About Saint Mary's College Founded in 1863, Saint Mary's College of California is a residential institution in the Moraga Valley, 20 miles east of San Francisco, rooted in the Catholic, Lasallian, and Liberal Arts traditions. Enrolling more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the College integrates liberal and professional education within a mission shaped by the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Known for academic excellence, innovation, and responsiveness, Saint Mary's fosters shared inquiry, meaningful student engagement, and a strong commitment to diversity, leadership, and service. Why Join Saint Mary's College? At Saint Mary's, your work has visible impact. As a close-knit residential college, employees work collaboratively across departments—your ideas, leadership, and contributions directly shape the student experience and the future direction of the institution. Colleagues partner across divisions, decisions are grounded in mission, and innovation is encouraged. If you are seeking a workplace where purpose, community, and professional growth intersect—and where your work truly matters—Saint Mary's offers that opportunity. Job Title Director of Academic Affairs Finance and Planning Job Summary The Director of Academic Affairs Finance and Planning leads budget development, financial planning, centralized financial operations, and resource analysis for the Division of Academic Affairs. This role plays a critical part in aligning academic financial resources with the College's mission, strategic priorities, enrollment, and institutional goals. The Director works closely with the Provost, Deans, and academic leaders to provide data-informed guidance that supports responsible fiscal stewardship across schools, departments, and academic initiatives. The Director leads a centralized three-person Academic Affairs finance team, including two Budget Managers who provide direct financial and budget support to schools and academic units. All Academic Affairs financial transactions are coordinated, tracked, and processed through this team. The Director establishes consistent financial processes, controls, reporting practices, and timelines across the division while ensuring that Deans and academic leaders have timely and accurate financial information to manage their approved resources. In addition to overseeing academic budgets and long-range financial modeling, the Director manages select functions related to faculty affairs, including compensation planning, contractual appointments, and leave tracking, and provides post-award financial oversight for externally funded grants. The Director serves as a key liaison between Academic Affairs and administrative units such as the Business Office, Human Resources, Institutional Research, Enrollment Management, Advancement, and the Office of Sponsored Research to ensure compliance, efficiency, and alignment of financial operations. The Director supervises the Academic Affairs Budget Managers and supports the general operations of the Office of the Provost. Academic Budget Development and Oversight Lead the preparation, analysis, monitoring, and forecasting of budgets across Academic Affairs, including schools, academic departments, research centers, and academic support units. Guide academic leaders in preparing budget proposals and annual spending plans. Monitor budget performance and provide regular variance reports and forecasts to the Provost. Maintain division-wide visibility into commitments, expenditures, available balances, and emerging financial risks. Centralized Financial Operations Lead the centralized financial operations function for Academic Affairs and supervise two Budget Managers providing direct support to schools and academic units. Oversee the processing, tracking, reconciliation, and reporting of financial transactions across the division. Establish and maintain consistent workflows, approval processes, internal controls, documentation standards, and service expectations for Academic Affairs financial activity. Ensure timely and accurate processing of purchasing, contracts, invoices, reimbursements, budget transfers, personnel-related financial transactions, and other Academic Affairs expenditures. Assign school and unit portfolios across the Budget Managers while ensuring consistent practices and standards across Academic Affairs. Partner with Deans and unit leaders to implement and monitor spending decisions within approved budgets. Strategic Academic Financial Planning Develop multi-year budget models and projections that support strategic academic planning, enrollment shifts, program development, and faculty staffing. Conduct analyses to evaluate academic program enrollment, instructional requirements, costs, faculty capacity, Student Credit Hours, and resource allocation. Develop financial and resource scenarios to support academic portfolio planning and decision-making. Support long-range academic space, staffing, and capital planning in coordination with other campus divisions. Compensation and Staffing Analysis Provide financial analysis and modeling to support compensation planning within Academic Affairs, including faculty hiring, salary projections, and staffing cost analysis. Partner with Human Resources and the Provost's office on salary equity reviews, academic workload planning, and workforce strategy. Coordinate with the Faculty Compensation Analyst to support accurate faculty compensation budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning. Data Analysis and Decision Support Integrate financial, enrollment, faculty workload, and curricular data, models, and analysis to support evidence-based decision-making within Academic Affairs. Prepare financial reports, models, scenarios, and presentations for senior leadership, the Provost's Council, and academic planning committees. Coordinate with Institutional Research and Enrollment Management to align financial planning with academic data and trends. Develop accessible tools and reports that help academic leaders understand the resource implications of academic decisions. Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Serve as a resource and advisor to Deans, Department Chairs, and academic administrators on budgeting financial operations, resource planning, policies, and strategic planning. Promote transparency and understanding of academic resource planning across the academic community. Lead budget training and process improvement initiatives and implementation of consistent financial practices within the division. Post-Award Grant Management Provide financial oversight and guidance to principal investigators (PIs) on post-award grant activity, ensuring compliance with sponsor and institutional policies. Coordinate with the Business Office and Office of Sponsored Research on grant-related transactions, reporting, and closeout. Monitor awarded budgets to support timely, accurate spending and proper documentation. Other Duties as

Assigned Education:

Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in Finance, Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Higher Education Administration, Public Administration, or a closely related field required. Master's degree in a related field preferred.

Experience:

Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in financial planning, budgeting, financial analysis, academic administration, higher education administration, or a closely related field required. Experience with complex budget development and forecasting, financial operations, staff supervision, compensation and staffing analysis, academic financial planning, or post-award grant administration in a higher education environment preferred.

Skills/Abilities:

Demonstrated knowledge of budgeting, financial planning, forecasting, financial analysis, financial operations, and resource allocation. Demonstrated ability to lead and manage centralized financial operations and establish effective financial processes, controls, and accountability. Strong analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to develop financial models, analyze complex data, identify trends, and provide recommendations to senior leadership. Demonstrated ability to develop, manage, monitor, and forecast complex organizational budgets. Demonstrated ability to supervise, develop, and coordinate professional staff. Knowledge of financial and administrative operations within a higher education or similarly complex organizational environment. Ability to analyze academic program costs, staffing needs, compensation projections, enrollment trends, faculty capacity, and other factors affecting institutional resource planning. Knowledge of post-award grant administration, financial monitoring, sponsor requirements, and institutional compliance practices. Ability to interpret and apply institutional policies, financial procedures, contractual requirements, and applicable regulations. Excellent interpersonal, verbal, written, presentation, and facilitation skills. Demonstrated ability to communicate complex financial information clearly to individuals with varying levels of financial expertise. Strong organizational and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple complex priorities and meet competing deadlines. Ability to establish collaborative working relationships with senior leadership, Deans, Department Chairs, faculty, staff, and administrative partners. Ability to exercise sound independent judgment and maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive financial, personnel, and institutional information. Advanced proficiency with spreadsheet, financial reporting, database, and related administrative systems. Ability to support and advance the Catholic, Lasallian, and liberal arts mission of Saint Mary's College.

Licenses & Certifications:

N/A