Associate Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis

Merrimack College; Massachusetts; On-site; USD 180,000 - 195,000; Full time

Job summary

Merrimack College seeks an strategic, analytical AVP of Financial Planning and Analysis to lead enterprise analysis of revenue, costs, and investments. This role reports to the CFO and partners with senior leadership to deliver forecasts, models, dashboards, and AI-enabled decision support that align strategy with resource allocation.

The position emphasizes growth, profitability, and financial accountability within a hybrid RCM framework and a high-visibility leadership team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, business administration, data analytics, or related field.
• 10+ years FP&A, strategic finance, or related experience.
• Proven revenue, cost, and financial modeling capabilities.
• Experience with senior executives in complex organizations.
• Advanced Excel and data-visualization tools.
• ERP/enterprise planning and AI-enabled decision support experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead revenue growth analysis and identify opportunities to increase net revenue.
• Manage cost-center reporting, drive savings, and productivity initiatives.
• Develop contribution-margin, unit-cost, capacity, and portfolio analyses.
• Build driver-based forecasts and scenario planning for key drivers.
• Provide analytical models and dashboards to strengthen budgeting and accountability.
• Deliver executive-level performance reviews and actionable recommendations.
• Lead AI-enabled finance initiatives with data quality and governance.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Analytical ability

AI/Analytics

Forecasting

Financial modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree in finance or related field

Tools

ERP systems

JenzabarOne

Power BI/Tableau

SQL

Job description

The Opportunity

Merrimack College seeksa strategic, analytical, entrepreneurial, and technology-forwardAssociate Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis (AVP,FP&A). Reporting directly to the Senior Vice President andChief Financial Officer, the AVP will lead enterprise analysis ofrevenue, costs, operating performance, and strategicinvestments—helping Merrimack accelerate sustainable growth,improve contribution margins, and strengthen financialaccountability.

The AVP will work alongside the Vice President, Financial Planningand Chief Budget Officer, who leads institutional budgeting, thehybrid responsibility-centered management model, and long-rangefinancial planning, and in close partnership with the AVP forFinance/Controller. This highly visible leader will provideforecasts, models, dashboards, and AI-enabled decision support thatconnect strategy, resource allocation, and operating results. Serveas a trusted advisor to the CFO and senior leadership, translatinganalysis into recommendations on growth, resource allocation,investment priorities, and financial risk.

Key Responsibilities

• Revenue growth and revenue-center analysis. Analyzeundergraduate and graduate net tuition, financial aid, retention,research and sponsored programs, auxiliary operations,partnerships, and new ventures. Identify opportunities to increasesustainable net revenue and reduce revenue risk.
• Cost management and containment . Create transparentcost-center reporting, identify cost drivers, and developactionable savings and productivity initiatives involvingworkforce, procurement, vendors, processes, technology, facilities,and shared services.
• Program economics and investment discipline. Developcontribution-margin, unit-cost, capacity, and portfolio analysesand evaluate strategic initiatives using market, revenue, cost,risk, break-even, payback, and return-on- investment measures.
• Forecasting and scenario planning. Build driver-basedforecasts and sensitivity analyses for enrollment, net tuitionrevenue, compensation, benefits, auxiliaries, research, and majoroperating expenses, and make recommendations on emerging financialrisks & opportunities.
• Budget and hybrid RCM support. Provide the Chief BudgetOfficer with analytical models, forecasts, performance metrics, andrecommendations that strengthen institutional budgeting,accountability, and the College’s hybrid RCM framework.
• Performance management. Deliver executive dashboards,variance analyses, and operating reviews that explain what changed,why it changed, and what actions are required.
• AI-enabled finance and analytics. Lead responsible useof predictive analytics, generative AI, automation, anomalydetection, and business intelligence with strong standards for dataquality, validation, explainability, privacy, security, and humanreview.

Initial Priorities

• Establish standardized revenue-center and cost-centerdashboards and operating reviews.
• Build an integrated enrollment, financial-aid, and net tuitionrevenue forecasting model.
• Develop a College-wide cost-containment and productivitypipeline with accountable owners and measurable results.
• Implement a practical roadmap and governance framework forAI-enabled FP&A and reporting.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, economics, businessadministration, data analytics, or a related field.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience inFP&A, strategic finance, corporate finance, managementconsulting, higher education finance, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated success in revenue analysis, cost analysis,financial modeling, forecasting, scenario planning, performancereporting, and business-case development.
• Experience partnering with senior executives and operatingleaders in a complex, fast-moving, matrixed organization.
• Advanced proficiency with ERP, planning and forecasting,business-intelligence, data-visualization, and financial-modelingtools, including experience applying AI or advanced analytics todecision support.
• Exceptional communication, judgment, integrity, collaboration,and change-leadership skills.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including financialmodeling, forecasting, scenario analysis, and datareconciliation.
• Experience with enterprise financial and ERP systems; JenzabarOne or a comparable higher-education system preferred.
• Proficiency with business-intelligence and data-visualizationtools, such as Microsoft Power BI or Tableau.
• Ability to integrate and analyze financial, enrollment,payroll, human-resources, and operational data.
• Familiarity with SQL, database querying, and budgeting orenterprise-performance-management platforms preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in business administration, finance,accounting, analytics, or a related field; CPA, CFA, CMA, oranother relevant credential.
• Financial leadership experience in higher education or anothercomplex, mission-driven, multi-unit organization.
• Experience with responsibility-centered management, academicprogram economics, unit costing, or activity-based costing.
• Experience implementing or enhancing enterprise planning,data-warehouse, business-intelligence, or AI-enabled financecapabilities.

Leadership Profile

The successful candidate will bestrategically minded, analytically rigorous, entrepreneurial, andable to constructively challenge assumptions. The AVP willtranslate complex information into practical decisions, build trustacross the College, and balance growth, affordability, academicquality, student success, and long-term financialsustainability.

This position is subject to the successful completion of a criminalbackground check.

Working Conditions

This is an on-campus position asemployees are essential in order to provide a fully on-campus,residential college experience for our students and thecommunity.

Statement on Our Mission

Merrimack College is aCatholic Augustinian institution of higher education committed tobuilding an accepting and respectful community. Our mission is toenlighten minds, engage hearts and empower lives and is inspired byour Catholic faith and the Augustinian tradition of seeking truththrough inquiry and dialogue.

Merrimack College seeks candidates who understand, respect, and cancontribute to Merrimack’s Catholic and Augustinian mission. Allcandidates should describe in their application how they willfoster a culture that supports our mission.

About Merrimack College

The only Catholic, Augustinianinstitution of higher education in New England, Merrimack Collegeis a private, independent, coeducational institution with more than4,000 undergraduate and 1,900 graduate students from 46 states and45 countries. The College features more than 160 career-focusedacademic programs in science, engineering, business, nursing,health sciences, education and social sciences and humanities acrossundergraduate, professional and graduate programs, all taught byexceptional faculty who are passionate about their subject andstudent success. The College has six schools: arts and sciences,engineering and computational sciences, nursing and healthsciences, education and social policy, the Girard school ofbusiness, and the Graduate School of counseling and social work.The College’s suburban 220-acre campus is just north of Boston inNorth Andover, Massachusetts. Merrimack is a Master’s Colleges andUniversities/Larger Programs (M1) institution in the CarnegieClassification of Institutions of Higher Education. Merrimack isone of the fastest-growing educational institutions in the countryand has steadily climbed up in the U.S. News & World Report’sranking of Best Colleges, ranking 37th in the Regional UniversitiesNorth category in 2025. Merrimack is a NCAA Division I athleticinstitution.

Merrimack College is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Salary Range

Salary Range: $180,000 - $195,000