Financial Planning Analyst II

Engineering a world of possibilities

Colorado School of Mines is pleased to announce an opportunity for a Financial Planning Analyst II to join our Budget and Financial Planning team.

At Mines, the Budget and Financial Planning Office sits within our Finance, Administration, and Operations (FA&O) Division and provides oversight for campus units’ financial planning and collaborates with various campus units to manage the university’s financial health. The Budget and Financial Planning team works to enhance financial and budget forecasting, reporting, and analysis by being a resource and partner to the Mines community. Broadly, FA&O provides critical support to the mission and forward-thinking strategic initiatives while managing $325 million in operating activity, stewarding $1 billion in assets, and supporting approximately 1400 full-time faculty and staff.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for operational forecasting, reporting, and analysis for a select portfolio along with institutional projects as assigned. Additional responsibilities include procedural documentation, implementing the budgeting system, and communicating financial data into high-level summary reports.

For success in this position, you’ll need:

• Attention to Detail – The ability to not only be accurate in producing analyses, but also notice quirks in the information that may warrant further exploration
• Curiosity – A drive to dig deeper into analyses to determine why things look or function the way they do
• Customer Focus – An understanding of constituent needs that allows for the tailoring of information to most effectively serve that specific audience
• Innovation/Problem Solving – A focus on leveraging available resources to develop new solutions to long-time or newly identified challenges
• Collaboration – Awareness of how the individual’s work may impact or be supported by other members of the team

This position may be eligible for hybrid work in Colorado and requires two or more days per week on campus in Golden, Colorado. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position now nor in the future.

Primary Responsibilities

Financial Analysis

• Analyze and summarize campus portfolio budget and fund variances, along with producing monthly and annual reports explaining those results.
• Develop scenario analyses that evaluate financial impacts of enrollment changes, state appropriations, research growth, compensation adjustments, and strategic investments on campus portfolio partners.
• Support current strategic initiatives and campus projects, including preparing analyses and briefing materials for campus portfolio partners, including scenario evaluations and strategic or operational recommendations.
• Develop a deep understanding of the financial data to measure benchmarks, explain the outcomes, and provide metrics to measure financial performance against industry trends.

Financial Operations and Systems

• Manage a campus portfolio by meeting regularly and serving as a financial consultant for those leaders by supporting budget management, effectively communicating models, reports, and analysis results in writing, presentations, and other methods.
• Work on continuous business process improvement, including writing and revising documentation along with recommending and supporting ways to improve business and financial services to campus partners.
• Support the university budget processes, including annual operating budget development, implementation, monitoring, and fiscal year analysis.
• Continuously enhance skills and abilities in Workday’s Adaptive Planning tool to implement efficient operations/business processes and refine modeling accuracy and efficiency.

Reporting and Forecasting

• Develop financial models to forecast future department revenues and expenses, along with annual and long-term financial funding models for units in their reporting portfolio.
• Aid in the development of forecasting procedures and lead reporting initiatives related to multi-year projections, which include mandatory costs, auxiliary revenue, and labor expenses.
• Draw from available data to develop digestible financial dashboards and reporting while maintaining and enhancing scheduled reports based on campus feedback and strategic needs.
• Continuously enhance skills and abilities in data visualization software, such as Tableau.
• Continuously enhance skills and abilities in Workday’s Adaptive Planning tool to support effective decision-making reports and analytics

In the first 3-6 months, the successful candidate will have developed and implemented:

• Working knowledge of Mines financial and organizational structures, Workday/Adaptive systems, and standard business processes
• Positive rapport with campus partners, including both operational partners (e.g. HR) and financial partners (i.e. portfolio)
• Ownership of their learning process with constant leveraging of available resources
• Maintenance of existing models, reports, and dashboards, with an improving ability to make additions or refinements that increase accuracy or accessibility
• Production of clear and accurate ad-hoc reports, even if those reports don’t yet fully utilize all available resources

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, business, finance, or related field.
• 2 or more years of professional experience in budgeting, financial planning, or closely aligned work
• Advanced skill using the Microsoft Office Suite, specifically advanced abilities in Excel and PowerPoint
• Experience in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, such as Workday and Adaptive Planning
• Experience using complex financial, human resources, student, and/or other information systems
• Experience working with large complex data sets, such as detailed transactions, employee information, student academic characteristics, and other database fields
• Basic proficiency in data visualization platforms (e.g., Tableau or similar systems).
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in accounting, business, finance, or related field.
• Experience in higher education.
• Experience in financial modeling systems like Adaptive Planning, or similar systems
• Experience in data visualization software like Tableau, or similar systems
• Experience with higher education budget modeling and financial reportingand higher education fund and cost accounting
• Advanced foundational skills to master more complex structures, algorithms, and problem-solving techniques
• Advanced communication skills, display professional presence in meetings and summarize communications at the appropriate level for executive audiences

Salary and Benefits

$72,000 - $82,000 anticipated annual salary rate

Mines takes into consideration a combination of candidate’s education, training and experience as well as the position’s scope and complexity, the discretion and latitude required in the role, work location, and external market and internal value when determining a salary level for potential new employees.

Colorado School of Mines offers a robust portfolio of benefits for all employees. For this role, that includes:

• Flexible health and dental care options
• Generous sick/vacation time: 11 paid holidays per year
• Fully vested retirement plan on first day of employment, with generous employer contribution
• Tuition benefits (6 credits per year for employees, 50 percent discount for dependents)
• Free RTD Ecopass

All Mines employees also have access to discount programs through the State of Colorado and free tickets for Mines Athletics home games, as well as access to the state of the art Recreation Center (fitness classes and training, swimming pool and more) and equipment rentals through the Outdoor Rec Center. We are proud to have recently opened an on campus daycare center. For more details about benefits at Mines, visit mines.edu/human-resources/benefits.

About Mines & Golden, CO

When the world looks for answers, the world looks to Mines.

Colorado School of Mines is a top-ranked public university solving the grand challenges facing our society, particularly those related to the Earth, energy and the environment. Founded in 1874 with specialties in mining and metallurgy, Mines’ scope and mission have continually expanded to meet the needs of industry and society. Today, we are the No. 40 public university in the nation, recognized for our innovation and undergraduate teaching in science, technology engineering and math (U.S. News and World Report, 2026).

Mines graduates are change makers, boundary breakers and problem solvers. Since our earliest days, a Mines education has been and continues to be a transformational opportunity, with one of the strongest returns on investment out there for talented STEM students of all backgrounds.

At the same time, Mines faculty members are pushing their fields in new directions, whether that’s manufacturing, space resources, quantum engineering, carbon capture or more. Mines was recently classified as a R1 “Very High Activity” research institution by Carnegie, a notable feat for any university but particularly one of our size.

That size – roughly 8,200 undergraduate and graduate students – also translates to a close-knit campus community, where employees have opportunities to get involved in multiple ways, continued professional learning is valued and everyone can make an impact.

Community Alliance groups bring together employees for professional development, networking, and community involvement, and all Mines employees also have access to the wealth of activities happening every day on campus – nationally-renowned speakers, special events and Mines traditions like Engineering Days, just to name a few.

And don’t get us started on our hometown. We are located in the heart of Golden, Colorado --with its charming historic downtown and nearby hiking trails – and in close proximity to all that Denver and the Rocky Mountains have to offer. That includes the sunny, high-altitude climate and outstanding outdoor recreation opportunities that make the Denver area an ideal place to live, work and play.

Are you looking for an inspiring, mission-driven workplace where you can contribute to solving the world’s problems and educating the next generation of change makers? Are you an individual who values a community where our individual perspectives and experiences enrich the educational and work experience?

Look to Mines.

Additional Information and Reasonable Accommodation Requests

It is the intent of Mines to comply with the applicable requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008, and their implementation rules and regulations, in support of equal opportunities for qualified applicants with disabilities. To meet this goal, Mines will make reasonable accommodations during the employment selection process and within our working environment.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to access job openings or apply for a job on our site as a result of your disability. You can request a reasonable accommodation by contacting our Human Resources team at View email address on click.appcast.io or View phone number on click.appcast.io for assistance.

Successful completion of a background investigation may be required for this position.

Equal Opportunity

Colorado School of Mines is committed to equal opportunity for all persons. Mines does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), ancestry, creed, marital status, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, veteran status or current military service. Further, Mines does not retaliate against community members for filing complaints regarding or implicating any of these protected statuses.

Mines’ commitment to nondiscrimination, equal opportunity and equal access is reflected in the administration of its policies, procedures, programs and activities and in its efforts to achieve a talented student body and workforce.

Through its policies, procedures and resources, Mines complies with federal law, Colorado state law, administrative regulations, executive orders and other legal requirements to prevent discrimination (including harassment or retaliation) within the Mines campus community and to address potential allegations of inequality or concerns for safety.

Colorado's premier engineering and applied science university for 150 years and counting