POSITION DESCRIPTION

Position: Program Manager

Program: VITA Tax Program

Reports to: Program Director

Salary Range: $60,000 to $65,000

Posted: June 19 30, 2024

Start Date: Immediately

Full – Time- Vita Tax Program

About Ariva

MISSION: Our mission is to bring economic justice, opportunity and inclusion to our Bronx neighbors and other underserved communities across New York City.

VISION: We envision a world where all New York City residents experience economic justice, financial inclusion, and the opportunity to build financially empowered and prosperous lives. 

We offer free comprehensive financial capabilities services and free income tax assistance at locations around New York City. Information on our projects and programs can be found at www.ariva.org

Position Description 

The Program Manager is part of Ariva’s management team and has lead responsibility for the management and performance of one year round VITA tax site and up to six seasonal tax sites. The Program Manager has direct supervision of two to three permanent staff and about twelve seasonal employees. The manager is responsible for ensuring that the sites within their portfolio meet all internal and external contract goals.

Ariva is one of the most established non-profit free tax assistance organizations in the Bronx. We are an IRS sponsored VITA program and a Certified Acceptance Agent for ITINs. The program serves over 8,000 New Yorker each year at about ten seasonal and three year round locations.

The tax team is composed of 5 full-time year-round staff, 20-25 seasonal staff and about 100 hundred volunteers. This job involves frequent local travel to sites around NYC and requires some evenings and weekend hours over the course of the year. During the main filing season (January-April), the Program Manager can expect to work most evenings and Saturdays.

 Face-to-face in-person service is an essential component of this position. All staff must be vaccinated and must follow the health and safety procedures in our offices.

This position is 100% in person. The average work week is 45 hours, more during the income tax filing season and other busy times of year.

Ariva is a growing organization, and this position offers the opportunity to grow with us.

Responsibilities

The Program Manager has full responsibility for the tax sites in their portfolio. The Program Manager directly oversees projects and tax sites and supervises line staff. They also provide coverage as needed in the absence of site staff to ensure seamless and efficient operations of the tax sites.

The Tax Program is a VITA program highly regulated by the IRS. The Program Manager ensures that all aspects of the tax sites in their portfolio are fully compliant with all IRS VITA program requirements.

Ariva is also a Certified Acceptance Agent for ITINs. This IRS program also has stringent compliance requirements and, in addition, has extensive record keeping requirements. If ITINs are accepted at any of their locations, the Program Manager is responsible for ensuring that Ariva is at all times fully compliant with the requirements of the ITIN program.

Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Primary Responsibilities

· Tax site performance monitoring and reporting. Ensuring the tax sites at all times meet all IRS and local funders requirements, including but not limited to the ten IRS Quality Site Requirements.

· Recruitment, mentoring, retention and supervision of site coordinators and seasonal staff.

· Oversight of community outreach campaigns and marketing to support a client pipeline at assigned sites. Maintaining an up-to-date client story bank.

· Cultivation and engagement of community partners, financial services partners, and other host partners in the communities where the tax sites are located

· Coordinating program integration activities with Ariva’s financial counseling program.

· Ensuring a highly professional and client-centered environment at all of Ariva’s tax sites.

· Ensuring the tax sites have at all times adequate equipment, technology and supplies and safeguards in place to preserve the privacy and safety of client data. Duties include securely maintaining an equipment inventory of laptops and peripherals, and ensuring the software is up to date, including security and antiviral software.

· Participate in weekly Ariva management team meetings.

Additional Responsibilities

The Program Manager will also have lead responsibility for at least one of the following initiatives:

· Direct Ariva’s ITIN program. Ensure that Ariva’s ITIN program is fully compliant with all IRS requirements.

· Oversee Ariva’s Senior Citizen Tax Initiative, a program focused exclusively on the tax needs of seniors in our communities.

· Oversee Ariva’s tax time savings and asset building initiatives. The assigned manager has lead responsibility in identifying, implementing and monitoring tax time savings efforts at our sites

Supportive Responsibilities

In addition to the above lead responsibilities, the Program Manager will work closely with and provide support to the Program director in the following:

· Contract management.

· Reviewing and approving communications content, including website information and social media content related to the tax programs

Core Competencies:

• Minimum three years of experience in managing VITA sites. Seasonal site experience is acceptable.

· A demonstrated commitment to and experience working with low-income people and in low-income communities.

· Extraordinary customer service skills and high standards of professionalism.

· Skilled in managing, motivating and supporting staff and volunteers.

· Strong project management skills; ability to simultaneously manage several busy tax sites.

· Cultural competence to provide services to the diverse members of our community.

· Ability to identify and build new relationships and manage existing ones with community partners.

· Computer-literate; comfortable with data management, data entry, and reporting.

· Very strong written and verbal communication skills.

· Familiarity with CRMs, especially Salesforce and tax software (currently TaxSlayer)

· Contract or grant management experience and skills.

· Able to work in person and engage in frequent local travel to visit multiple tax sites, primarily in the Bronx.

· Willing and able to be flexible in their work schedule; able to accommodate evening and weekend hours to support the tax sites.

Depending on project portfolio, additional competencies may be required in:

· Services to seniors

· ITIN preparation

· Asset building and tax time savings.

 In addition to the above core competencies, the ideal candidate would also have

· Basic knowledge of individual income tax returns

· Familiarity with social media and some or all of the following applications; Salesforce, Constant Contacts, Wordpress.

Salary: $60,000 to $65,000/year, depending on experience. Ariva offers full-time employees subsidized health and dental insurance, generous paid time off and other benefits.

To apply: Interested applicants should email their resume and cover letter to Maribel Montilla at mmontilla@ariva.org. This posting will remain open through July 30th, 2024.

"Ariva is an Equal Opportunity Employer"