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The University of Virginia (UVA), a leading public institution, seeks a dynamic and experienced leader for the Assistant Vice President for Financial Planning & Analysis. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer & Vice President for Finance, the Assistant Vice President provides strategic and operational leadership for multi-year financial planning, delivering forward-looking analysis, scenario modeling, and executive-level insights that guide institutional strategy, resource allocation, and long-term financial sustainability. The Assistant Vice President for Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) serves as the University's senior FP&A leader, responsible for advancing a modern, integrated financial planning, forecasting, and decision-support function across a large, complex R1 institution and academic medical center-aligned enterprise. This role represents a shift from traditional budget administration to best-in-class FP&A, emphasizing decision intelligence, strategic tradeoff analysis, financial storytelling, and institutional stewardship. Leveraging Workday and Anaplan, the Assistant Vice President will modernize planning processes, elevate analytical rigor, and ensure financial information is trusted, actionable, and aligned with institutional priorities. The Assistant Vice President is a trusted advisor to executive leadership and the Board, translating complex financial dynamics into clear narratives that highlight risks, opportunities, constraints, and strategic options. Success in this role requires strong enterprise acumen, the ability to influence across decentralized environments, and comfort operating at the intersection of academics, healthcare, operations, research, and public-sector governance. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES The Assistant Vice President will have responsibility for: Financial Strategy & Planning
- Lead and continuously evolve the University's operating, capital, and multi-year financial planning framework, aligning resources to strategic priorities while balancing flexibility, discipline, and sustainability.
- Advance rolling forecasts, reforecasting, and scenario planning capabilities, shifting the institution from static budgets to dynamic, decision-oriented financial management.
- Design and maintain an integrated enterprise financial model, incorporating operating performance, capital investments, balance sheet dynamics, debt, and fund balances.
Executive & Board Advisory
- Serve as a primary FP&A advisor to senior and executive leadership, providing timely, credible financial analysis that informs institutional strategy and major investment decisions.
- Develop executive- and Board-level financial materials, including dashboards, briefings, and presentations that clearly communicate assumptions, tradeoffs, and financial implications.
- Support tuition, fee, and affordability strategy, integrating academic priorities, market conditions, financial aid considerations, and regulatory constraints.
Institutional Integration & Stakeholder Partnership
- Build strong partnerships with academic, medical, auxiliary, and administrative leaders, positioning FP&A as a highly valued strategic partner rather than a compliance function.
- Establish consistent planning governance, assumptions, timelines, and methodologies across schools, units, and service centers while respecting decentralized operating models.
- Collaborate and partner with the Provost's Office to align financial goals, processes, and budgets.
- Collaborate closely with Treasury, Deputy and Controllership, Research Administration, Financial Aid and Provost Office to ensure alignment across financial disciplines.
Capital, State, and External Engagement
- Collaborating directly with the Office of the Sr. Vice President for Operations, which leads the development and implementation of the University's Major Capital Projects Program; develop processes whereby the Capital Plan informs the operating budget, including but not limited to operating expense related to capital projects, depreciation, and fund balance roll forward.
- Integrate capital planning with operating and long-range financial plans, including operating impacts, depreciation, debt service, and lifecycle costs.
- Lead development of state operating and capital budget submissions and evaluate fiscal impacts of proposed legislation.
- Serve as a key liaison with state agencies and coordinating bodies, representing the University in budget and financial discussions.
- Oversees Cost Accounting and Business Analytics which support cost reports for the University F&A proposals, Fringe Analysis, and Internal Service rate recoveries.
- Functional owner of all Budget Technology and its implementation to the University Community
Analytics & FP&A Transformation
- Oversee institutional use of Anaplan and Workday for planning and analytics, ensuring data integrity, usability, and alignment with enterprise structures.
- Advance analytics, visualization, and financial storytelling capabilities, enabling leaders to make informed decisions quickly and confidently.
- Champion continuous improvement, modern FP&A practices, and data-driven culture across the institution.
Cost Accounting
- Provide oversight of the University's Cost Accounting function, including development and negotiation support of the Facilities & Administrative (F&A) rate proposal, fringe benefit rate modeling, and service center rate methodologies, ensuring compliance with federal Uniform Guidance and alignment with institutional strategy.
- Ensure integration of cost allocation methodologies with institutional financial planning models.
Talent & Culture
- Lead, develop, and retain a high-performing FP&A team, emphasizing analytical excellence, collaboration, service orientation, and professional growth.
- Foster an inclusive, equitable, and engaging work environment, with strong attention to coaching, mentoring, and succession planning.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS The successful candidate will be a seasoned FP&A and enterprise finance leader with experience navigating complex, decentralized organizations, ideally within higher education, healthcare, or similarly mission-driven environments. Required / Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree required. A Master's degree in a related field such as finance, business, accounting, analytics, public administration, or a related field preferred.
- Progressive leadership experience in FP&A, budgeting, forecasting, or strategic finance within a large, complex organization.
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex financial data into clear, executive-level insights and recommendations.
- Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, with intellectual curiosity and a continuous learning mindset.
- Proven ability to influence and build trust across diverse stakeholder groups, including senior leaders.
- Experience leading and developing teams through change, ambiguity, and transformation.
- Knowledge of higher education financial models, including academic budgeting, responsibility center management, sponsored research planning, cost allocation, and capital planning (preferred).
- Strong change management, project management, and communication skills.
- Deep experience with financial planning systems and tools, including Anaplan, Workday, advanced Excel, and reporting/visualization platforms.
- Unquestioned integrity, professionalism, and commitment to institutional mission and stewardship.
This position will remain open until filled. This is an exempt level, benefited position. The University will perform background checks on all hires (if required) prior to employment.Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States. For this role, the University will not sponsor or consider candidates requiring sponsorship for employment visas now or in the future. For questions about the application process, please contact Daniel Strong, Senior Recruiter at das6zb@virginia.edu. Please applyonline, and search forR0081274. Complete an application online with the following documents:
Upload all materials into the resume submission field; multiple documents can besubmittedinto this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission. Applications that do notcontainall required documents will notreceivefull consideration. Internal applicants:Search and apply for jobs on theUVA Internal Careers website. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Education: Bachelor's degree required. Experience: 10 years relevant experience. Licensure: None. PHYSICAL DEMANDS: This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs. The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA's commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.
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