Associate Director, Academic Finance & Planning

Department: Office of the Provost - Academic Administration

Classification: Financial Svcs Manager 1

Job Category: Classified Staff

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Pay Band: 05

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

Financial Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The Office of the Provost oversees all aspects of education and research conducted at the university via its schools, colleges, and academic support units. The Academic Administration pier advances Mason's strategic direction by providing shared expertise in the areas of finance and planning, budgeting, personnel, partnerships, initiatives, and communications across academic programs and administrative piers. The pier collaborates with campus partners to ensure efficient and strategic deployment of resources, fostering the sustainability and growth critical for the institution's success.

About the Position:

Supports the Assistant VP of Academic Finance & Planning in providing financial oversight of academic units (schools, colleges, and Provost units), as well as in leading associated initiatives and projects.

Responsibilities:

Financial Oversight

• Monitors actual performance against budget, identifies and analyzes variances, understands root causes for any variances, and, as needed, recommends approaches for addressing them;
• Monitors annual budget, out-of-cycle budget requests, and spending patterns, providing comprehensive analysis and options for resolution;
• Supports special project analysis and other academic financial initiatives, providing financial modeling, benchmark data and analysis;
• Develops data-driven solutions and leverages best practices to solve financial, operational, or strategic issues facing academic units;
• Develops program profitability analysis and evaluate options and opportunities;
• Collaborates with academic units during budget development, with a particular focus on proposed changes to revenue budgets and correlated expense changes; and
• Reviews unit-submitted information for accuracy and completeness (e.g., forecasts, budget development files).

Leadership

• Leads and coordinates regular academic financial/budget meetings, including preparing supporting documents and reports;
• Serves as a team, committee, or task force leader responsible for an assigned process, to include ensuring work is completed timely and consistent with professional standards on financial-related committees (e.g., financial aid working group, fee committee, mandatory student fee committee);
• Works with academic units’ financial reps in a collaborative manner and provides guidance in budget development, planning, etc.;
• Ensures academic units’ financial reps have and understand the necessary tools to monitor decisions against budget and to address budgetary issues throughout the year, as well as engages in training if needed;
• Advises areas on budget policies and issues, effectively communicating department positions on major process and policy topics;
• Prepares and presents timely and informative management reports, including written trend and variance analysis for areas of responsibility;
• Develops and drafts protocols on major processes, including but not limited to budget model, budget development, use of carryforwards, etc.;
• Collaborates with other university functional areas, such as Fiscal Services and the Office of Strategic Budgeting and Planning, to create and refine existing reports to support transparency, consistency, and streamlined reporting; and
• Represents the Academic Finance & Planning team in a positive, collaborative, solutions-oriented manner on work groups, committees, and with academic and administrative units.

Other Duties as Assigned

• Performs special projects designed to improve the strategic, operational, and/or financial effectiveness of the organization, which may include, but are not limited to, developing reports, preparing analyses, and working on strategic financial or operational projects.  

Required Qualifications:

• B.A. degree in finance, accounting, business administration, or related discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Extensive experience in finance, financial management, financial analysis, budget management;
• Experience using enterprise-wide general ledger and reporting applications;
• Experience creating financial models, trend analysis, scenario and forecasting models;
• Strong quantitative/analytical skills, attention to detail, and the ability to effectively organize, analyze, synthesize and present data and information tailored to the audience;
• Advanced Excel skills, including organizing and reporting on large volumes of data and maintaining complex spreadsheets;
• Strong organizational, problem-solving and decision-making skills with proven ability to prioritize, organize, negotiate, coordinate and complete projects according to established time frames;
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills;
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, balance priorities, and work efficiently in a fast-paced environment, bringing to completion multiple assignments concurrently while delivering a high-quality, error-free work product;
• Ability to work independently and to initiate and create new, original material; and
• Ability to effectively and efficiently contribute in a team dynamic with a wide range of constituencies across departmental lines to accomplish the identified goals of the department and University.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced (Master's) degree in finance, accounting, business administration, or related discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience; and
• Progressively responsible financial or administrative management experience (typically 10+ years)

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Associate Director, Academic Finance & Planning at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a cover letter and resume.

Posting Open Date: April 24, 2024

Posting Close Date: May 8, 2024