Director of Finance, Planning and Analysis

Job Description:

The Dean of the Faculty (DoF) supports and oversees over 60 academic units (departments, centers, programs, and institutes); houses over 800 faculty, 400 staff, and 1500 graduate students; delivers roughly three-quarters of the undergraduate instruction at Brown; and produces world-class research from the arts, humanities, social sciences, and physical sciences. These activities are supported by a complex annual budget that includes funding from university appropriations, gifts and endowments, and external grants.

The Director of Finance, Planning, and Analysis is primarily responsible for planning, analyzing, and managing the DoF’s budget and financial information. The position provides support for strategic financial planning, decision support, and financial leadership for the deans, ensuring optimal and efficient use of budgetary resources across the DoF’s complex budget portfolio. At the aggregate level, the Director is responsible for understanding all revenue and expense drivers for the DoF to project and create multi-year plans. The Director will collaborate with the central Finance Division’s Office of Financial Strategy and Planning (OFSP).  The Director of Finance in OFSP supports the DoF with the consolidation of financial deliverables, including the annual budget, forecast, year-end close, financial reporting, and input and consolidation of the DoF budget into the central university budget system.

The management of budgets and financial administration of the DoF is highly decentralized, with local department managers budgeting and managing spending from one or more cost centers. The Director will provide leadership and budgetary management for these managers and additional staff with budget responsibilities. The Director provides operational support, training and oversight for department and local cost center managers and ensures individuals responsible for overseeing and managing budgets have the necessary information, resources, and training to understand their budgets to facilitate decision-making. The Director ensures the DoF and these academic units optimally utilize the university’s financial system to maximize transparency for analysis and planning. The Director will supervise a financial analyst, who will provide day-to-day support for financial operations, transactions, and planning for the departments.

The Director is responsible as the financial lead for projects engaging other operational areas within the DoF and partner units (e.g. Graduate School, School of Professional Studies, Provost’s Office). They will collaborate with the Directors of Research Management and Support, Academic Facilities and Operations, Faculty Personnel, and Human Resources as well as with partner units to develop analyses and projections of future hiring, graduate student support, or other strategic projects. These projects will involve close collaboration with the Dean, Deputy Dean, and Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty, in addition to department chairs and managers. The Director will be the primary contact for the Division of Finance and participate in the Division of Finance meetings.

Major Responsibilities:

●  Serve as the primary financial advisor to DoF Deans and department chairs.    

●  Analyze revenue and expense drivers across the $240M DoF budget to develop recommendations and multi-year financial projections to optimize resource allocations.

●  Create robust multi-year projections of endowment/gift balances, yields, and expenditures to ensure efficient use of endowment and gift income, in collaboration with OFSP.         

●  Create multi-year budget projections of staff salaries to support staff hiring decisions and administrative support, in collaboration with OFSP.

●  Ensure senior leadership has access to required financial information to support decision making and to ensure appropriate and efficient use of all available funds.

●  Develop processes and standard operating procedures to support financial analysis, planning, and strategic decisions

●  Serve as the primary DoF financial representative for senior leadership (Provost, Deans), key internal units (RMS, HR, Departments), and other university stakeholders (OFSP, Graduate School, SPS).

●  Develop financial presentations for various audiences.

● Lead internal processes to develop budgets and forecasts for the Dean of the Faculty, working in collaboration with OFSP for consolidation into university systems.

● Serve as the cost center manager for the Dean of the Faculty, overseeing a financial analyst to review and approve of financial transactions (expense reports, supplier invoices, costing allocations, and other expenditures) to ensure compliance with university policies and procedures    

● Consolidates the DoF’s financials, budgets, forecasts, and multi-year planning, requiring an in-depth understanding of the elements that impact revenue and expenses across the DoF’s departments, centers, and cost centers.

● Manages gift and endowment funds in the DoF cost center ensure efficient and appropriate use of these resources

3. Leadership and Coordination with Academic Units

● Provide leadership and budgetary management for the academic department managers and other DOF staff with budget responsibilities.     

Provide operational support, training and oversight for department and local cost center managers and ensure individuals responsible for overseeing and managing budgets have the necessary information, resources, and training to understand their budgets to facilitate decision-making.

● Develop strong relationships with senior leadership, OFSP, and academic departmental managers and staff to facilitate collaboration and coordination across the DoF’s budget portfolio.

● Provide oversight and support to center directors and department managers to develop annual and multi-year budgets

● Ensure coordination and seamless flow of relevant data between academic department managers, deans and directors in the DoF, Finance Division (including OFSP) and the Provost’s Office.

● Provides direction, training, and onboarding to department managers and center directors within the DoF to improve financial processes, implement analysis, and to ensure accurate financial reporting.

4. Major Responsibility: Management, Supervision, and Training

● Hire, trains, and supervises a Financial Analyst.

● Assign work related to budget forecasting, analysis, and validation.

● Provide mentorship and leadership to the analyst and ensure the individual is connected with the relevant schools, departments and centers, and university groups.

● Coordinates efforts of Financial Analyst and academic department managers to ensure appropriate distribution of responsibilities and that departmental financial transactions are processed appropriately.

● Ensures managers and directors have the skills and experience needed to fulfill their financial responsibilities

Education and Experience:

● Bachelor’s degree required.

● MBA, CPA, or advanced degree in a related field, preferred but not required.

● Minimum of 8 years’ experience in financial management (or equivalent combination of education and  experience) including budgeting, analysis, planning, and reporting;

● Higher education experience preferred

● Supervisory and team-building experience preferred

● Demonstrated strong analytical skills and sound judgment

● Strong written and oral communication skills; ability to present and communicate data to varied audiences

● Demonstrated ability to work with a varied constituency, including senior/executive level administrators

● Flexible and adaptable to changing administrative structures; creative problem solving

● Demonstrated ability to independently manage competing priorities; strong time management skills

● Extensive experience with Microsoft Office, databases, and accounting/budget systems

● Knowledge of grant accounting and administration preferred but not required

Please include a cover letter when submitting the application materials.

Successful completion of a criminal and education background check required.

Benefits of Working at Brown:

Please review additional information on the Benefits of Working at Brown.

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Submission Guidelines:

The designated Position Work Location for each position determines the approved modality of work. Positions are classified based on the operational and business needs of the department and may be designated as on-site, hybrid, or remote.

Employees with a designated position work location as remote must reside and perform their work in a state where Brown University is registered to do business. Brown University is a registered employer in the following states: Rhode Island, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, D.C.

Please note that to be considered for a staff position at Brown University, you must submit a separate application for each position you wish to be considered for. Applications are reviewed only for the specific position to which they are submitted and are not automatically considered for future openings.  

This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Still Have Questions?

If you have any questions you may contact [email protected].

Brown is an E-Verify Employer.

EEO Statement:

Brown University provides equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law, in the administration of its policies, programs, and activities. The University recognizes and rewards individuals on the basis of qualifications and performance. The University maintains certain affirmative action programs in compliance with applicable law.