Planning Director jobs in Bellingham, WA

Position Title

Director of Budget & Financial Planning

About the University

Western Washington University, with over 16,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western is the highest-ranking public, master's-granting university in the Pacific Northwest, according to the 2022 U.S. News & World Report rankings. Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

About the Department

Strategy, Management & Budget supports Western's mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

We work closely with a wide variety of offices at Western to provide budget, financial planning, and analysis functions to the University.

About the Position

Reporting to the AVP of Strategy, Management & Budget, this position is responsible for leadership of the Budget & Financial Planning (BFP) branch. In addition to subject matter expertise, the successful candidate will be collaborative, innovative, a creative problem solver and analytical thinker, and have a high attention to detail.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the state operating budget processes, including submittal of budget requests, analysis of state proposals, fiscal notes, and data submittals.
• Develop and produce key financial and management reports at the university level, for executive leadership and the university community.
• Lead financial modeling and financial analysis of proposed programs and strategies.
• Supervise BFP budget analysts, managing workloads, coaching and development, in a remote and hybrid environment.
• Engage with partners and stakeholders across campus on budget operations and analysis.
• Job Duties: Budget and Financial Planning Operational Management:
• Working under the AVP for Strategy, Management & Budget, provide operational management, leadership and guidance to Budget and Financial Planning staff. Assist in development of budget policy and best practices. This position provides:
• Oversight of full State budget cycle, leading the development and technical preparation of Western's biennial and supplemental operating budget requests to the State, including contributing to Decision Packages and analysis to support budget proposals , responses to OFM and legislative requests for information, data submittals supporting state compensation appropriations, and analysis of Governor's and legislative budget proposals.
• Assesses and analyzes impacts of State fiscal policy decisions, works with OFM and Legislative staff to track policy decisions and help advocate for the institution's interests in conjunction with Western's Governmental Relations staff, and counterparts in other WA institutions of higher education.
• Supervise the construction and reporting of the biennial and annual allotment expenditure plans for all allotted operating funds; and monthly monitoring to ensure internal allocations and allotments remain reconciled.
• Serve as lead staff overseeing and approving fiscal impact statements, fiscal notes, addressing legislative inquiries, and other state agency information requests that will directly impact the institution's state funding appropriations.
• Review budget proposals submitted by university community for reasonableness and accuracy of assumptions.
• In conjunction with AVP and Director of Budget and Organizational Management, coordinates timelines for annual and biennial budget processes (budget calendars), for both university-wide and internal office processes.
• Guiding, onboarding and training budget analyst staff.
• Tracking office priorities, deadlines, and emerging items, managing team meeting agendas.
• Continuous Process Improvement:
• Enhance the quality of financial analytics and insight generation, including a robust modeling capability to support financial planning, and initiatives and reporting.
• Implementation of continuous improvement in Budget and Financial Planning services, processes, and information availability, including identification of opportunities for improvement, leading review, analysis and recommendations for implementation of policies and procedures.

Institutional Budget Management:

• In support of the AVP, manage institutional budget and reserves, including annual institutional budget build, forecasting of institutional reserve balances for various financial scenarios, managing institutional funding commitments, review of Central Service payments in coordination with AVP, and coordination with Capital Budget on institutionally funded projects.

Financial Reporting, Modeling and Analysis:

• Develop and supervise development of management reports and analyses in a variety of formats including narrative writing and creating graphic presentations for use in various presentations, including to executive leadership, the Board of Trustees, and the university community.
• Oversee internal financial management reporting (budget to actuals and annual projections) with internal stakeholders, including effective engagement and support of deans, directors and other leaders;
• Responsible for multi-year university financial projections model, including tuition revenue analyses, cost increase models, tracking of university decisions, and scenario development.

Unit Leadership:

• Effectively supervise and develop Budget & Financial Planning staff.
• May serve as Acting AVP for Strategy, Management & Budget during absences.
• Contribute to a positive, respectful, and collaborative culture.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in business or public administration, finance, or a field relevant to position, or equivalent experience/education.
• Minimum of five years of increasingly responsible experience in budget and policy development, management and analysis in a similarly complex environment, or additional education may substitute for experience in these areas.
• Demonstrated experience developing complex financial models with multi-year projections.
• Demonstrated experience writing reports and summaries for executive leadership.
• Advanced knowledge of public sector financial and budgeting principles and procedures, and of state funding processes.
• Knowledge of computerized information systems used in financial and/or accounting applications.
• Demonstrated excellent interpersonal, verbal communication, analytical, critical thinking, and creative problem solving skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage competing deadlines on multiple projects.
• Demonstrated experience working with people of diverse backgrounds as a member of an inclusive team.
• Proficiency in MS Office, especially Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to handle sensitive financial and business information in a confidential manner.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business or public administration, finance, or a field relevant to position.
• Relevant work experience in higher education field, preferably in a state institution.
• Demonstrated experience in project management and change management.

Conditions of Employment

All employees must comply with our Immunization policies, including Proof of Rubeola Measles Immunity within 60-days of hire. Please reach out to HR@wwu.edu if you need information regarding medical or religious exemption and applicable accommodations.

Salary

Hiring range is $123,263 - $141,753/year. Through longevity this position tops out at $160,242/year.

Benefits Information

Benefits Overview for Administrative Professional Position

Application Instructions

Application materials should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications. Please include a cover letter and at least three professional references.

Closing Date Notes

Application review begins August 14, 2023; position is open until filled.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained faculty and staff. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. In compliance with applicable laws and in furtherance of its commitment to fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces diversity, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or genetic information in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU’s Policy on Ensuring Equal Opportunity and Prohibiting Discrimination and Retaliation. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); crtc@wwu.edu

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services, 360.650.3303 or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services at vpsa.office@wwu.edu. The report can be found at: Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires which includes a sexual misconduct background check.