Senior Manager, Finance (Hybrid, Reston, VA)

Together we are powering the future of Higher Education

Ellucian is a global market leader in education technology. We power innovation for higher education, partnering with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries and serving over 20 million students. Ellucian's AI-powered platform, trained on the richest dataset available in higher education, drives efficiency, personalized experiences, and strengthened engagement for all students, faculty and staff. Fueled by decades of experience with a singular focus on the unique needs of learning institutions, the Ellucian platform features best-in-class SaaS capabilities and delivers insights needed now and into the future. These solutions and services span the entire student lifecycle, from student recruitment, enrollment, and retention to workforce analytics, fundraising, and alumni engagement. Ellucian's innovative solutions, vast ecosystem of partners, and user community of more than 45,000 provide best practices leading to greater institutional success and achieving better student outcomes.

Values Rooted in Purpose

We embrace the power to lead, the courage to innovate, and the determination to grow. At our core, we believe in humanizing our approach, recognizing that our people are our greatest strength. With a shared vision of transformation, we endeavor to shape a brighter future for higher education.

About the Opportunity

The Senior Manager, Finance position reports to the Senior Director of FP&A. This position will be responsible for financial planning and analysis activities within Ellucian, including budgeting, forecasting, and performing long term models for the company. In this role, the Senior Manager, Finance will collaborate with a team of analysts, will have extensive interaction with all levels of the organization and will be responsible for delivering value-added business analysis that leads to insightful & accurate decision making. The position will work with the Services & Success organizations to forecast and report on revenue, steer the business to target margin attainment, improve visibility and capacity planning, drive consistency in metrics reporting, balance business transformation with day-to-day operations and serve as a business partner to drive strategic initiatives. The ideal candidate should be a motivated self-starter who is able to prioritize tasks and communicate effectively in order to meet executive management expectations.

Where you will make an impact

• Manage financial reporting, planning, and analysis
• Facilitate all required monthly and quarterly reporting deliverables
• Direct annual budget and long-term model by coordinating with field and senior leadership teams
• Support leadership with financial inquiries, and manage all reporting deliverables
• Work in close partnership with leadership, business consumers, Business Intelligence, People Team, Operations and Accounting
• Monitor and analyze bookings and revenue to track progress to plan
• Forecast, plan and maintain operating expenses
• Track investments and develop metrics that measure outcomes & return
• Lead the preparation and consolidation of monthly & quarterly business review packages
• Manage and improve the month-end and quarter-end close and reporting process
• Ad-hoc financial analysis and reporting per management request
• Manage and prioritize the activities of the finance team to meet all reporting deadlines, as well as manage numerous process improvement initiatives
• Provide high value-added analytical support to senior management to facilitate strategic decisions
• Engage with operating leadership across many functional areas as a proactive, trusted business advisor by developing a deep understanding of key business drivers & associated operations
• Act as the 'single source of truth' for financials and KPIs across the business and strategic initiatives
• Scrutinize planning assumptions and develop alternatives
• Credibly challenge under-performing areas of the business and recommend improvements
• Function as an expert, objective advisor to leadership team
• Exhibit flexibility and willingness to take on new responsibilities and assignments
• Communicate a sense of urgency and a commitment to delivering on time with quality

What you will bring

• 7+ years of finance experience, including 3+ in a management role preferred
• Candidates must demonstrate a high level of comfort with technology and know-how to leverage it in a business context for results
• Possess strong general business acumen; solid understanding of financial analysis/management, P&L, and budgeting
• Work well under pressure, manage deadlines, and be comfortable executing in fast-paced environment with short timelines
• A demonstrated ability to work with large amounts of data and to translate results into meaningful metrics and recommendations aimed at improving business performance
• Extensive experience with advanced features of Excel and PowerPoint; experience with data discovery/business intelligence tools preferred (Tableau, Power BI)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to comfortably engage with and build trust with business partners

What makes #Ellucianlife

• Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
• Flexible time off
• Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account (LSA) that allows you to contribute towards your health, financial or learning interests
• 401k w/ match & BrightPlan - to help you save for the future
• Parental Leave
• 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
• Telemedicine
• Wellness
  • Headspace Care (mental health)
  • Wellbeats (virtual fitness classes)
• RethinkCare & Wellthy- caregiver supporq
• Diversity and inclusion programs which provide access to internal employee resource groups
• Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
• We Foster a learning culture with:
  • Education Assistance Program
  • Professional development opportunities

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