Cuyahoga Land Bank

Real Estate Finance Manager

The Organization

Cuyahoga Land Bank is a non-profit organization dedicated to revitalizing neighborhoods, reducing property blight, and promoting economic growth in Cuyahoga County. It acquires and repurposes distressed properties to restore vitality, enhance property values, and support community development goals.

Operating under the guidelines established by Ohio’s SB 353, the Land Bank works toward improving the quality of life for residents through neighborhood transformation and workforce development. Its mission aligns with fostering opportunities to create stronger and more vibrant communities.

The Opportunity

The Real Estate Finance Manager serves as a cross-functional financial partner supporting the Land Bank’s real estate development, acquisitions and dispositions, and community stabilization efforts. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, this role plays a critical part in bringing financial clarity, structure, and discipline to a complex and growing real estate portfolio.

This position sits at the intersection of finance, data, and operations—owning financial modeling, budgeting, forecasting, and portfolio-level analysis while also helping to centralize and optimize how financial and project data is structured, tracked, and utilized across the organization.

A key focus of this role will be gaining a deep understanding of the Land Bank’s active and pipeline projects, consolidating data across systems into a cohesive and usable format, and establishing a clear, portfolio-level financial view to support decision-making.

This role functions as an internal real estate finance consultant and extension of the finance leadership team, partnering closely with Real Estate and Acquisitions teams to support project feasibility, performance tracking, and strategic planning.

The ideal candidate is a highly analytical, systems-minded finance professional who thrives in dynamic environments, is comfortable working with large and complex datasets, and brings both strong technical expertise and the confidence to challenge assumptions and improve processes.

The Position - Essential Responsibilities and Functions

• Develop and maintain detailed financial models, including real estate development pro formas, scenario analyses, and project feasibility assessments across a portfolio of active and pipeline projects.
• Develop and maintain detailed financial models, including real estate development pro formas, scenario analyses, and project feasibility assessments across a portfolio of active and pipeline projects.
• Own and manage departmental and portfolio-level budgeting and forecasting processes, including building tools to track performance, conducting variance analysis, and providing regular reporting to leadership.
• Consolidate and centralize financial and project data across systems, creating a clear “10,000-foot view” of the organization’s real estate portfolio to support strategic decision-making.
• Design and implement financial tracking tools, dashboards, and reporting systems that improve visibility, usability, and consistency of financial data across teams.
• Work with large and complex datasets to aggregate, structure, and analyze data, leveraging tools such as Excel and business intelligence platforms (e.g., Power BI or similar) to generate actionable insights.
• Evaluate and improve existing financial systems and tools, including working with proprietary platforms, and identify opportunities to enhance data workflows, reporting capabilities, and overall efficiency.
• Prepare financial reports for grants and funding sources in coordination with program staff, ensuring compliance with funding requirements and accurate tracking of eligible expenses.
• Serve as a financial partner to Real Estate and Acquisitions teams, providing guidance on budgeting, forecasting, and financial decision-making while helping non-financial stakeholders interpret and apply financial information.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Legal, Finance, Field Services, and external partners to support project execution, reporting, and compliance requirements.
• Provide financial input for external processes such as funding applications, permitting, and reporting, and coordinate with external consultants or contractors as needed.
• Identify and implement process improvements that increase efficiency, transparency, and consistency across financial operations and reporting systems.

This role is highly analytical and systems-driven, requiring strong ownership, initiative, and the ability to manage multiple priorities while building structure in a complex and evolving environment.

Impact of the Role

The Real Estate Finance Manager plays a critical role in ensuring the financial strength and sustainability of the Land Bank’s real estate initiatives. By bringing structure to data, clarity to

financial performance, and discipline to budgeting and forecasting, this role enables more informed decision-making across the organization.

This position directly supports the successful execution of development and acquisition strategies, strengthens financial visibility across a diverse portfolio of projects, and contributes to the long-term impact of neighborhood revitalization and community development efforts throughout Cuyahoga County.

Qualifications

Required:

• Approximately 5–8 years of experience in real estate finance, financial analysis, development finance, or a related field
• Demonstrated experience building complex financial models from scratch, including real estate development pro formas and scenario analysis
• Strong experience managing project and/or portfolio-level budgeting and forecasting, including variance analysis and performance tracking
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, with the ability to structure clear, scalable, and well-documented financial models
• Experience using and supporting business intelligence and data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, or similar)
• Strong analytical skills and experience working with large datasets, including the ability to aggregate and synthesize data from multiple sources
• Experience working across multiple projects simultaneously, with an understanding of full project lifecycle financial management from pre-development through closeout
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex financial information into clear, actionable insights for non-financial stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and act as a financial partner to internal teams and leadership
• Proactive, solutions-oriented mindset with the confidence to challenge assumptions, improve processes, and drive change

Preferred:

• Experience working with grants and funding compliance
• Familiarity with project tracking or property management systems, including proprietary or specialized platforms
• Experience in startup, high-growth, or evolving organizational environments with a high degree of ambiguity
• Exposure to emerging technologies, including interest in AI applications in finance
• Experience working in a mission-driven, nonprofit, or community-focused organization
• Demonstrated ability to design or improve financial systems, tools, or reporting processes

Why Join the Land Bank

• A collaborative, warm, mission-focused organizational culture
• Meaningful work that directly improves neighborhoods and residents’ lives
• The opportunity to work at the intersection of real estate, finance, and community impact
• A highly visible role with the ability to influence financial strategy, systems, and decision-making
• Competitive compensation and outstanding benefits package

Compensation

$95,000 – $110,000 annually, depending on experience

The Cuyahoga Land Bank and People Architects are Equal Opportunity Employers. People Architects is conducting the search for this position on behalf of Cuyahoga Land Bank and will review all applications and resumes submitted. We are committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. People Architects and our clients are equal opportunity employers and do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status. Applicants for employment with any of People Architect’s clients will never be asked to provide money (even if reimbursable) as part of the job application or hiring process.