Staff - Non Union
Job Category
M&P - AAPS
Job Profile
AAPS Salaried - Accounting, Level D
Job Title
Portfolio Finance Manager, Faculty of Science
Department
Finance Support | Dean's Office | Faculty of Science
Compensation Range
$7,622.83 - $11,886.67 CAD Monthly
The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.
Posting End Date
June 22, 2025
Note:Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.
Job End Date
At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.
Job Description Summary
The role of the Portfolio Finance Manager is to provide high level financial and budgetary analysis and reporting to the Faculty of Science, in support of strong budget management. The Portfolio Finance Manager reports to the Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations, and works closely with Department Administrators, Department Heads and Associate Deans to provide strategic financial information and support.
A significant portion of each day will be spent dealing with complex and strategic financial and data issues. Must be able to deal with changing priorities and multiple deadlines. Must be able to build relationships and work collaboratively to provide support for academic and departmental priorities.
Organizational Status
The Faculty of Science is one of the largest and most complex faculties within the University, consisting of more than 400 faculty members, 500 staff and research personnel and over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It encompasses more than 20 large and complex buildings. The Faculty is organized into 9 academic departments, 3 interdisciplinary academic units, 7 research institutes, and 2 public venues. Its overall annual budget is approximately $300 million, of which $170 million is the operating budget.
The Portfolio Finance Manager reports to the Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations, and is part of a finance team providing financial leadership to the Faculty. The Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations, reports to the Dean of Science and to the Comptroller of UBC. The role works with Department Administrators and Heads, Associate Deans and central UBC Financial units.
Work Performed
Management Reporting, Financial and Budget Analysis
Working collaboratively with the Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations, Department Administrators, Department Heads and Associate Deans:
- Develops and implements consistent financial and budgetary reports/systems and structures for the Faculty of Science and Science Departments that enable the Dean’s Leadership Team and Department Heads and Administrators to monitor the financial health of the areas in their responsibility, including quarterly financial reports, financial models, estimates, summaries of results, and variance analysis built from information from the university-wide systems.
- Develops and implements processes that can be readily maintained and used by others to create, gather and compile financial data and estimates into meaningful financial formats to support the development of budgets and financial projections for the Faculty ensuring consistent practices between departments and within the Faculty as a whole.
- Performs granular analysis of actual costs for the Faculty as a whole, including analysis of budget drivers such as salary and benefit costs, travel costs, etc. and sets up systems to monitor these.
- Reviews financial reports for the Faculty to identify potential issues and works to resolve issues with Administrators and Department Heads.
- Develops and maintains expert knowledge in UBC’s financial systems (including Workday and Adaptive Planning) and other relevant UBC databases (including tuition and student data) to be able to extract and analyze data relevant to financial analysis and forecasting and to act as a point of contact with department personnel to assist in their accessing or understanding of financial reports.
- Under the guidance of the Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations, guides the process and technical preparation of the quarterly forecasts and annual budget in the Faculty by providing departments with strategic, technical and practical guidance and support to enable them to prepare accurate projections for upcoming years in a common Faculty format.
- Supports the preparation of 5 year plans by department, developing assumptions and guidelines for forecasting and for multiple scenarios, and useful common formats.
- Builds financial models as required to assess the financial viability and impact of new and existing strategic initiatives. Involved in the development of business plans for new programs and activities.
- Provides advice, direction and guidance concerning budget, accounting and financial matters, accounting policy interpretation and sound business practices; advising on financial implications of various planning options.
- Participates in business process analysis, documenting process flows and facilitating workshops to elicit improvement, and in training in new systems and structures.
- Supports strategic initiatives within the Dean’s Office and Faculty by providing analytical support.
- Guides and co-ordinates the implementation of new, UBC-initiated financial reporting systems in the Faculty of Science including implementing new processes and systems, providing communication, training and assistance.
- Represents the Faculty of Science at senior University committees related to financial, budgeting and accounting systems.
- Undertakes special projects at the request of the Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations.
Consequence of Error/Judgement
The Portfolio Finance Manager must have a thorough understanding of the principles of accounting and sound financial management skills. They are required to apply this theoretical knowledge to research the information needs of faculty management, develop structures to collect the data required, and create processes to compile the data into meaningful reporting formats which enable financial results and risks to be readily determined. The position is required to use judgment to interpret financial information received from a variety of sources, assess financial risks and problems, and make recommendations to manage the risks and resolve financial issues.
The position must make decisions regarding non-standard or new accounting data and analytical questions.
Reports developed by this position must be correct, contain the appropriate, complete information, and present the information in a manner that enables them to be easily understood by Faculty leaders. Errors in the information/reports prepared by this position could result in poor financial decisions by Senior Faculty Management. If reports to funders are incorrect, this could damage the relationship with the funder, cause significant reputation losses to the Faculty. In addition, if the information presented does not support appropriate financial monitoring, then problems could be overlooked and continue to worsen over time and thus jeopardize the financial health of the Faculty and the University.
Supervision Received
Reports to the Assistant Dean, Finance, Facilities and Operations, in the Faculty of Science. Works with wide latitude. Is expected to work independently under general direction in a collaborative and professional environment.
Supervision Given
While no direct reports are supervised, the Portfolio Finance Manager will lead working groups and virtual teams, and should have collaborative skills.
Minimum Qualifications
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion
Preferred Qualifications
Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline and completion of the CPA Accounting program (CA, CGA or CMA). Completion of an accredited CPA Accounting program (CA, CGA or CMA). A minimum of 7 years of experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience. University degree in Commerce or Business Administration preferred.
Experience in financial and budgetary analysis and development of financial tracking and reporting systems required.
Experience in post-secondary education preferred.
Experience in fund accounting, budgeting, management of accounting systems and teams is preferred.
Experience working collaboratively with senior leadership and management and other professionals.
Experience with and ability to consolidate and interpret financial data, present findings and assist non-financial managers in understanding financial reports.
Extensive experience with data analysis in large ERP systems and/or large data sets is required, including demonstrated ability to build reporting tools, performance indicators and other analytical tools.
Ability to consolidate data from various sources to develop budgets and financial reports to support senior management decision making.
Demonstrated ability to develop appropriate and effective financial reports.
Prior experience and exposure to a retail environment is desired.
Proven oral and written communication, interpersonal and organizational skills.
Must be able to deal with sensitive issues with tact and diplomacy.
Advanced computer skills required.
Initiative, creativity and flexibility to develop options for the resolution of complex financial issues.
Ability to work independently and within a team environment.
Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
Ability to maintain accuracy and attention to detail while maintaining an overall big picture perspective.
