LinkUW Director

Universities of Wisconsin • Madison, WI

26d • $141,000 - $185,000 • Onsite

About The Position

This leadership role provides strategic direction and oversight for the administrative, financial and operational management of the LinkUW service delivery unit at UW–Madison, encompassing Financial Services and Human Resources (HR). Reporting to the Associate Vice Chancellor for HR with strategic oversight provided by the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration and Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance, the position is responsible for advancing institutional goals in service delivery through effective program management, operational excellence, and stakeholder engagement. The role demands a high level of discretionary judgment, exceptional leadership and management capabilities, fiscal responsibility, strong communication skills, and political acumen. It also requires the ability to lead with resilience and clarity in times of change fatigue and ambiguity, navigating uncertainty while inspiring confidence, maintaining focus, and fostering adaptability across teams. Additionally, success in this position requires the ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with a diverse range of campus stakeholders, including functional experts, deans, division heads, and shared governance representatives. This position requires work to be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location four days per week. LinkUW is a unit dedicated to delivering quality administrative support in finance and human resources to partner units across the university. The team is composed of professionals who bring expertise in performing high-volume or time-bound administrative services. LinkUW will deliver timely and customer-centered support that enables campus partners to focus on advancing the university’s mission.

Requirements

• Strategic Leadership: Aligns LinkUW support with institutional initiatives and goals to drive long-term planning.
• Digital Agility & Future Focused: Anticipates emerging trends, evaluates and adopts technologies that advance business outcomes, and leads people through ambiguity and rapid change with clarity, speed, and resilience.
• People Management: Leads teams with clarity, supports professional development, and manages performance.
• Collaboration & Consensus Building: Works across departments to build trust, resolve conflicts, and achieve shared outcomes.
• Service Orientation: Maintains a strong customer focus and delivers responsive, high-quality HR and financial services.
• Ethical Judgment: Upholds integrity and transparency in resource practices
• Financial Management (Resource Optimization): Ensures financial resources are allocated efficiently to support high impact services. Evaluate services delivered seeking to provide efficient and cost-effective services.
• Bachelor’s Degree

Nice To Haves

• Proven Leadership Experience: Demonstrated success in leading diverse teams through complex initiatives and organizational change.
• Expertise in Change Management: Ability to design, implement, and sustain change strategies that align with organizational goals and culture.
• Strong Facilitation & Conflict Resolution Skills: Skilled in navigating difficult conversations with professionalism and empathy, fostering open dialogue and resolution.
• Consensus-Building Across Diverse Perspectives: Demonstrated ability to engage stakeholders with opposing viewpoints and guide groups toward shared understanding and agreement.
• Strategic Communication Skills: Capable of clearly articulating vision, decisions, and rationale to varied audiences, ensuring transparency and trust.
• Emotional Intelligence & Relationship Management: Ability to build trust, demonstrate self-awareness, and maintain strong interpersonal relationships across all levels of the organization.
• Commitment to Inclusivity: Experience fostering inclusive environments where all voices are valued and respected in decision-making processes.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with functional business owners in central offices and the WEST team on process improvement and audits
• Develops the division's financial strategy including planning, forecasts, budgets, and cash management that focus on attaining and sustaining long-term financial equilibrium in collaboration with university leadership
• Works with senior administrative and academic leadership to design, establish, and maintain an administrative organizational structure to effectively and efficiently accomplish goals and objectives while appropriately defining duties and mitigating risk
• Assesses processes, staffing, and systems to identify opportunities for improvement and streamlining on a regular basis
• Serves as the primary business advisor, liaison, and partner to divisional leadership and key stakeholder groups
• Oversees the implementation of all operational and administrative activities
• Serves as a major point of contact and catalyst for problem resolution. Provides insightful and diplomatic communications
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees

Benefits

• generous paid time off
• competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance
• tax-advantaged savings accounts
• participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees