Finance Manager

The Role at a glance:

The Finance Lead for Dining Services manages the day-to-day financial operations, data input, and reporting for a high-volume, $40M auxiliary ecosystem. This role bridges transactional accounting and strategic financial management, overseeing a complex portfolio that integrates residential meal plans, retail food outlets, campus convenience stores, and catering services.

Under the guidance of the Finance Manager, you will drive food cost efficiencies, optimize labor metrics, and provide actionable insights to maximize the fiscal health of the university's hospitality..

What you'll be doing:

Key Responsibilities

1. Dining & Retail Financial Operations Data Input: Accuracy in input of daily activity into accounting system and review of daily inputs by others and meeting all deadlines.

• Food, Labor and Direct Cost Review and Analysis: Monitor and analyze weekly food cost, labor, disposables and cleaning costs across all WVU locations.
• Revenue Recognition: Oversee the financial tracking, billing, and deferred revenue recognition for student residential meal plans, declining balance accounts (flex dollars), and catering services.
• Weekly Close: Verify that all information is entered timely and correctly for the weekly close.

2. Financial Reporting & Analysis

• Assist in the preparation of weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual financials
• Analyze variances between actual spend and budgeted projections, identifying trends and recommending corrective actions to unit managers.

3. Budgeting, Forecasting & Internal Controls

• Collaborate with the Finance Manager, Directors, and Managers to build comprehensive annual operating budgets.
• Supervise daily reconciliation processes for multi-unit point-of-sale (POS) systems and foodservice management platforms.
• Manage cash flow monitoring, internal audits, and inventory controls to minimize shrink and ensure compliance with university standards.
• Cash Controls: Oversee and train on cash handling, oversee safe audits, and surprise audits.

What we're looking for:

Qualifications & Skills

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance or Accounting,
• Experience: 3–5 years of progressive finance or accounting experience. Experience in university dining, contract foodservice or hospitality environments is highly preferred.
• Technical Proficiency: Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (VLOOKUPs, pivot tables, financial modeling).
• Experience with foodservice management systems (e.g., CBORD, ETC)) and retail POS platforms is a plus
• Core Competencies:
• Understanding of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) and inventory accounting.
• Ability to communicate complex financial data clearly to non-financial stakeholders, such as Chefs, Managers and Directors..

Where you'll be working:

West Virginia University

Compensation Range

Compensation is up to $100,000 / year based on experience