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November 18, 2007
Financial Analyst - Core Operations: Financial Planning & Analysis, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Location: Seattle, Washington, USA
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
If you are interested in applying for this position, please visit http://www.gatesfoundation.org/AboutUs/WorkingWithUs/Jobs.htm
Summary: The Financial Analyst - Core Operations, will be responsible for developing, communicating and monitoring the financial and operational results for the foundation’s Operations division. The Operations division includes the foundation’s information technology (IT), human resources (HR), finance, legal, foundation advocacy, impact planning, and facilities management teams.
Work efforts will include preparation and analysis of business plans, financial statements, and developing financial models and tools to support division goals. The Financial analyst will work closely with the Operations Finance manager on advising staff on a wide range of financial, operational, contracts and capital issues, and will serve a critical role in developing and tracking division’s projects. The position will work closely with the operational teams especially Information Technology and Site Operations in formulating a capital plan and help in building tools for better management of contracts.
Responsibilities:
- Support division and Financial Planning and Analysis department to develop and execute annual budgets and financial plans. Participate in the various financial processes of the department as needed.
- Creating specialized budget templates to meet the specific needs of some of the unique departments within the division.
- Organizing budget data in a clear and intuitive manner.
- Analyzing spending patterns to determine rationale in setting budget allocations.
- Monitor budget variances and help identify opportunities for cost savings.
- Work with foundation staff to support the development and tracking of business plans
- Creation of financial models to support business planning.
- Collaboration in the development and analysis of underlying strategy cost assumptions.
- Sensitivity analysis to determine relative volatility in costs.
- Identify financial or operating risks associated with a business plan.
- Development of thorough and clear presentation materials.
- Develop foundation-wide capital plan
- Work closely with IT and facilities group in developing an annual capital plan.
- Create templates that can be used to track actual vs. plan vs. forecast.
- Identify and build reports that can be used by senior management to track capital spend
- Support division staff in the financial and operational analysis of different projects
- Help HR analyze costs of different benefits plans and develop recruiting model.
- Assist Facilities with lease/buy analysis and space planning.
- Review grantee budgets and financial statements.
- Provide analytical support to Travel and Call Center areas.
- Provide support for developing and managing contracts database
- Assist IT in developing project management tools and cost-benefits analysis.
Qualifications:
- A degree in Finance, Economics or related field and a minimum of 5 years of experience in financial and strategic planning functions. MBA preferred. Experience in long range planning, budgeting, forecasting, financial statement analysis and accounting, financial planning and analysis is required. Experience providing financial support to Information Technology and Facilities divisions in a large organization desirable.
- Strong technical and financial knowledge, including experience creating complex financial models and efficiently communicating results to inform sound strategic and tactical decisions.
- Ability to comprehend both the big picture and pay attention to details.
- Strong analytical skills and ability to work with minimal direction in a fast paced environment.
- Experience developing, evaluating, managing, and monitoring business plans.
- Excellent organizational skills and the ability to manage and complete multiple projects simultaneously.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to extract appropriate data to convey financial results through the use of supporting tables, graphs, and other visual representations.
- Strong interpersonal, customer service, and team-oriented skills are a must.
- Demonstrated interest in, knowledge of, and experience with a broad range of functional areas including information technology, real estate development and management, and software development.
- Commitment to the foundation’s core values, mission, and programs.
- Excellent software skills with Microsoft Office applications. Ability to quickly learn new software modules.
Reports to: Program Financial Manager, Core Operations
To apply for this position, please visit http://www.gatesfoundation.org/AboutUs/Jobs and submit your resume online.
Due to the volume of inquiries and applications we receive on a regular basis, the online application is the best and only way to ensure that your submissions are reviewed in a timely manner.
It is the policy of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to race, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, physical or mental disabilities, marital status, veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected under federal, state or local law. If you have a disability and need assistance in completing the application or in taking any test required for employment, please notify us and we will make appropriate arrangements. We are an equal opportunity employer.
The statements in this description represent typical elements, criteria and general work performed. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills for this job.
