Director of Financial Process Transformation

Requirements

• Basic Qualifications are the minimum threshold a candidate must meet in order to be considered for this role.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required
• Minimum of 10 years' relevant work experience
• Supervisory experience
• Additional Qualifications and Skills:
• The following qualifications are strongly preferred. If you meet some, but not all, you are still encouraged to apply, we value employees with a willingness to learn.
• MBA or master's degree in relevant field a plus
• Experience supporting process improvement or organizational change initiatives
• Ability to manage multiple projects and competing priorities in evolving, ambiguous environments
• Agile, flexible, and iterative working mindset
• Demonstrated ability to act as a trusted advisor and influence senior stakeholders without direct authority
• Strong analytical and communication skills, including the ability to tailor messaging to different audiences
• Knowledge of advanced financial administration principles
• Strong team-based, service-oriented approach Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint) and other collaboration tools
• Why join Harvard University Central Administration?
• Working Conditions:
• Onsite work is performed in an office setting
• Standard Hours/Schedule: 35 hours per week
• 1-2 Days onsite per week on average plus additional days for ad-hoc required meetings.
• Visa Sponsorship Information : Harvard University is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.
• Pre-Employment Screening : Identity, Education
• Other Information :
• Please provide a cover letter and resume as one document with your application.
• This position has a 90-day orientation and review period.
• #LI-BT1
• Work Format Details
• This position has been determ

Benefits

Additional Information

The Director of Financial Process Transformation leads enterprise-wide initiatives to simplify, standardize, and modernize financial operations across the University. Reporting to the Office of the Controller, with a dotted-line relationship to Office of Finance and Administration, this role operates across Financial Administration (FAD) and partners with school and central finance leadership to drive transformation priorities. The Director sets direction, aligns stakeholders, and ensures the successful delivery of high-impact initiatives that span organizational boundaries. The Director brings a structured, outcomes-driven approach to redesigning financial processes - reducing complexity, improving cycle times, strengthening compliance, and minimizing administrative burden. Success in this role requires the ability to influence and align senior stakeholders in a decentralized environment, along with a track record of leading large-scale change from concept through implementation. The Director ensures that initiatives are not only well-designed, but fully adopted and sustained, with measurable improvements in efficiency, consistency, and user experience. Job Specific Responsibilities: Enterprise Transformation Leadership Set the vision and roadmap for financial process transformation across FAD, leading a portfolio of high-impact initiatives aligned to institutional priorities. Cross-Functional Leadership and Alignment Partner with senior leaders across schools, units, and central functions to establish priorities, navigate tradeoffs, and drive alignment. Serve as a trusted advisor on financial process strategy and change. Process Redesign and Standardization Oversee the redesign of complex, cross-cutting financial processes to reduce fragmentation, eliminate manual workarounds, and improve consistency while maintaining appropriate controls. Policy and Governance Enablement Guide the use of policy, governance, and guidance to enable effective process change, determining when formal policy is required versus when process, technology, or behavioral changes will achieve better outcomes. Systems and Technology Partnership Collaborate with finance systems and IT leadership to align process transformation with system capabilities and roadmaps, ensuring solutions enable automation, scalability, and long-term sustainability. Performance Measurement and Continuous Improvement Establish success metrics and monitoring approaches, including cycle time, exception rates, and administrative effort, and use data and stakeholder feedback to refine priorities and improve outcomes. Change Leadership and Adoption Drive adoption of new processes and ways of working across a diverse stakeholder landscape, ensuring changes are effectively communicated, embedded, and sustained over time.

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