Director, Internal Consultant Group

Job Description:

Reporting directly to the Chief Financial Officer, the Director provides leadership and direction to four FTE’s while independently leading projects supporting cross-functional teams within Finance and Administrative Services, including the Controller’s Office, Treasury, the Office of Financial Strategy and Planning (OFSP), and Financial Services. The Director partners with business owners outside Finance and Administrative Services including Facilities, Office of Information Technology, School of Public Health, BioMed, Provost’s office, School of Professional Studies, Office of the Vice President for Research, Commercial Real Estate, Engineering, Dean of the Faculty’s office, Dean of the College, Financial Aid, Dining, Campus Life, and Human Resources based on project scope and needs. The Director works with functional owner(s) to develop an agreed-upon scope of work, project plan, and timeline for deliverables. Working with the CFO, the Director solicits projects, prioritizes, and distributes projects to the team.

The Director is a member of the Chief Financial Officer’s leadership team and is actively involved in supporting and implementing the CFO’s goals and strategic priorities. The Director partners with departments and project stakeholders on critical strategic initiatives that require thoughtful problem-structuring and analytic capability and developing an understanding of the operating challenges faced by departments and the University. In addition and new in FY24, the Director will manage a Senior Project manager who will work with business units across the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration’s office to create a holistic inventory of all active projects and projects in queue within each unit including associated timelines, costs, and the units’ sense of priority. The full project list will be reviewed and updated routinely with the EVP’s leadership group for prioritization and feedback.

The Director represents the Internal Consulting Group and Finance and Administrative Services on various committees and working groups, as needed.

Major Responsibility: Provide consulting services for Finance and Administrative Services and University

Develop scope, project plan, and timeline for deliverables as agreed-upon with the project functional owner(s).

Examples of Cross-functional projects include the following:

• Development of financial models for strategic projects and initiatives that support leadership decision making including:
• Coordinating with the Controller’s office, Facilities and/or Commercial Real Estate build Net Present Value (NPV) models for potential new building developments or acquisitions, such as the Danoff Life Sciences Laboratories, a key investment in the Provost’s Operational Plan for Investing in Research
• Collaborating with Facilities, Office of the Vice President for Research, Workday team, School of Public Health, BioMed, Engineering, and research departments within the Dean of the Faculty’s office perform a space density analysis identifying under/over utilized space and assist in determining where there are research space opportunities across campus
• Working with the School of Professional Studies, School of Public Health, BioMed, the School of Engineering and the Provost’s on various ProForma models for new graduate and certificate programs, supporting the President’s initiative on Master’s Program expansion
• Enhance enrollment financial impact reporting working with Financial Services, Financial Aid, the Dean of the College, and the Office of Institutional Research
• Provide analysis on financial impacts related to government policy changes
• Providing general project coordination and management including developing the scope, building and managing timelines, assigning resources, and keeping project members on task
• Interim financial planning and analysis, budgeting and forecasting for units such as the Library, the School of Public Health, Pre College and Summer Undergraduate programs, the Dean of the College and the Office of Information Technology
• Collaborate with the Controller’s office, OFSP, Facilities, and various departments across the university on cost analysis projects such as internal fee charging and transfers requiring examination and analysis of the university’s internal economy. Develop new MOU’s with the Division of Campus Life, School of Engineering, School of Public Health, and BioMed.
• Support ICG’s Senior Business Systems Analyst, OFSP and the Workday team in enhancements to Adaptive Insights and integrations with Workday. The project may include future re-engineering the design of the budget and planning tool
• Support the Senior Business Analyst, the University Controller and the Associate Director of Capital Assets and Cost Accounting in the review of research space, space survey materials and space density in preparation for the submission of the University F&A cost rate proposal
• Manage the Sources and Uses tool, a key strategic decision support tool which directionally forecasts the universities cash outlay considering the Universities multi-year financial plan and large capital projects/strategic initiatives

Major Responsibility: Effectively lead and manage the ICG team and workload

• Manage the inventory of current projects and projects in the pipeline
• Strategically distribute projects based on staff’s expertise and capacity
• Actively engage and provide guidance on distributed projects from ideation to operationalization
• Evaluate and prioritize project requests received from departments within Finance and Administration Services and across the university
• Manage a team of high-performing staff, guiding and encouraging career development

Major Responsibility: Develop strong relationships with the leaders of the university’s schools, departments and units, and within Finance and Administrative Services, to collaborate on key strategic challenges and opportunities

• Connect, engage, and solicit projects from a wide variety of stakeholders
• Work closely with other groups within Finance and Administrative Services (including the offices of the Controller, Treasury, Workday) to better understand University-wide financial management issues helping identify new projects and dictate current project inventory prioritization
• Serve and engage on various committees representing and advocating for Finance and Administrative Services and Internal Consulting Group such as the Parking and Transportation Advisory Committee, Finance and Administration Management Team, Jewelry District Energy Hub working group and principals, ILSB steering committee and principals, Implementation working group – Ad Hoc Committee on International Faculty Collaboration Policy and Practices, BIRCH Finance subcommittee

Major Responsibility: Lead a new Senior Project Manager responsible for managing the inventory, routinely updating, and suggesting prioritization of all projects across the business units within the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration’s office

• Support the management of the Finance and Administration project inventory and sub schedules, helping to identify stakeholders and creating the full inventory
• Support the implementation of a best in class project management software
• Provide overall direction for Executive leadership presentations and communications related to project performance, issues and suggesting project prioritization

Job Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required/ MBA or relevant professional graduate degree is strongly preferred.
• Requires of 10 years’ experience in financial management (or equivalent combination of education & experience), including budgeting, analysis, planning and reporting; higher education experience a plus
• Supervisory and team-building experience required
• Strong analytical skills and sound judgment
• Strong written and oral communication skills; ability to present and communicate data to varied audiences
• Demonstrated ability to work with a varied constituency including senior/executive level administrators
• Flexible and adaptable to changing administrative structures; creative problem solving
• Demonstrated ability to independently manage competing priorities; strong time management skills
• Extensive experience with Microsoft Office, databases and accounting/budget systems
• Knowledge of grant accounting and administration preferred

Please include a cover letter with your resume when submitting an application.

Applicants, please note: All offers of employment are contingent upon a criminal background check and education verification satisfactory to Brown University.

Benefits of Working at Brown:

Information on the Benefits of Working at Brown can be found here.

Recruiting Start Date:

2025-09-12

Job Posting Title:

Director, Internal Consultant Group

Department:

Finance and Administrative Services

Grade:

Grade 13

Worker Type:

Employee

Worker Sub-Type:

Regular

Time Type:

Full time

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

37.5

Position Work Location:

Hybrid Eligible

Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion:

All positions require demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with faculty, staff, students, and other Brown and community stakeholders with diverse perspectives and demonstrated ability to contribute to an inclusive environment.

Submission Guidelines:

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any staff position at Brown University you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

Still Have Questions?

If you have any questions you may contact employment@brown.edu.

EEO Statement:

Brown University is an E-Verify Employer.

As an EEO employer, Brown University provides equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

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