Director, Finance Systems Strategy & Optimization

Director, Finance Systems Strategy & Optimization

College Board

• Finance

Location

• : This is a remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the
• option
• of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office). All CB employees
• are required to
• occasionally travel to meet in person for business purposes.

Role Type

• : This is a
• full time
• position

About the Team

The Operational Excellence (OX) function at the College Board is a high-performing team, serving as

a center of excellence

i
n the Finance Division, led by the Executive Director, Operational Excellence.
Situated directly under the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), OX brings deep

expertise

in project management, process

architecture, product strategy, data analytics, and strategic communications. We are committed
to driving organizational excellence by designing and

optimizing

integrated systems, enhancing cross - functional

collaboration, streamlining complex workflows, and fortifying policy and communication
frameworks. Our mission is to empower every function within the Finance Division to

operate

at peak
performance—delivering exceptional value and measurable impact to the College Board
.

About the Opportunity

As the Director, Finance Systems Strategy & Optimization, you will serve as the execution leader
responsible for translating strategic vision into tangible system improvements across the College Board’s
core financial platforms—Workday Financials, Adaptive Planning, and Strategic Sourcing – Workday
Financials, Adaptive Planning, and Strategic Sourcing. You will focus on driving end-to-end delivery of
technical solutions, coordinating complex projects, and ensuring our financial systems

operate

efficiently, accurately, and in alignment with business needs.

You will partner with Accounting, Procurement, Strategic Finance, Investments, Technology, and Talent to

ensure these systems are fully

leveraged

to deliver maximum value. You will play a critical role in owning the

system

roadmaps—taking full responsibility for executing both immediate and long-term
action plans. You will lead the investigation and implementation of new functionality, ensuring alignment
with

the needs and priorities of all major stakeholders. You will have a special focus on AI integration, ensuring our systems

utilize

the latest and greatest technologies to automate and innovate so

Finance

teams

can work faster and most efficiently and produce more critical insights with ease. Teams will rely
on you to build custom dashboards in Workday Financials and

maintain

financial data integrity to

help to

drive business decisions. You will

be responsible for

developing enhanced reporting solutions. You will create and

maintain

a suite of staff-friendly resources to ensure system processes are clear and known to
all users.

Our ideal candidate is passionate about technology, along with prioritizing and simplifying – implementing the

most impactful things and finding powerful solutions for complex

problems. The ideal candidate has Workday Financials

expertise , an excellent ability to

anticipate

user needs, an obsession with data, and the ability to manage the technical and people components of projects with attention to detail and speed .

In this role, you will:

Prioritize and implement technical solutions in Workday Financials to meet business needs (40%)

Translate functional needs into solutions, ensuring that our Workday Financials solutions meet
business needs and are scalable, repeatable, automated,

leverage

AI and new and emerging technologies, etc.

Project manage the implementation of new features and enhancements, overseeing
configuration, testing, deployment, and change management

Engage and manage external consultants, as needed

Manage the intake and prioritization of product/systems requests, working closely with
stakeholders to ensure we prioritize the most impactful work

Maintain and

• optimize
• Workday Financials from a technological and usage perspective (25%)
• Own business process enhancements of Workday Financials modules to support
• optimal
• user experience

Develop and

• monitor
• key performance metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of Workday Financials solutions and
• identify
• areas for improvement
• Proactively analyze,
• identify , and correct technical problems and deficiencies
• Stay up to date with industry trends and best practices to ensure our Workday Financials and Adaptive instances are
• optimized
• Facilitate bi-annual Workday releases and liaise with our Workday account manager to understand their roadmap
• Work with Technology to support the integrative and administrative needs of Workday Financials and Adaptive

Create and

• maintain
• detailed documentation and user guides on major system tasks, reports, custom
• BPs, etc.
• Execute comprehensive data/dashboard solutions for the Finance functions (20%)

Serve as the “go to” to develop reporting and data solutions within Workday Financials, Adaptive,
and Strategic Sourcing (and in supplemental tools—i.e., Tableau or

PowerBI

—as needed)

Design and implement comprehensive dashboard solutions within Workday Financials to provide
actionable insights and support decision-making for Procurement, Accounting, and Investments

Lead roadmap development and drive execution across teams (15%)

Develop and

maintain

the finance product roadmaps in collaboration with functional Finance
leadership, related SMEs, and Technology to

optimize

system use

Provide status reports and updates to Leadership, as needed

About You

You have

• At least five to eight years working in finance operations, with at least three years specifically in Workday Financials
• A
• B achelor's
• degree
• r equired
• in a related field
• r equired ,

Workday Financials and/or Adaptive

Planning certification is a plus

Proficiency

in Financial Accounting, Procurement, and Expense modules within Workday
Financials, as well as with Adaptive Financial Planning and Strategic Sourcing; and you are
eager and able to learn continuously and grow in your Workday skills

Ability to pivot quickly, adapt to evolving requirements, and work in an Agile- adjacent environment

Proficiency

in Workday Worksheets and Discovery Boards; and, preferably, experience with
Workday Prism and working knowledge of Tableau and/or

PowerBI

Exceptional attention to detail and strong organizational skills, with the ability to manage a wide
range of tasks effectively and see them through to the end

E
nthusiasm for data, passionate about harnessing the power of large data sets to inform business
decisions and capable of moving quickly to transform data

Ability to collaborate and work cross-functionally with different areas of an organization, and
bring a team-first mentality and “no job is too small” perspective

Confidence in working on both sides of the system - with our users and our engineers - and feel
comfortable translating practical needs to technical solutions

Great verbal and written communication skills

Excited about supporting educational opportunities for millions of students

Experience with Jira and Confluence preferred

• T he ability to travel 2-3 times a year to College Board offices or on behalf of College Board business
• Authorization to work for any employer in the United States

All roles at College Board require:

A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work

Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and comfort with learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively
.

Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal

A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving

timely , respectful feedback, and continuously improving through