Finance and HR Manager

About us

Chapter One gives children one-to-one reading support at the time they need it most, in schools (online and in person) and at home (online, via the family's smartphone). We are a national not-for-profit corporation and registered Canadian charity with a team working from home across the country, and our income comes from schools, government and grants, each with its own terms, invoicing and reporting.

Summary

Do you take pride in balancing the accounts and a payroll that is right and on time, every two weeks?

Would you like to combine hands-on finance work with a growing HR role?

Would you like your work to help children facing disadvantage learn to read, and help advance reconciliation across Canada?

If you answered yes, you may be our next Finance and HR Manager!

Finance is the core of this job: payroll every two weeks for about 60 people, full-cycle accounting, month-end, remittances and filings, the cash flow forecast and the year-end audit.

Human Resources activities include contracts, employment letters, leave balances, policies, departures and the employee benefits program. These HR activities are secondary to core finance objectives and deadlines. We expect the scope of the HR activities to expand, providing an opportunity for additional growth for this position.

In this role you learn how each part of the organization works day to day, because every part shows up in the books of account and has related HR activities. This is a hands-on role with no direct reports: you do the reconciliations, payroll and audit working papers yourself, and check the transactions and payments an administrative assistant prepares.

What you would do

• Cash and planning. Own the cash flow forecast and the annual budgets, keep them current, and explain monthly variances.
• Books of account, payments and audit. Keep the accounting records accurate, reconciled and up to date, including the month-end entries. Check the payments to suppliers and to our storybook authors and illustrators, reimburse staff expenses, follow up on accounts receivable, and work with the auditors on the year-end audit.
• Payroll and HR. Run payroll for about 60 people in several provinces, most of them part-time tutors, with the remittances and filings that go with it. Manage workers' compensation reporting and premiums in each province and territory where we employ staff, keep vacation and sick balances right, and prepare and issue T4s. Prepare employment agreements and onboarding documents, and the paperwork and Records of Employment when employment changes or ends. Keep contracts, policies and practices in line with each province's employment standards, and work with our outside HR advisers on complex questions.
• Governance and compliance. Prepare the financial statements and the charity return, support the Board and update government bodies, look after insurance and benefits, act as our privacy officer and keep the staff listing and records to comply with our security policies.
• Systems. Run our accounting and payroll systems (QuickBooks Online, Dayforce, PowerPay and BrightHR), and take repetitive steps out of finance work, including with AI tools.

Qualifications

• You have hands-on experience with full-cycle accounting and payroll, and have been the point person for a year-end audit.
• You have built forecasts from operating data and can explain them to people who are not accountants.
• You know Canadian payroll and remittances across provinces. You keep up with changes in payroll and employment legislation and know where to look them up, and you know when to ask an employment adviser.
• You have finance experience with a charity or non-profit and understand restricted funds and other funding that comes with conditions and reporting.
• You have hands-on HR experience (contracts, leave balances, policies, benefits, employment questions and the standard operating procedures behind them), gained in an HR role or from managing staff, and you are eager to learn more.
• A CPA or an equivalent professional accounting designation is strongly preferred. A CPHR or equivalent HR designation, a payroll designation, Quebec payroll, charity reporting, knowledge of the GST/HST public service bodies' rebate, QuickBooks Online experience, Dayforce Payroll experience, or automating finance work is an asset.

What else we are looking for

• You are motivated by our mission, work independently and take initiative. You set your priorities by the needs and objectives of the organization, and you come to the CEO with what you are seeing and what needs attention first.
• You are a risk manager at heart: you look for gaps in our financial records, information security and HR procedures, and you design solutions to close them.
• You enjoy working with people and understanding how each team works. Before you follow up on accounts receivable, you check with whoever knows where each account stands. You give and receive constructive feedback.
• You have an optimistic outlook, and you are patient, adaptable and diplomatic when priorities differ.
• You like learning new tools, including AI, and you know the work well enough to check what they produce.
• You raise problems early, handle personal and financial information with care, and write clearly.

How we work

Our staff team works from home across Canada, alongside part-time tutors who work with children in schools (online and in person) and at home (online, via families' smartphones). We use Google Workspace and rely on clear procedures and shared calendars. You will find working systems, a policy manual and written procedures in place, and you will keep them current, improve them and add to them as the work changes. Part of this role is identifying any gaps in our systems, policies and procedures and addressing them proactively.

Our financial year ends on July 31. Finance work runs to fixed dates (payroll, remittances, filings and the audit). Everyone here wears more than one hat and pitches in where the need is greatest, whether that is covering for a colleague who is away, getting through a busy season or helping a new tool or program start.

Benefits and terms

• Employee position on our payroll, with paid vacation and sick time from your first day, and group benefits once you have passed the probationary period (three months).
• Your employment contract is issued for the province you live in.
• The role handles personal information about children and staff. After a conditional offer you will be asked to complete a police information check through a third-party service, with your written consent.

About Chapter One Canada

Chapter One Canada is a registered Canadian charity (No. 73848 6117 RR0001), part of a global education non-profit working in Canada, the US and the UK. In the 2025-26 school year, Chapter One Canada supported 2,090 children. We currently work in nine provinces and territories and are expanding quickly. Besides one-to-one tutoring in schools and at home, we run an online reading volunteer program, and we co-create original storybooks with Indigenous writers, illustrators and Elders, which anyone can read for free in our Global Free Library.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Chapter One is an advocate for equity and is committed to ensuring its community is diverse and inclusive. We welcome applications from First Nations, Inuit and Métis candidates.

We also welcome people whose experience does not look like a straight line.

How to apply

Upload or paste your résumé, then answer five short written questions. The first is a cover letter. Allow about an hour.

Write the answers in your own words. We would rather read something specific and real than something formulaic or overly polished by AI. When you apply through the form on our website, you can leave and come back on the same device; your answers are kept in your browser until you send them.

Apply by Monday 30 November 2026. We read applications as they arrive, so applying early helps. If you ask us for an accommodation or a different format, we treat your application as received on the day you wrote to us.

If we invite you to interview, you may be asked to do a practical exercise, about an hour on a shared spreadsheet using your usual tools. We also check references, including someone you reported to, and we ask you before we contact anyone. Before we share financial details, finalists are asked to sign a short confidentiality agreement.

What happens to what you send us