The Manager of Financial Systems is responsible for the administration, support, optimization, and ongoing development of the firm’s financial technology platforms, with a primary focus on Aderant. This role sits within the Finance department and serves as a key liaison between IT and Finance/Accounting, translating business and financial requirements into reliable, efficient technology solutions.
The Manager partners closely with Finance and Accounting leadership and users to support financial operations, improve processes, troubleshoot system issues, manage enhancements and integrations, and ensure the firm’s financial systems effectively support billing, accounting, reporting, and related business processes.
Essential Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary IT partner for the firm’s Finance and Accounting systems, with particular responsibility for Aderant.
- Manage the administration, configuration, maintenance, upgrades, and ongoing optimization of financial applications.
- Partner with Finance and Accounting stakeholders to understand business requirements and translate them into system configurations, enhancements, reports, integrations, and process improvements.
- Provide functional and technical support for financial processes such as time and billing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, financial reporting, and related workflows.
- Troubleshoot complex application, data, integration, and workflow issues, coordinating with internal IT resources and external vendors, as necessary.
- Evaluate existing financial-system processes and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, data quality, automation, controls, and the user experience.
- Manage and participate in financial systems projects, including implementations, upgrades, integrations, testing, documentation, deployment, and user adoption.
- Coordinate system testing and validation with Finance and Accounting before significant changes are moved into production.
- Support interfaces and data exchanges between Aderant and other firm systems.
- Develop and maintain documentation for system configurations, business processes, integrations, procedures, and support activities.
- Partner with IT colleagues on application security, access, change management, business continuity, and system performance.
- Manage relationships with Aderant and other financial technology vendors, including issue escalation and coordination of technical resources.
- Stay current on legal-industry financial technology and recommend improvements that align with the firm's operational needs and technology strategy.
- Provide guidance and training to users on financial applications, functionality, and processes.
- Perform other duties and participate in technology and Finance initiatives as assigned.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Accounting, Finance, Business, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
- Significant experience supporting financial systems in a professional-services environment.
- Hands-on experience with Aderant financial management applications.
- Strong understanding of accounting and financial business processes, including billing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, and financial reporting.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with both technical teams and Finance/Accounting professionals.
- Experience troubleshooting applications, system integrations, data issues, and business-process problems.
- Experience managing system upgrades, enhancements, testing, and technology projects.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and documentation skills.
Preferred
- Financial systems experience within a law firm or other professional-services organization.
- Advanced Aderant administration, configuration, reporting, or implementation experience.
- Experience with SQL, reporting/business-intelligence tools, application integrations, and data analysis.
- Familiarity with other applications commonly supporting law-firm financial and business operations.
- Experience working with third-party vendors and consultants.
Key Competencies
- Financial systems expertise
- Aderant knowledge
- Finance and accounting business acumen
- Business requirements analysis
- Systems troubleshooting and problem solving
- Process improvement and automation
- Project and vendor management
- Data integrity and attention to detail
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Ability to communicate technical concepts to nontechnical audiences
Success in This Role
The successful candidate will be comfortable operating at the intersection of technology and accounting. This individual should be technically capable enough to work effectively with IT resources and vendors, while understanding Finance processes well enough to serve as a trusted partner to accounting professionals. The role requires someone who can move between day-to-day application support, complex problem solving, process improvement, and larger systems initiatives.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Williams Mullen is an equal opportunity employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race (including characteristics commonly associated with race, including hairstyle), color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, creed, medical condition including pregnancy and childbirth, disability, genetic information, gender identity and expression, marriage or parental status, sexual orientation, or Veteran’s status.
Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
