Accounting Director Principal in Lexington, Kentucky at University of Kentucky

BA

7 yrs

None

Sitting and/or standing for extended periods of time; performing repetitive motion tasks; occasional job-related travel; effectively communicating with individuals from various backgrounds and professional and/or student levels.

Monday – Friday 8:00am – 5:00pm

The University is seeking a strategic and service-focused leader to oversee student account services for more than 38,000 enrolled students. This role provides leadership for tuition and fee assessment exceeding $739 million, financial aid disbursements exceeding $296 million, billing, accounts receivable, financial reporting, analysis, and compliance.

This position plays a key role in ensuring that student financial operations are accurate, efficient, compliant, and centered on the needs of students and families. The successful candidate will lead university-wide efforts to safeguard complex financial resources, strengthen internal controls, and ensure compliance with federal, state, and institutional requirements.

The role also provides technical and operational leadership for the SAP Student Accounting system, including process improvement, system enhancements, data integrity, and service delivery improvements. This position will have the opportunity to identify and implement solutions that improve the student financial experience and support the University’s broader strategic goals.

In addition to operational oversight, this leader will manage and develop a team, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and high performance. The position serves as a trusted advisor on student financial policies, partners closely with internal and external stakeholders, represents the University in professional organizations, and leads special projects that advance institutional priorities.

The successful candidate will bring a combination of financial expertise, leadership experience, and a commitment to excellent service. Required qualifications include:

A bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field is required. A master’s degree is preferred.

Significant, progressively responsible experience in higher education student financial services, bursar operations, student accounting, or a closely related area.

Strong knowledge of student billing, financial aid processes, accounts receivable, financial reporting, compliance, and internal controls is essential.

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience leading teams, developing staff, managing complex operations, and improving processes in a large, service-oriented environment. Experience with enterprise financial systems, such as SAP or a similar platform, is strongly preferred.

Excellent communication, analytical, problem-solving, and relationship-building skills are required, along with the ability to work collaboratively with students, families, campus partners, and external stakeholders.

We value the well-being of each of our employees and are dedicated to creating a healthy place for everyone to work, learn and live. In the interest of maintaining a safe and healthy environment for our students, employees, patients and visitors, the University of Kentucky is a Tobacco & Drug Free campus.

The University follows both the federal and state Constitutions as well as all applicable federal and state laws on nondiscrimination. The University provides equal opportunities for qualified persons in all aspects of institutional operations and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnic origin, religion, creed, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status, uniformed service, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information or social or economic status.

Any candidate offered a position may be required to pass pre-employment screenings as mandated by University of Kentucky Human Resources. These screenings may include a national background check and/or drug screen.