Assistant Director of Finance

The Assistant Director is part of the Finance and Administration Office at Owen Graduate School of Management (OGSM) at Vanderbilt University. This position plays a crucial role in managing financial operations alongside the Chief Business Officer. The Assistant Director is responsible for preparing and analyzing financial reports and reconciliations to support the school and university leadership. Key responsibilities include balancing routine and ad hoc reporting requests and applying strong accounting and finance expertise to understand financial details and their broader implications. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results and foster trust and confidence among constituents.

The Owen Graduate School of Management is a professional school at Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Owen’s mission recognizes discovery in traditional forms, such as scholarly research, intellectual curiosity, and curricular learning. Owen also embraces the art of becoming, transforming people’s lives and helping them flourish. Owen celebrates discovery unique to the human experience, which is lived through a desire to connect with others, to find meaning in our work and relationships, and to create something new. Owen is a place where opportunities are created, encouraging members of our community to find the courage to pursue paths of discovery and growth and become the best versions of themselves.

The Finance & Administration office is dedicated to supporting Owen faculty, staff, and students with their financial activities, including purchasing and payments, contracting, billing and collections, employment and payroll actions, and various administrative needs of the school.
 

• Uses advanced spreadsheet and presentation tools to analyze trends and variances, aligning findings with OGSM goals and recommending actions. 
• Develops high quality deliverables with metrics for analysis and decision making.

• Works closely with the Chief Business Officer and other constituents to develop a deep understanding of operational and financial drivers and challenges at OGSM and recommends improvements.

• Creates compelling visual and verbal narratives using spreadsheets, graphs, and reports.

• Presents information effectively to target audiences. 
• Provides financial data for annual business school ranking surveys and prepares narratives for accreditation and stewardship reports.

• Approves all financial transactions for assigned central business and administrative units in Oracle Cloud, including procurement requisitions, business expense reports, and intracompany transactions. 

• Serves as a backup for reviewing financial transactions across other units in Oracle Cloud.

• Acts as an alternative HCM specialist for processing faculty, staff, and student employee transactions.

Supports development of annual operating and capital budgets and monthly financial forecasts.

• Develops financial forecasting models for budgeting and projections.

• Assesses financial projections compared to budget and to financial drivers.

• Reviews and updates personnel expense models to ensure accurate salary projections.

• Develops tuition and scholarships financial models and processes to ensure accurate billing, reconciliation, and projection of net tuition revenue.

• Generates monthly and quarterly variance analysis and trend reporting.

• Develops models in response to new financial or operational circumstances.

Supports development and documentation of administrative and financial business processes and policies within the school in accordance with University policies.

• Understands system controls and enhances procedures to strengthen existing and new systems.

• Prepares and maintains documentation while identifying areas of improvement.

• Educates stakeholders on revised and new business processes and policies.

• Actively seeks and implements process improvements to meet stakeholder needs.

• Provides excellent support and follow-up to all stakeholders.

Team Leadership and Development

• Supervises and m