Director of Academic Finance & Planning

Department: Academic Administration

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category:Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type:FullTime

Work Schedule:Fulltime (1.0 FTE 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax VA

Workplace Type:Hybrid Eligible

Salary:Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check:Yes

Financial Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The Office of the Provost champions an inclusive university community devoted to academic excellence consequential research and scholarship and innovative practices that inspire engage and transform lives. The Office of the Provost is charged with overseeing all aspects of education research and public engagement of the university. The Provost has direct oversight over all colleges schools and academic support units. Additionally in conjunction with the senior administration of the university the Provost is responsible for the allocation of resources for academic programs and functions. Supporting the Provost in these efforts is the Academic Administration team which is devoted to sustaining George Masons mission.

The Academic Administration team provides leadership and strategic guidance through resource allocation and alignment business analyses modeling project management partnership development and communications. The office also manages the administrative budget and personnel operations for the Office of the Provost and the offices for which it has direct oversight.

About the Position:

A member of the Assistant VP (AVP) for Academic Finance & Plannings leadership team the Director provides financial oversight of academic units (schools colleges and Provost units) as well as leads associated initiatives and projects.

Responsibilities:

Leadership

• Leads regular academic financial/budget meetings including the preparation analysis and review of financial reports and corresponding documentation that track and assess the financial health and outlook for the academic units; recommends appropriate interventions; and provides strategic guidance to approach opportunities and challenges;
• Conducts assessments and identifies solutions in collaboration with school/college finance offices to ensure that academic units have the necessary tools to monitor financial activity and address budgetary issues through the year and provides training as needed;
• Partners with schools/colleges in a collaborative manner in an advisory and problemsolving role to address budgetary needs;
• Provides guidance and subject matter expertise on the university academic budget topics policy development and interpretation and implementation to continuously improve efficiency and quality of services;
• Prepares and disseminates communication of key processes and deliverables throughout the year (e.g. budget development forecasting carryforward submissions tuition and fee adjustments);
• In conjunction with the AVP develops short and longterm financial plans in accordance with the universitys academic priorities and objectives;
• Serves as a thought partner to the AVP on strategic academic finance and planning issues;
• Represents the AVP on key universitywide initiatives projects and committees/ working groups;
• Develops drafts and proposes procedures on major processes in collaboration with Central Budget and Fiscal on topics including but not limited to the universitys budget model budget development use of carryforwards etc.;
• Develops analyses reports and presentations for the AVP VPs and Provost in support of senior management decisions and funding allocations; and
• Manages a team that is responsible for developing analyzing and disseminating critical financial information for the entire academic enterprise establishing consistent processes and practices that allow for clarity sustainability and growth.

Financial Oversight & Analysis

• Reviews financial performance across academic units including analysis of actual performance against budget identifies and analyzes variances understands root causes for any variances and as needed recommends approaches for addressing them;
• Analyzes annual budget and quarterly forecast submissions noting direction trends drivers and impacts;
• Monitors and assesses the implementation of the newly designed budget model and as necessary develops scenarios and solutions;
• Develops the financial aid budget in partnership with supporting units such as Enrollment Management Graduate Division and Central Budget Office;
• Reviews school/college enrollment trends and other key metrics and flags areas that may require additional research discussions with relevant stakeholders and/or a strategy to address relevant issues;
• Monitors gross and net tuition revenue and in particular use of graduate and undergraduate aid both centrally and in schools/colleges;
• Develops program profitability analysis and evaluates options and opportunities;
• Conducts review of unitsubmitted information for accuracy and completeness (e.g. forecasts budget development files); and
• Evaluates new ventures or academic innovation including developing proforma total cost of operations analysis and recommended resource needs in conjunction with academic 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:

• Bachelors degree in finance accounting business administration economics or related discipline or equivalent combination of education and experience;
• At least 5 years of experience in a financial management role in higher education;
• Experience developing financial models and conducting analysis of large data sets via advanced Excel functions formula;
• Experience using enterprisewide general ledger and reporting applications;
• Experience conducting financial analysis root cause analysis trend analysis and forecast development/modeling;
• Experience with financial aspects of an enterprise resource system and/or business intelligence systems;
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills;
• Demonstrated organizational problemsolving and decisionmaking skills with proven ability to prioritize organize negotiate coordinate and complete projects according to established time frames;
• Advanced Excel skills including organizing and reporting on large volumes of data and maintaining complex spreadsheets;
• Demonstrated quantitative/analytical skills attention to detail and the ability to effectively organize analyze synthesize and present data and information tailored to the audience;
• Ability to develop and present complex concepts and/or financial models to a broad range of constituents;
• Ability to develop a deep understanding of key performance drivers across the university in order to deliver valueadded business analysis with meaningful financial and operational metrics to support executivelevel decisionmaking;
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously balance priorities and work efficiently in a fastpaced environment bringing to completion multiple assignments concurrently while delivering a highquality errorfree 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:

• Masters degree in related field or equivalent combination of education and experience; and
• At least 10 years of experience in a financial management role in higher education.

Instructions to Applicants:

For full consideration applicants must apply forDirector of Academic Finance & Planning at and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information and provide a cover letter and resume for review.

Posting Open Date:February 21 2025

For Full Consideration Apply by: March 7 2025

Open Until Filled:Yes