About the job
Role Summary
The role holder is responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction to ZU’s finance function, contributing to the overall strategy, and driving business decisions by liaising with the stakeholders, partners, and other regulatory authorities to create the vision and basic architecture for the financial information systems. It also guides business decisions through financial planning, budgeting, and accurate reporting of financial accounts in compliance with regulatory provisions.
Major Area of Responsibility
Participates in the university strategy articulation process along with other members of the Executive Team.
Formulates and oversees the implementation of an internal control framework, guidelines, policies, and procedures for the functioning of the Finance division and ensures appropriate control mechanisms for the same.
Partners with Senior Management and key stakeholders from Business to develop strategic business plans, budgets, and forecasts through financial and business planning models.
Formulates a framework for monitoring business performance against the established financial plan and budget, oversees operations to assess any deviation, and takes the necessary action for course correction.
Ensures efficient & effective management of ZU’s finances through all necessary financial controls, systems, and processes and ensures accuracy and integrity of the financial records.
Maintains collaborative and effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders and keeps abreast of significant economic, social, and technical trends and regulatory guidelines, which may have an overall financial impact on the university.
Partners with Executive Management to develop the university’s investment strategy and treasury function based on a thorough analysis of ZU’s strategic plans and liquidity situation.
Formulates the overall strategy and framework for financial accounting operations to ensure adherence to established internal and external guidelines and in line with the overall university strategy.
Oversees the financial accounting operations to ensure accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with International Accounting Standards and local generally accepted accounting principles & regulatory accounting guidelines.
Ensures integrity and completeness of management information contained in the financial systems, including controllable balance sheet items, cash position, and forecasting.
Formulates the overall strategy for asset/liability management to achieve the target balance sheet structure in line with the growth and risk targets and guides the implementation.
Formulates the asset/liability policy in line with the university’s medium-term objectives and guides the finance operations to ensure adherence to the same to safeguard ZU’s interests.
Guides the team in developing procedures for measuring, monitoring, and managing the university’s short-term liquidity and funding needs, liaises with key stakeholders to assess long-term funding needs, and proposes funding plans.
Guides effective management of all Management Information analysis and reporting to ensure accurate and timely availability of the requisite MIS information to Executive Management and other stakeholders as requested for informed decision-making.
Ensures that the financial results are developed/reviewed/maintained accurately and regularly in accordance with stated regulations and guidelines by internal and external authorities.
Formulates an implementation framework and guides the implementation of the requisite infrastructural/operational changes and technological advancements within Finance to ensure they align with ZU’s strategy.
Provides provision for effective contract administration by tracking critical contractual dates and ensuring payments are processed correctly and promptly.
Collaborates with the business management teams to understand contract risk and works through mitigation strategies. Coordinates with existing and prospective clients to understand their contractual needs and manages issues to administer contracts and ensure efficacy effectively.
Manages the effective achievement of the area’s objectives by setting individual targets, recruiting and developing staff, conducting and reviewing performance appraisals for direct reports to maximize performance
Supports the monitoring and reporting key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the function to track performance and recommend corrective action plans.
Provides expertise and advice to employees and the company’s Managers if needed.
Monitors and ensures expenditure control by business center managers in line with the approved budget.
Supports negotiations with the UAE Ministry of Finance.
Ensures that the financial policies, procedures, and practices meet University needs and international standards and that the University’s resources are prudently monitored and controlled from a financial point of view.
Acts as the point of contact with external auditors during their review of the University’s financial well-being and provides financial information requested by the auditors and another authorized university such as the Ministry of Finance.
Critically examines requests for financial resources in a cooperative manner but searching to ensure that the University is prudent with its financial resources.
Responsible for all aspects of the operating budget process involving policy analysis and recommendation, development of procedures for implementing administrative and financial policy decisions, general funds allocation, coordination of budget information, summary analyses of the operating budget, and resolution of operating budget issues.
Manages the payroll processing function for faculty and staff.
Ensures adherence to ZU Health & Safety policy, procedures and guideline
Education & Qualification
Bachelor’s Degree, Masters preferred
Professional Accounting Qualifications such as CMA and CPA.
Experience
A minimum of 12 years of relevant experience with at least 3-4 years in a similar role
Must have higher education sector experience
UAE National with the above qualifications and experience preferred.
Seniority Level: Executive-Level
Job Functions: Cybersecurity
Industries : Information Technology
