Associate Director (Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy)

The Associate Director of Finance will be part of the Bukit Timah Campus (BTC) Finance’s leadership team and report to the Deputy Director, Finance. The Associate Director will play a pivotal role in providing advice and guidance to the Senior Leadership comprising Deans, Centre Directors and other senior leadership on financial matters contributing to the overall financial strategic plans. The broad remit of this role will require excellent financial management skills and the knowledge and experience to manage the operating, and capital budgets.

The primary responsibilities of the Associate Director, Finance are to:

Strategic Planning and Business Partnering

• Provide advice to the Senior Leadership and Finance Committees of the Governing Board on all financial matters and to ensure that adequate controls around processes and systems are in place to comply with the NUS’s financial policies and procedures.
• Oversee the financial health of the Departments under the BTC cluster by developing and implementing a financial forecasting system which underpins the financial aspects of the Faculties/Centres’ strategic plan and which optimizes the use of its assets.
• Assist the leadership team of the BTC cluster in the discharge of their financial responsibilities and in the effective management of resources through the provision of timely and accurate financial information, and through the development of financial capability throughout the BTC cluster including management of donors’ funds, preparation and management of the strategic, operating, capital and research budgets.
• Develop and manage the BTC cluster annual budget and formulate long term planning strategies to drive the financial sustainability of BTC cluster by identifying the various sources of funding to finance the expenses.
• Develops effective relationships and implement best practices in partnership with the stakeholders at BTC cluster and NUS Office of Finance.

Governing Board, Management and Grant Reporting

• Take responsibility for the highest standards of financial reporting in order that the Senior Leadership are fully informed about the financial performance and standing.
• Liaise with government agencies such as MOE on the administration, accounting and reporting of various grants received for operating, capital and research purposes.
• Liaise with NUS Office of Finance on the accounting and quarterly reporting of revenue, expenditures and balance sheet reports, as well as cash management, while gathering support from a wide range of sources

Finance Operations

• Oversee Accounts Payables, Accounts Receivables, Fixed Assets and student finance matters relating to tuition fees, tuition grants and student loans.
• Provide effective leadership and management of the BTC Finance Team in ensuring high quality customer focused services with adequate financial controls in place to obtain unqualified internal and external audit results.
• Review service targets and ensure that current service targets are met, as well as maintain high service levels to internal customers
• Evaluate and enhance team structure to ensure that the finance department operates at optimal capacity through e.g. improving job fit of current staff.

Organization Excellence initiatives

• Implement finance-related operational best practices through the review and alignment of current processes to enhance efficiency across different departments, while working closely with NUS Office of Finance to manage organizational excellence initiatives successfully.
• Manage new finance systems (eg. SAP, Concur) implementation for the BTC Cluster, while NUS Office of Finance leads its effort to implement new finance systems for the University
• Provide leadership in directing the section’s efforts to strategically incorporate technology to enhance operational efficiency and raise finance staff productivity

Risk Management

• Plan and drive annual internal audit exercise with NUS Office of Internal Audit.
• Understand and mitigate key elements of the organization’s financial risk profile.
• Ensure financial, legal and regulatory compliance to governmental and audit guidelines, strong corporate governance, proper accounting and use of public resources to enhance public accountability.
• Maintain relations with external auditors and address their findings and incorporate their recommendations whenever possible.

People Development

• Groom high performance officers to strengthen the talent pipeline for key finance positions.
• Plan the training and development opportunities for staff to expand both their capacity and capability.

• Minimum 15 years of relevant working experience with at least 5 years of experience in a similar or equivalent role, leading a team of at least 6-8 persons in similar capacity
• Experience working in Institute of Higher Learning/education/government sectors is an added advantage
• Understanding of SAP financial, project and fund management systems.
• Knowledge of government procurement processes would be advantageous.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop an effective team.
• Experience in managing multiple priorities and stakeholders in a culturally diverse environment.
• Proven analytical, organizational, writing and communication skills.
• Possess the maturity and interpersonal skills to deal effectively with both internal and external parties across multiple cultures.
• Experience in reporting to Governing Board/Finance Committee is preferred
• Meticulous with a strong analytical mind and ability to work under pressure to meet tight schedules
• Able to work independently and willing to be hands-on in managing financial operations while partnering Senior Management on strategic commercial decisions.
• Track record of transforming, developing and managing a high-performing team
• Appreciation of how financial functional ownership resides with NUS Office of Finance (OFN), while effectively manage how processes could be split between BTC cluster and OFN. And to develop a win-win partnership with OFN Central, to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of the finance operation of the BTC Cluster

Location: Bukit Timah Campus

Organization: [[National University of Singapore]]

Department : [[Office of Finance]]

Employee Referral Eligible: No

Job requisition ID : 11664