Assistant Director of Budget and Financial Planning

About the Role

Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 STEM-focused research university focused on applied science and engineering, located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Mines' talented graduates and faculty bring knowledge and solutions to serve industry and benefit society. Mines is seeking a strategic finance manager to partner with executive leadership, faculty, and staff in advancing the university's mission through data-informed financial planning, resource allocation, and decision support.

The Office of Finance, Administration and Operations (FA&O) provides critical support to our mission and strategic initiatives while managing $325 million in operating activity, stewarding $1 billion in assets, and supporting 1650 faculty and staff. Within FA&O, the Budget and Financial Planning department provides oversight of the institution's operating and capital funding. This position reports to the Director of Budget and Financial Planning and is responsible for institutional budget development, financial forecasting, resource planning, variance analysis, and executive financial reporting.

The Assistant Director of Budget and Financial Planning supports Academic Affairs and Research areas while being charged with building a team that is both technically strong and focused on providing high-quality service to faculty and other campus partners. The leader is responsible for onboarding and training staff, complying with budget management practices, and ensuring transparent communications within the team, across FA&O and with the broader university. This position is responsible for ensuring that business processes and practices are efficient and effective, optimizing available technology and proactively considering campus needs. Embedded in these responsibilities, the Assistant Director is responsible for conducting financial analysis, preparing financial reports, and conducting ongoing assessments of the financial health of the areas they support, providing insights and recommendations to inform strategic decision-making and resource allocation. The position leverages emerging technologies, automation, and appropriate AI-enabled tools to improve business processes, reporting capabilities, and operational efficiency while maintaining institutional data integrity.

This position may be eligible for hybrid work in Colorado and requires two or more days per week on campus in Golden, Colorado. Onboarding for this position includes introduction and integration with academic and research campus partners. It will involve training on policies and procedures, as well as technical training on the systems and technology required for this role. The onboarding period may require additional on-campus days per week.

Primary Responsibilities

Budget Formulation & Resource Allocation

• Lead and coordinate key university budget processes in partnership with the Director, including annual operating budget development, implementation, monitoring, and fiscal year analysis.
• Oversee financial planning and analysis across complex funding sources, including General, Designated, Auxiliary, Restricted, and Endowment funds.
• Partner with financial and operations departments to ensure effective planning of financial and personnel resources.

Financial Analysis & Long-Range Planning

• Develop and maintain sophisticated, multi-year financial forecasting models to evaluate the long-term sustainability of university initiatives and support strategic planning.
• Assess the financial health of the areas they support, providing insights and recommendations to inform strategic decision-making and resource allocation.
• Conduct sensitivity analyses and scenario planning regarding institutional revenues, enrollment fluctuations, state funding changes, sustainable auxiliary units, and research infrastructure investments.

Reporting & Systems

• Prepare and present executive-level financial analyses, dashboards, forecasts, and recommendations for senior leadership and the Board of Trustees.
• Provide campus reporting and analysis by utilizing and developing operational, variance, and financial reports to support decision-making and strategic planning.
• Develop and utilize effective financial performance dashboards that improve campus financial understanding and show performance on institutional KPIs.
• Support system management, integrations, and reporting along with serving as a functional subject matter expert for the university's Enterprise Resource Planning (Workday) and budgeting software (Adaptive Planning).

Collaborative Leadership & Supervision

• Serve as the primary financial liaison to specific portfolios of executive leadership and campus departments while guiding them through budget formulation and variance resolutions.
• Evaluate, design, and implement university-wide budget policies and internal control procedures to ensure compliance and efficiency.
• Support campus partnerships with academic and support units through collaboration and communication to ensure appropriate financial practices while optimizing for efficiencies.
• Directly supervise budget and financial planning analysts and provide leadership, coaching, workforce planning, performance management, and professional development.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in accounting, business, finance, or related field.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in budgeting, financial planning, FP&A, accounting, or financial management.
• Experience in Microsoft Office Suite, specifically advanced abilities in Excel.
• Experience using enterprise financial systems and ERP platforms (e.g., Workday, Oracle, Banner, PeopleSoft, or similar).
• Ability to manage and understand complex information systems.
• An analytical mindset for financial reporting, process improvement, and data analysis.
• Collaborative approach to problems and projects.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Problem-solving and analytical skills, including the ability to critically analyze information to make independent decisions.
• Demonstrated customer service skills, the ability to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies, and the ability to meet multiple deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in accounting, business, finance, or related field.
• Experience in higher education budgeting and financial planning.
• Experience developing long-range financial forecasts and financial models.
• Experience working with budget planning systems and software (such as Adaptive Planning, Anaplan, Prophix, etc.).
• Experience working with business intelligence tools (such as Tableau, OBIEE, Power BI, Business Objects, etc.) in a data warehouse environment.
• Experience supporting academic, research, or governmental organizations.
• Experience supervising professional staff.
• Professional certification (CPA, CMA).
• Experience taking ownership of a project, process or problem and take it through resolution, requiring minimal supervision or direction.
• Effectively manages multiple priorities simultaneously under tight deadlines, displaying grace under pressure.
• Promotes efficiency in processes and workflows, formulating and recommending improvements.
• Exhibits creativity, intellectual curiosity, and business acumen when approaching business or work-related problems.
• Exhibits empathy, maturity, and professionalism when approaching people-related problems.
• Superior communication skills, displaying executive presence in meetings and summarizing communications appropriately for executive audiences.
• Ability to effectively maintain and manage relationships across the institution at all levels, establishing and building upon trust and credibility.
• Knowledge of higher education budgeting and financial planning practices.
• Strong presentation skills with the ability to effectively communicate complex financial information to senior leadership.
• Experience leveraging business intelligence and data visualization tools to support executive decision-making and financial transparency.

Salary and Benefits

$104,000 - $114,000. Mines takes into consideration a combination of candidate's education, training and experience as well as the position's scope and complexity, the discretion and latitude required in the role, work location, and external market and internal value when determining a salary level for potential new employees.

Colorado School of Mines offers a robust portfolio of benefits for all employees. For this role, that includes:

• Flexible health and dental care options
• Generous sick/vacation time: 13 paid holidays per year – including a week-long winter break for entire campus.
• Fully vested retirement plan on first day of employment, with generous employer contribution
• Tuition benefits (6 credits per year for employees, 50 percent discount for dependents)
• Free RTD Ecopass
• All Mines employees also have access to discount programs through the State of Colorado and free tickets for Mines Athletics home games, as well as access to the state of the art Recreation Center (fitness classes and training, swimming pool and more) and equipment rentals through the Outdoor Rec Center.
• We are proud to have recently opened an on campus daycare center.

For more details about benefits at Mines, visit mines.edu/human-resources/benefits.