Associate for Finance Policy & Innovation #00029

DHRM•Richmond, VA

10d•Hybrid

About The Position

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) is the coordinating body for the nation’s preeminent system of postsecondary education. Among its primary responsibilities are: the development of a statewide strategic plan for higher education; the facilitation of collaboration among postsecondary institutions that enhances academic quality and operational efficiency; and the development of system-level recommendations on budgetary and policy matters. The Council and its staff play multiple, statutory roles in financial, budgetary and policy matters related to Virginia higher education, including: (i) developing policies, formulae and guidelines for the fair and equitable distribution and use of public funds among the public institutions of higher education; (ii) providing periodic updates of base-adequacy funding guidelines; and (iii) calculating each public institution's basic operations and instruction funding need for each year of each biennium and making that calculation available to the Governor, the General Assembly and the public colleges and universities. To fulfill these duties and expectations, SCHEV requires expertise in not only finance, accounting, budgeting and policymaking, but also in the management of higher-education-related financial information and data. SCHEV aspires to be a great place to work. It is an environment of public servants committed to developing an educationally and economically sound, vigorous, progressive and coordinated system of higher education in Virginia. We value honesty, quality, diversity, inclusion, growth orientation, personal well-being, equity, transparency and accountability. And we seek team players that will advance these values through their work and engagement. This position is an ongoing role in SCHEV’s Finance Policy and Innovation (FP&I) section, reporting to the Director of Finance Policy and Innovation, or designee. The position presents an opportunity to work alongside FP&I’s professional staff in a collegial atmosphere, while adding unique skills and abilities to the section’s capabilities and expanding its capacity to work with higher education data and policy. SCHEV’s offices are located in downtown Richmond, VA; limited teleworking is possible, but not guaranteed.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience in budget analysis and developing summary documents.
Work history of advanced spreadsheet skills, including manipulation of large data sets.
Demonstrated ability to analyze, summarize, and present financial and narrative information clearly.
Experience demonstrating analytical skills with the ability to recognize correlations between data, to conduct temporal and peer comparison, and to develop hypotheses on patterns identified.
Experience conducting research and developing/drafting summaries and recommendations based on that research.
Experience working independently on deadline driven projects in a politically sensitive work environment.

Nice To Haves

Advanced knowledge of higher education topics including enrollment, finance, affordability, academic programs and workforce alignment.
Experience demonstrating knowledge of budget management or administration.
Experience with Microsoft Office suite required, as well as experience desired in cloud services (SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams) and AI machine learning tools.
Knowledge of institutional reporting requirements is strongly desired.
Possession of a valid driver’s license and/or of access to reliable transportation for travel to job-related activities.

Responsibilities

Maintain finance policy records, datasets and other resources used in making policy assessments and recommendations and then shared with external stakeholders.
Assist with the review and revision of the agency Fact Packs.
Review guidelines and process institutional equipment program requisitions.
Report and verify data to SHEF and SREB.
Prepare research and policy analyses to be included in ad hoc reports and presentations to stakeholders.
Assist in the production of budget summaries.
Report yearly expenditures for institutions.
Support fiscal and operational planning and performance at the state and campus/institutional levels, including six-year plans, a biennial planning process for institutions and state government, and the institutional performance standards.