Associate Director of Finance - College of Engineering

About the role

Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa) is looking for an experienced, collaborative and strategically minded Associate Director of Finance to lead its Finance function in Kigali. Reporting to the Chief Operations Officer, the Associate Director acts as the senior finance business partner, giving financial leadership, analysis and advice to support institutional and program decisions. The role leads the Kigali Finance team and works closely with the College of Engineering and the International Finance team in Pittsburgh within a distributed finance model.

Key responsibilities

• Lead financial planning and performance management, including annual and multi-year budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis and management reporting
• Serve as senior finance business partner to the COO, Director, leadership team, Principal Investigators and budget owners
• Manage the financial aspects of sponsored research and programs, including proposal budgets, expenditure monitoring and financial reporting
• Lead procurement and financial operations, including significant procurements, sourcing, vendor activities, travel and expense administration
• Maintain financial governance, risk and control, and support audits, regulatory reviews and assurance activities
• Drive improvements to processes, systems, management information and data quality, and build financial capability across the institution
• Lead and develop the finance team, setting roles, priorities and performance expectations

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Economics or a related field; Master's degree preferred
• A recognized professional accounting qualification such as CPA, ACCA, CA or CIMA is strongly preferred
• Significant progressively responsible experience in financial management, FP&A, management reporting and business partnering, at management or senior professional level
• Experience leading budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis in a complex organization
• Experience overseeing externally funded programs, grants, sponsored research or restricted funding
• Experience advising senior leaders and leading and developing finance professionals
• Experience in a matrixed or shared-services environment

Required skills

• Budgeting, forecasting, management reporting, sponsored program finance, procurement and financial controls
• Interpretation of financial and operational data and communication of complex financial information to financial and non-financial audiences
• Enterprise financial systems and financial analysis and reporting tools

What we offer

• Medical, prescription, dental and vision insurance, and a retirement savings program with employer contributions
• Tuition benefits, paid time off and observed holidays, and life and accidental death and disability insurance
• Pittsburgh regional transit bus pass, family concierge support and fitness center access