Position Summary

Leadership:

• Provides administrative support to the Dean, who is the chief executive officer. The Financial Officer exercises independent judgment and manages a highly diversified mixture of financial responsibilities.
• Serves as a key representative of the Dean’s Office, fostering constructive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Proactively supports the Dean by managing upward communication, anticipating needs, and ensuring the Office’s reputation is upheld through professionalism, responsiveness, and strategic engagement per the College's mission, vision, and values.
• Serves as an active member of the College’s leadership team, collaborating with colleagues on college initiatives such as the annual budget process, annual raise process, and other initiatives within scope of work. Directly supervises the Dean’s Office Accountants and a Research Administrator (subject to change as directed by MAU need).
• In collaboration with the Chairs and the Dean, helps support all aspects of the College's strategic plan and budget plan.

FINANCE:

• Develops and executes comprehensive budget strategies for the college, exercising sound judgment and critical analysis in financial planning, resource allocation, and expenditure authorization and controls.
• Collaborating with the Dean, develops long-term financial plans to advance the College's operational and research priorities.
• Meets fiduciary responsibility for financial controls and complies with all audit requirements.
• Independently monitors, reconciles, and prepares monthly financial reports for General, Designated, Plant, and Expendable Restricted Fund accounts, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Develops strategic financial recommendations, reports, KPIs, and analytical insights for executive leadership and diverse stakeholders.
• Establishes and manages internal accounting structures, policies, procedures, and financial controls to ensure compliance and mitigate risk.
• Actively participates in the College's strategic planning process and works to ensure that strategic priorities under the scope of this role are successfully and timely achieved in a manner that ensures alignment with the mission, vision, and values of the College and University.
• Works with the Dean to develop, organize, and facilitate budgetary goals and strategic initiatives for the College and University. This includes serving as a Raise Administrator for the College who is 
  • responsible for timely calculation and communication of raise control totals to Unit Leadership and facilitating submission of final raise determinations to University HR.
  • Represents the college in high-level financial interactions—including vendor negotiations, contract administration, and cross-unit coordination.
  • Assists in resolving fiscal and administrative issues, aligning financial operations with institutional goals and project expectations.
  • Ensures adherence to MSU and NatSci policies, procedures, and regulations relevant to the responsibilities of the role.
  • Serves as an Authorized Signer of the Major Administrative Unit (MAU). (MAU delegates are Dean’s Authorized Signers who can approve certain transactions for HR-Payroll processes within the College.)
  • Works with NatSci Unit Leadership to ensure all required financial budgeting and reporting is completed at unit level and rolled up to MAU level for submission to University in a timely manner.
  • Maintains database of MAU level commitments and is responsible for distributing those commitments to Units and other MAUs as appropriate throughout the year.
  • Tracks commitment and distribution of special allocations from Central Administration to ensure those resources are being used for their intended purposes.
  • Provides support and guidance to Unit Leadership to ensure financial team has sufficient training resources to perform their unit level Fiscal Officer duties.
  • Works with University Administration to ensure the smooth roll out of financial operating and budgeting software changes to Unit users.
  • Serves as a subject matter expert to the Dean’s Office Support Staff in their interactions with faculty in the College.
  • Performs other duties, as required or assigned, which are reasonably within the scope of the duties in this job classification.

   Demonstratable Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

  • Dedicated steward and servant leader committed to fostering a culture of growth, support, and service. Skilled in aligning actions with the College’s mission, vision, and values while empowering individuals and teams to thrive. Demonstrate strong leadership in managing people and projects through critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and strategic insight.
  • Knowledge of and sound ability to conduct financial activity on behalf of the college in a fiscally responsible manner; ability to exercise appropriate financial controls.
  • Ability to understand, interpret, and effectively manage financial resources and budgeting processes.
  • Thorough understanding and ability to strictly comply with policies and procedures of MSU, the College, and relevant administrative offices.
  • Business and financial acumen and analytical skills.
  • Ability to direct and support responsible resource allocation and management.
  • Ability to synthesize and present information/data to facilitate effective decision-making.
  • Demonstrated commitment to working with diverse populations and a commitment to professionalism with a customer service focus.
  • Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with an ability to prioritize, negotiate, and work with various internal and external stakeholders at all levels with diplomacy.
  • Ability to demonstrate self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and strong social skills in daily interactions.
  • Skill, ability to organize, analyze, and plan strategically, demonstrating commitment to continuous improvement.
  • Capacity to manage complex operational priorities, including developing strategies that integrate plans and objectives of several programs, services, and activities across units.
  • Ability to uphold and promote the College’s core values and strategic priorities through consistent and principled actions.

Minimum Requirements

Knowledge equivalent to that which normally would be acquired by completing a four-year college degree program in Business or a related field; more than eight years of related and progressively more responsible or expansive work experience in education, government, or industry experience in planning, finance, budgeting processes and budget development/analysis of audit/financial compliance standards; knowledge of economics, business administration, and quantitative methods, including statistics using computer analytical models and systems analysis. 

• Experience routinely working with Major Administrative Units and Budget Officers (Controllers Office, Office of the Provost, Office of the President).
• Proficiency with Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel.
• Experience with Spartan Financial Navigator Applications.
• Experience working in Central Administration (Office of Financial Planning and Budget, the Controller’s Office or equivalents) and/or as primary financial oversight of MAU or Unit operations in a university setting.
• or an equivalent combination of education and experience. 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.

Required Application Materials

Resume

References

Work Hours

STANDARD 8-5

Bidding eligibility ends February 17, 2026, at 11:55 PM

About Michigan State University

Spartans work every day to advance the common good in uncommon ways.Together, we tackle some of the world?s toughest problems to find solutions that make life better?from alternative energy to better food safety to breakthrough medical and environmental applications achieved through rare isotope research.We teach. We explore and we discover. We collaborate and lead. We innovate, inspire, and empower. We achieve our potential and create circumstances that help our students and others achieve theirs.We're good at it, and we've been at it for more than 150 years.The nation?s pioneer land-grant university, MSU began as a bold experiment that democratized higher education and helped bring science and innovation into everyday life. The revolutionary concept became a model for the nation.Today, MSU is one of the top research universities in the world?on one of the biggest, greenest campuses in the nation. Home to nationally ranked and recognized academic, residential college, and service-learning programs, we?re a diverse community of dedicated students and scholars, athletes and artists, scientists and leaders.In ways both practical and profound, we work to create a stronger, more sustainable, and more hopeful future for all.

Connections working at Michigan State University