it’s a commitment to clients or colleagues. You recognize when you need additional support to meet a commitment, and you don’t hesitate to seek it out.

• Insightful: you add insight to the team by helping them define the problem and desired outcomes whenever they face a challenge. A problem well-defined is a problem half-solved. Instead of getting prescriptive, you coach and empower your team to design a solution with your support. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership

• Mentor managers: you will manage the people managers for the bookkeeping, payroll, and operations teams and help them become exemplary leaders. As a people leader yourself, you will facilitate each stage of the employee experience for six direct reports (hiring, onboarding, training, regular 1:1s, career development, performance management, compensation decisions, and facilitating a safe work environment).

• Oversee the way of work across our organization: You’ll collaborate with managers to create policies, procedures and guidelines, and advise on how to apply these tools in exercising judgment and making decisions. You will share responsibility with the Principal for creating and implementing policies and guidelines that affect all teams. You will ensure that all teams document and continuously refine their standard operating procedures.

• Facilitate goal-setting across teams: Partner with the Principal to set multi-year goals and share that vision with the team managers. You will be accountable for ensuring that each department and team builds annual goals to align with the organization’s longer-term objectives. 

Functional areas of practice management 

• Manage human resources strategy: You will implement and maintain HR policies and procedures (in partnership with the Principal, Operations Manager, and external consultants). You will also be a member of our Compensation Committee and ensure pay decisions are compatible with our compensation philosophy and framework.

• Contribute to financial management: As a member of the Budget Committee, you will collaborate with the Principal and Operations Manager to set annual financial goals, monitor progress, and course-correct as needed. You will collaborate with team managers to translate budget goals into team targets.

• Support client care: You will monitor client satisfaction and act as a final escalation point for client complaints and challenging contract negotiations.

• Measure client profitability: Using our established metrics framework, you will identify trends and outliers and work with managers to implement improvements in our client service, efficiency, and profitability.

• Lead new client intake: You will manage our client pipeline from initial inquiries to contracting and onboarding. You will lead sales calls with prospective clients, evaluate whether they align with our values, and work with team managers to develop proposals.

• Amplify marketing and business development: You will collaborate with the Principal and external consultants to develop and execute strategies that elevate Young Associates’ brand.

• Day-to-day management: As a member of the Admin Committee, you’ll meet weekly to monitor all functional areas of the company, review financials, and pursue special projects. 

WHAT YOU BRING

• Industry knowledge:  You bring passion and dedication to the not-for-profit sector and are excited to translate your expertise to meet the needs of a professional services firm.

• Leadership experience: minimum of 3 years in a management or executive role in a nonprofit, or in a practice management role in a professional services firm. You have a strong track record of managing a company at a senior leadership level.

• Track record of developing managers: you’re a seasoned manager who can grow emerging managers into exemplary people leaders. You know how to coach managers on each stage of the employee lifecycle, including the tough conversations around performance or conflict. You align with our service-oriented management philosophy and you lead with a balance of collaboration and decisiveness.

• Human resources and organizational development knowledge: you will bring a progressive lens to implementing our human resources strategy across all levels of the company, including helping Young Associates to become a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

• Client care knowledge: you bring experience with donor, patron or member relations, or managing billable services. You understand how to build and maintain relationships with external customers and partners.

• Operating framework knowledge: you have experience developing and implementing policies, guidelines, and procedures, and are comfortable with exercising judgement in complex situations. You bring the experience to coach our team on developing and applying these skills to standardize the way of work across our teams.

• Financial planning knowledge: while you will not provide financial services directly to our clients, we expect you to be able to manage a budget, read financial statements, and gain insights from profitability metrics.

• Sound decision-making: you use our management philosophy, values, mission, and internal policies and guidelines to inform your decision-making.

• Conflict management: you are comfortable addressing conflict and having challenging, direct conversations with clients and employees. You understand how to establish common ground as a means for moving past conflict.

• Communication skills: you have strong written and verbal communication skills. 

• Technology skills: you are comfortable using work and remote collaboration tools such as Excel, Word, email, and internal communication tools. 

AVAILABILITY

This is a full-time role (37.5 hours per week). While we offer flexibility in how our team structures their workday, the person in this role needs to be available during our organization-wide core hours and for scheduled meetings with staff and clients during regular business hours.

WORK LOCATION

This is a fully remote position. This person can be based anywhere in Canada, as long as they are available during our core hours which are in EST. The company is based in Toronto with optional access to co-working space.

PERKS

Besides offering comprehensive benefits, flexible hours, remote work, a cell phone plan and a company laptop, we work for organizations that matter. Our clients are busy making the world a better place — and you will be contributing to their success. Working at Young Associates allows you to challenge yourself every day. Our culture advocates work/life balance, continuous learning, and opportunities to support positive community engagement.