Finance Partner (Senior Financial Analyst), Finance

The Department of Finance is currently seeking a Full-time Finance Partner (Senior Financial Analyst) for approximately 14 months.

Reporting to the Associate Director, Finance Services, the Finance Partner leads the delivery of specialized financial services for members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and assigned Faculty / Units. The Finance Partner is assigned a portfolio of Faculty and/or Business Units with combined operating and internally restricted funds ranging between $50M and $100M.

This position is part of the Finance Services team and provides expert knowledge in the areas of strategic planning, sustainable budgeting, specialized management reporting, impactful variance reporting and forecasting, internal control assessment and implementation, process improvement, and the development of recommendations for corrective action or innovative opportunities to ensure portfolios remain on budget and on task. The position requires an in-depth understanding of a varied, complex and quickly changing business, academic and research environment.

The position has comprehensive financial and budgetary responsibilities that require independent and sound judgement and decision-making abilities in a complex environment. The incumbent will continuously assess and determine the optimum means which to add value at a strategic level in an environment where there is ambiguity, continuous change, and shifting / competing priorities. There is a high volume of work requiring strong communication, leadership, facilitation, and client services skills. The incumbent must work well under pressure and be able to communicate effectively with all levels of institutional and external stakeholders. The position will provide direction and mentorship to other staff.

Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):

• Gain an understanding of multiple complex areas in a relatively short period to collect, analyze and organize information, establish facts and make pragmatic, value-added recommendations.
• Provide strategic decision support for Senior Leadership teams, ensuring leadership is apprised of all critical budgetary and financial issues, treating all matters with professionalism, sensitivity and confidentiality.
• Lead the comprehensive annual planning and budget preparation process for assigned portfolios and review to ensure alignment and integration with the university's overall strategy and plans (e.g. Business Plan, Research Plan, Academic Plan, Enrollment Plan, etc.).
• Lead the forecasting and planning process, including monthly budget-to-actual variance analysis and forecast.
• Lead all month / quarter / year-end financial activities within the Faculty / Unit in accordance with the institutions policies and procedures.  
• Work in partnership with stakeholders to continuously seek to improve financial processes and procedures within the Faculty / Unit by working with the financial process stream owners.
• Develop proposals and business cases as required for new initiatives, and continuously review existing activities for process improvement and sustainability.
• Provide a wide variety of ad hoc reporting and financial analysis to enable timely and effective decision making.
• Serve as a conduit to share Faculty / Unit perspectives and ideas to integrate into institutional level planning, policy and procedure development.
• Successful and timely completion of special assignments and projects that have institutional-wide impacts, including assessing, testing, key performance indicators, reporting, recommending, evaluation and feedback assessment (i.e. tuition allocation methodologies).
• Stay current on trends and approaches to financial management and processes through continued professional development.

Qualifications / Requirements:

• A professional accounting designation (CA, CMA or CGA) with a related University degree, or an MBA. Other relevant graduate levels of education may be considered.
• Extensive work experience in various accounting functions including budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis (7+ years).
• Experience providing strategic decision support at the senior leadership level (2+ years).
• Experience leading the budgeting and forecasting processes for operations in excess of $10M.
• Proven ability to provide direction and leadership to staff.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and presentation skills.
• Proven skills in building and maintaining productive and supportive working relationships with all levels of senior leadership, management and staff.
• Proficient user of computer software applications, including large integrated enterprise resource planning systems, data warehousing, business intelligence tools and spreadsheets.
• Good knowledge of not for profit accounting and university structures and operations.

Application Deadline: February 7, 2022

Note:  Applications must include a cover letter and resume.

We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.

This position is classified in the Management and Professional Staff Career Framework.

To find out more about management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary and all we have to offer, view our Management and Staff Careers website.

COVIDSafe Campus Strategy

The University has implemented a new Vaccination Directive that requires all faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 1, 2022. You will be required to upload proof of vaccination prior to commencing your duties. Please review the COVIDSafe Campus website for further information and access to additional resources.

About the University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is Canada’s leading next-generation university – a living, growing and youthful institution that embraces change and opportunity with a can-do attitude. Located in the nation’s most enterprising city, the university is making tremendous progress on its Eyes High journey to be recognized as one of Canada’s top five research universities, grounded in innovative learning and teaching and fully integrated with the community it both serves and leads. The University of Calgary inspires and supports discovery, creativity and innovation across all disciplines. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.

The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy in line with the foundational goals of Eyes High, committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.

The University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their professional success while they are here. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.