DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
Req #: | 175020 |
Department: | COLLEGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT |
Job Location: | Seattle Campus |
Posting Date: | 12/18/2019 |
Closing Info: | Open Until Filled |
Salary: | Salary is commensurate with education and experience. |
Shift: | First Shift |
UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty. All of which has allowed the UW to be nationally recognized as a “Great College to Work For” for six consecutive years.
College of the Environment has an outstanding opportunity for a Director of Finance. The Director of Finance for the College of the Environment is responsible for the College's financial planning and management, budget development, monitoring, reporting, long-range forecasting, Dean's level grant and contract fiscal oversight, and policy setting regarding fiscal procedures. The Director oversees annual budgets worth $170 million across a total of 16 core academic and research units and programs. This position reports to the Associate Dean for Administration and works with College leadership and administrators to integrate and rationalize the financial reporting, decision-support and forecasting systems required by the College to manage its resources. The Director is a member of the College's Senior Staff team and represents the College at meetings of and on committees for university-wide administrative and financial leadership staff.
The Director works closely with unit Administrators, the Associate Dean for Administration, College Senior Staff, the College Human Resources Manager, and unit Chairs/Directors to ensure that the College as a whole is operating in a financially responsible and operationally effective manner. This position is responsible for understanding, interpreting, implementing and ensuring compliance with administrative, fiscal, and operational policies, procedures and guidelines of the University, as well as those of a wide range of external funding agencies (government, foundation, non-profit, corporate, and individual) and employee unions. Two finance professionals in the Dean’s Office assist the Director with the management and analysis of the College's fiscal resources. The Director also coordinates with other Dean’s Office team members to develop College policies and procedures to implement best practices across the College. This position must balance the independence of each unit with the College as a whole within the larger University, and be able to negotiate and guide senior management based on strong fiscal and business planning and analysis.
A key role for this position in the next few years is to lead the College’s effort to prepare for and implement the UW’s Financial Transformation Program (UWFT), a $200M initiative to replace the UW’s financial systems with an integrated system that manages the full suite of financial transactions and reporting needs. The Director will serve as the Project Manager for the College, representing the College and its needs and concerns centrally to the UWFT Program, and will facilitate the College’s staff and system readiness for this major change initiative. Integral to this work will be leading planning for future state business processes, ensuring staff readiness for and understanding of new work requirements, and revising and synchronizing policies, processes, and tools to comply and align with the new Workday system for financial transactions and reporting. The individual in this role will need to not only manage project implementation, but also be a change champion and end user advocate to support a successful user experience, and ultimately, accurate and timely transactions in this future system.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
BUSINESS PLANNING LEADERSHIP
•Directs the preparation, implementation, and interpretation of business analyses for existing programs and new programs, including assessment of staffing needs, financial impact, immediate and future growth, as well as communication to stakeholders.
•Provides decision support to the Dean and leaders in developing College policy and position statements. Leads business and operational planning, including projected benefits and consequences of decisions. Helps support an open communication pathway for College through one-on-one and group meetings. Contributes to the implementation and assessment of the College's strategic plan.
•Designs, develops, and manages financial tracking, accounting, and reporting systems.
•Manages and prepares reports for College leadership and others regarding the College. Translates complex financial data into general summaries directed toward a diverse audience.
•Develops fiscal and administrative strategies for future needs of any proposed Dean's level initiatives and coordinates with departmental administrators on fiscal and administrative strategies for proposed unit-led initiatives.
•Tracks and ensures compliance with federal, state and University regulations, policies and procedures related to administrative, human resources, and fiscal issues.
•Provides strong leadership and supervision for the finance team, supervising two staff supporting payroll, purchasing, travel, petty cash, accounting, financial reporting, and other business activities.
•Responds to queries from federal, state, and local government agencies, private organizations, individuals, and the general public, including Public Record requests, as necessary.
•Implements appropriate management methods and strategies to promote a culture of high performance, accountability, and continuous improvement; works consultatively with UW central administration as needed.
•Serves on University-wide committees tackling various issues facing the UW including but not limited to enhancements to central systems, advisory groups, and modeling for changes in enrollment.
FISCAL/BUDGETARY/FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
•Provides guidance and strategic partnering to the College leadership, departments, faculty, and others regarding fiscal management and planning of annual budgets worth $170 million.
•Organizes financial presentations for the Dean to report to department chairs, Executive Committee, College Council, Advisory Board, University leaders, potential donors, and at other public briefings.
•Coordinates the College's internal annual budget and infrastructure renewal process.
•Leads the College's annual Provost Budget Submission process, coordinating with Senior Staff, College Council, Student Advisory Committee and other stakeholders.
•Oversees preparation, submission and management of state budget and budget revisions to the Office of Planning and Budgeting.
•Maintains and improves financial reporting systems to optimize the College's ability to manage financial performance within the UW activity-based budgeting environment.
•Provides administrative leadership to College merit, promotion and retention, and faculty and staff salary adjustments. Ensures college-wide salary records are current, including faculty and staff salaries, and monitors tenure and additional compensation obligations.
•Acts as a resource for administrators, chairs/directors, associate deans, and others throughout both the College and the Dean's Office on university financial systems, policies, and practices.
•Prepares financial forecasts and leads long-range financial planning. Maintains awareness of relevant national and state trends such as research funding.
UW FINANCE TRANSFORMATION PROJECT LEADERSHIP & CHANGE MANAGEMENT
•Develop an integrated project plan and structure to support the College’s UWFT change management program. Define timelines for readiness efforts, own the accountability for and drive the College’s team to achieve timely results in concert with UWFT Program’s defined timelines.
•Lead the College’s advocacy with UWFT for system design requirements that meet the College’s unique financial challenges and needs. Plan for and lead the mapping of current to future state business processes. Assess and resolve issues, mitigate risks, and escalate problems and risks to UWFT leadership as needed.
•Lead College administrative, HR, and finance staff in evolving operations as the UWFT program moves towards launch, and plan for the operational model after UWFT launches. Ensure staff are appropriately trained and prepared to complete work when the new Workday financial system is implemented.
•Develop and revise policies and processes key to the success of the UWFT program, user experience, and College effectiveness.
•Post-implementation, continue to direct and lead College-wide efforts towards user acceptance and proficiency, advocate with central UWFT for necessary system or other improvements, and analyze and evaluate College policies and procedures to ensure compliance, mitigate risk, and facilitate success in the new system. Develop mastery of system and reporting functions to fulfill responsibilities for College-wide business and operational planning, financial tracking and analysis, and decision support.
OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED
As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For detailed information on Benefits for this position, click here.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
•Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
•Six or more years of increasingly responsible financial and administrative leadership experience in higher education, to include reporting and analyzing financial data, policy development, compliance and risk mitigation, and advising high-level decision makers.
•Experience with a change management project for a large-scale business operations change, e.g., enterprise resource planning (ERP) software implementation.
•Excellent written and verbal communications skills.
•Exceptional project management and organizational skills, and problem-solving ability.
•Proven capacity to effectively manage deadlines and ensure accuracy while responding quickly and appropriately to emerging and/or urgent issues.
•Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite and ability to learn new software.
•Ability to supervise and lead a team of staff, as well as motivate, lead, and support the success of unit colleagues to enable College-wide success.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except where there are legal requirements such as license/certification/registration.
Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Workforce Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.
The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral.
The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 / 206-543-6452 (tty) or dso@uw.edu.