Senior Director of Financial Planning and Strategic Projects

Art and Wellness Enterprises (AWE) is a professional services organization supporting non-profits founded by Alice Walton, including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Art Bridges Foundation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Momentary, and Heartland Whole Health Institute.

Job Description:

• Job Title: Senior Director of Financial Planning and Strategic Projects
• Reports to: Chief Financial Officer
• FLSA Classification: Exempt

Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (On-site)

Art and Wellness Enterprises (AWE) supports operating non-profits founded by Alice Walton, including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Art Bridges, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Momentary, and Heartland Whole Health Institute.

About The Position

The Senior Director of Financial Planning and Strategic Projects leads the budgeting, forecasting, and financial performance processes for AWE and the diverse, complex portfolio of supported organizations spanning healthcare, arts, education, and philanthropy. The position owns the full annual budgeting cycle, monthly and quarterly forecasting, and detailed variance analysis, ensuring accurate and timely financial insights. In addition, the Senior Director leads strategic projects across AWE and the broader ecosystem, ensuring resources are aligned with organizational priorities and long-term goals.

Key responsibilities include leading financial planning, reporting, and analysis processes, producing variance analytics, and preparing capital investment and ROI business cases. The role delivers executive-level reporting packages with clear narratives, visual aids, and data summaries. The Senior Director also directs the shared services cost allocation model, manages complex modeling and feasibility studies, and partners with senior leaders to advance high-priority projects across the ecosystem.

Success in this position requires exceptional analytical, communication, and leadership skills. The Senior Director must foster collaboration across finance, operations, and executive teams while leading and developing a high-performing team. Strong judgment, discretion, and the ability to balance competing priorities in a dynamic, evolving environment are essential to achieving impact.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Financial Planning, Reporting, & Analysis

• Own the budgeting, forecasting, and management reporting processes, including timeline development, stakeholder coordination, end-to-end project management, and communication.
• Assist in all aspects of the company’s forecasting and budgeting process and compare detailed KPIs to actual performance.
• Prepare and deliver high-quality, executive-level financial reports to the CFO, AWE leadership, and stakeholders across all supported entities. These reports incorporate clear narrative explanations, visual aids such as charts and waterfalls, pivot tables, detailed spreadsheet summaries, annexures and appendices that enable a comprehensive and clear understanding of financial performance and variances against budgets, benchmarks, and prior periods.
• Produce detailed variance analytics to drive understanding of performance, highlighting major cost and income drivers and opportunities to optimize results.
• Complete capital investment business cases, including ROI and payback analysis.
• Prepare detailed analyses to support major investment initiatives and track performance against plans.
• Bring a deep understanding of budgeting, forecasting, and reporting best practices to improve consistency and accuracy across the ecosystem.
• Develop, own, and implement a consistent AWE Financial Package (monthly reporting) to ensure consistency across client entities and support cost efficiency analysis, benchmarking, and financial aggregation.
• Partner with the Financial Controller and Accounting team on the monthly close process, financial reporting, and preparation of GAAP financial statements.
• Prepare materials for executive leadership, finance committees, board of directors, and other high-level stakeholder forums.
• Build and deliver presentations for client leadership teams and other stakeholders.
• Support accuracy and accountability for all financial transactions, statements, filings, and reports.

Strategic Finance Initiatives

• Support special projects and ad-hoc analysis through robust, complex financial modeling, long-range planning, ROI analysis, feasibility studies, and engagement with subject matter experts.
• Lead initiatives to enhance financial planning and analysis across the ecosystem.
• Leverage operational relationships and data analytics to identify cost-saving opportunities and drive improved financial efficiency.
• Build and maintain strong cross-functional relationships with internal teams, support functions, and client stakeholders to support alignment and effective communication.
• Manage and perform special projects as assigned.

Strategic Projects

• Oversee the shared services cost allocation model to ensure accurate distribution of operational costs across the AWE ecosystem.
• Work with Senior AWE leaders, ecosystem CEOs, and their key stakeholders on highest-priority projects as assigned by the President or CFO.
• Identify critical path and necessary business partners and resources, and then guide the teams through to project completion.
• Collaborate with AWE and entity senior leaders on cross-functional and cross-entity priorities to further ecosystem goals.

Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a dynamic, high-performing team fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, and growth.
• Promote continuous improvement, professional development, and collaboration within your team to drive results and support organization priorities.
• Support the recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members to ensure alignment with AWE standards and practices.
• Monitor performance and team morale, addressing challenges proactively and professionally while encouraging engagement and recognition.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications And Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or related field; Master’s degree strongly preferred.
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Certified Management Accountant (CMA) certification preferred; other advanced financial certifications considered a plus.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification or equivalent preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in financial planning, budgeting, and analysis with a proven track record of delivering accurate, timely results.
• Demonstrated experience managing large, complex budgets across multiple entities. Experience in startups, healthcare, higher education, museum/cultural institutions, philanthropy, or similarly complex environments is strongly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and financial operations.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, with advanced Excel skills and the ability to build and interpret complex financial models. Experience with data visualization and reporting tools such as Power BI or Tableau strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with ERP systems; experience with Workday Financials and Adaptive Planning is preferred.
• Exceptional analytical, mathematical, and quantitative skills with the ability to interpret complex data and inform strategic decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, and develop team members while fostering a collaborative, performance-driven culture.
• Exceptional communication (verbal, written, presentation) and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and lead cross-functional teams.
• Excellent decision-making and critical thinking skills in a fast-paced, innovative environment where change is constant.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities in high-pressure environments, orchestrate multiple activities, and coordinate across diverse teams for optimal efficiency.
• Strong negotiation and conflict resolution skills, with sound judgment and the ability to navigate sensitive situations with professionalism.
• High level of integrity and discretion in handling confidential and organizational information.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those required by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

Physical Demands: In the work environment described, position requires utilizing a computer and a telephone for prolonged periods of time and good eye/hand coordination, bending and stretching, and physical stamina to lift and transport a minimum of 10 pounds. Visual acuity to review written materials is required for this job.

Work Environment: Work is performed full-time (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) in a professional, climate-controlled office environment with standard office equipment, including computers, printers, and telephones. This role requires working in an open setting near colleagues. The noise level is typically low to moderate. The role also requires regular interaction with both the public and internal team members in a professional and courteous manner. Some local travel will be required, and a flexible schedule may be necessary to accommodate business needs, including occasional evening and weekend work hours.

Art and Wellness Enterprises, LLC is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

All offers of employment are contingent on your successful completion (where permitted by state law) of a confidentiality agreement and a background check. In addition, you will need to provide proper identification verifying your eligibility to work in the United States.