Assistant Director of Budget

A cover letter and resume are important submissions for the hiring team to get a sense of your experience. In the cover letter, please let us know how this role aligns with your career aspirations, experience and skill set.

We are seeking an Assistant Director of Budget to join the Office of Budget & Planning's senior team. You will lead portions of the annual and long-range budget processes, support high-level projects with the Provost's Budget Team, and provide leadership, analytical and technical expertise throughout the budget cycle.

You will help inform strategic resource allocation decisions that advance U-M's priorities of academic excellence, access and affordability, and fiscal discipline. You will also play a key role in implementing and continuously improving the University's new campus-wide budget software solution. Working with campus partners, budget subject-matter experts, technology teams, and external resources, you will evaluate processes, develop requirements, resolve issues, prioritize work, and guide implementation activities.

The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of budgeting and financial processes and will help ensure that the new technology effectively supports institutional budget practices, business needs, and strategic priorities.

This role offers opportunities for professional growth and a comprehensive view of the University of Michigan, higher education, and the connection between mission and budget.

You will report to the Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Budgetary Affairs and Executive Director.

• Oversee a range of activities involving the analysis, development and management of the $3B annual general fund budget and serve as an advisor on budget issues to the Provost's leadership team
• Collaborate and communicate frequently with campus partners on needs related to budgetary matters, long-term budget plans, tuition levels, cost containment efforts, benefits and financial aid
• Enhance our budget model, systems, tools and processes, and lead related technology and systems changes. This will include supporting the implementation and continued enhancement of the University's new campus-wide budget software solution and planning for the new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation
• Serve as a key business and process lead for the implementation and ongoing enhancement of the University's new budgeting software. Collaborate with budget subject-matter experts, campus stakeholders, technology partners, and external implementation teams to assess business needs, improve and document budget processes and requirements, translate requirements into system functionality, evaluate solutions, support testing, and resolve implementation and operational issues
• Lead and coordinate budget system implementation activities. Maintain visibility into priorities, assignments, deliverables, timelines, sequencing, dependencies, and open issues; facilitate stakeholder discussions and decisions to keep the implementation on track; and support the transition to ongoing operations and future enhancements
• Serve as the bridge between campus units and our office, providing consulting, support and guidance with a focus on high-quality deliverables. Work with campus leaders on pertinent financial and budget analyses and special project support. Promote innovative approaches for the use of budget and financial data throughout all levels of the organization to meet operational/business partner needs
• Lead special projects and communicate budget-related matters through different mediums across many audiences, with a focus on presenting complex financial information to leadership
• Analyze and monitor financial activity and prepare or update…