Fast Facts

WGU seeks a Principal Financial Analyst to drive strategic initiatives through advanced data analysis and project leadership, fostering innovation and supporting organizational goals.

Responsibilities: Lead cross-functional projects, manage budgets, develop business plans, oversee capital call processes, and conduct quantitative research for strategic decision-making.

Skills: Expertise in data science, advanced statistical methods, financial modeling, and exceptional communication skills are required.

Qualifications: Master's degree in business or finance and 10+ years of relevant experience; CFA designation preferred.

Location: Salt Lake City, UT, USA, with potential for up to 5 days a week in-office work.

Compensation: $133800 - $207300 / Annually

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Professional 314Pay Range: $133,800.00 - $207,300.00

Job Description

The Principal Financial Analyst will lead projects to support strategic initiatives in the department by mobilizing key stakeholders and executive-level decision makers and providing them with advanced data collection, analysis, and insight. These projects could include research, data analysis, thought leadership, change management, process design, development, facilitation, product development, and portfolio investment management. The Principal Financial Analyst will be expected to lead projects in an ambiguous environment with shifting priorities. The Principal Financial Analyst will work collaboratively across functions, internally and externally. This person in this role must understand the industry landscape, business strategy, finance, and concepts of disruption to help shape and drive deals and integration while offering data-driven intelligence to all projects and assignments. This role will support the advancement, alignment, and positioning of analytics capabilities and can pioneer multiple projects at the same time.

The individual in this position is a master at discovering actionable insights from multiple, large, and complex data sets. Critical to learning and educational attainment, this position conducts high-quality quantitative research channeling learning design and efforts and understanding our products’ real-world impact on learners. They also push the boundaries of the field, seeking new and innovative ways to extract meaning from digital data of all types.

This position is expected to bring strong quantitative skills, long-term and strategic thinking, and solid business judgment to evaluate the opportunities that we both respond to and cultivate ourselves. To be successful in this role, they will demonstrate strong general management and leadership capabilities and the ability to create, test, and pitch innovative business concepts. You will share in our collective responsibility to mentor others and drive the overall success of the team.

Primary Responsibilities:

Project Leadership and Initiative Support

• Leads and actively contribute to strategic, cross-functional project teams supporting key fund and organizational initiatives.
• Collaborates with initiative leaders to define project vision, objectives, and outcomes, ensuring alignment with overall funding goals.
• Manages project scope, timeline, budget, and stakeholder expectations through continuous communication and milestone prioritization.
• Oversees the execution of individual and team-based tasks to meet project deliverables on time and within budget.
• Develops and presents impactful presentations and communications for stakeholders, including the executive team, Board of Trustees, and external partners.
• Builds and executes business plans from concept through to funding and operational strategies, including portfolio modeling, market entry, and resource planning.
• Supports the development of business cases using financial and strategic analysis frameworks to evaluate investment opportunities.
• Designs capital and funding strategies; develop financial and valuation models, and support underwriting of funding facilities using diverse capital structures.
• Monitors financials, including annual budgets, periodic forecasts, and ongoing performance metrics for assigned entities.

Fund Operations and Capital Call Management

• Under the direction of the Fund Manager, manage and execute capital call processes in alignment with fund operations and legal agreements.
• Oversees the four key uses of capital calls:
• Working Capital
• Expenses
• Management Fees
• Equalization Payments and Interest
• Performs complex calculations for capital call allocations, fee adjustments, and equalization interest payments. Manages these calculations using advanced Excel models, sometimes requiring 100+ columns and rows depending on LP count and call history.
• Ensure compliance with the Limited Partnership Agreement (LPA) and side letters, working closely with legal counsel and fund administrators to validate each call's accuracy.
• Manages capital call data with high precision to support downstream processes such as:
• Capital account maintenance
• Reconciliation of historical calls
• Fund-level reporting and investor communications
• Collaborate with software vendors and internal data specialists to maintain structured, standardized data and reporting systems to reduce errors and inefficiencies.

Core Function Development and Optimization

• Collaborate with Managing Directors to build and enhance strategic and operational capabilities across key fund functions, such as:
• Big data and predictive modeling
• Market sizing and research
• Credit and financial risk modeling
• Business planning and initiative funding
• Drives innovation and efficiency in modeling and decision frameworks to optimize fund outcomes and resource allocation

Opportunity Exploration and Investment Support

• Conducts opportunity identification, research, and evaluation, including financial modeling, market analysis, and strategic fit assessment
• Develops internal investment memos and presentations for review by the executive team and Board.
• Supports investment process across due diligence, structuring, legal negotiations (LOIS, term sheets), and partnership development
• Collaborates across internal teams (legal, finance, communications, tax, technology, and investment) to ensure smooth execution of investment phases
• Prepares and manages investment marketing materials, roadshow logistics, and investor responses
• Maintains accurate and up-to-date investor tracking and feedback systems

Advanced Financial and Data Analysis

• Designs and conducts quantitative and qualitative research on student learning, fund impact, and other strategic domains
• Analyzes large datasets using traditional and advanced statistical methods, including machine learning and NLP techniques
• Develops intelligent tutor models and predictive simulations using Bayesian and other emerging methodologies
• Produces high-quality visualizations, reports and presentations for internal planning and external dissemination
• Continuously improves financial analysis tools, reporting structures, and KPIS for assigned organizations
• Interfaces with research teams and external partners to deliver impacting, evidence-based insights

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Data Science & Analytics

• Advanced expertise in handling structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data using R, Python, SQL, and other data tools.
• Proven ability to extract insights from large, complex datasets and public/open data sources, including social networking platforms.
• Deep knowledge of descriptive and inferential statistics; experienced in educational program evaluation, institutional research, and accreditation-related data analysis.
• Skilled in applying machine learning algorithms, including neural networks, decision trees, regression, factor analysis, association rules, and unsupervised learning methods.
• Competence in survey data analysis (frequencies, crosstabs, means) and qualitative research methods and best practices.
• Strong financial analysis and modeling abilities, including scenario modeling and interpreting market dynamics.

Communication & Research Translation

• Exceptional written and oral communication skills; ability to present complex findings clearly to lay, technical, and scholarly audiences.
• Adept at storytelling with data—able to convey emotionally and analytically compelling narratives using visuals and clear logic.
• Proven experience delivering research findings to inform decision-making and strategy in both internal and external settings.
• Exemplary writing and presentation skills tailored to audiences ranging from executive leadership to public stakeholders.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Ability to lead, motivate, and inspire individuals and teams in high-performance, fast-paced environments.
• Demonstrated success in establishing and managing professional relationships with cross-functional teams, senior leaders, external partners, and trustees.
• Skilled in sourcing, hiring, onboarding, and managing contract workers with professionalism and efficiency.
• Excellent organizational skills; comfortable managing multiple priorities and tasks simultaneously with minimal supervision.

Business Acumen & Innovation

• Strong strategic thinking and business concept development skills; ability to create, test, and pitch innovative proposals.
• Proficiency in financial planning, investment analysis, and market opportunity evaluation.
• Expertise in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint; quick learner of new software tools and platforms.
• Knowledge of higher education systems, governance, faculty structures, and learning design preferred.
• Familiarity with project management, product management, and agile/scrum methodologies is a plus.
• Ability to anticipate and interpret emerging social, political, cultural, and economic trends and translate them into actionable insights

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in business or finance from an accredited institution
• 10+ years of experience, specialized in finance, investment analysis and research or portfolio management including venture capital and/or private equity firm experience
• Experience presenting to and interacting with audiences of all levels, especially senior executives
• CFA designation or equivalent experience
• Proven proficiency in Microsoft Office products, especially Excel and VBA
• Ability to work in the Salt Lake City, UT office up to 5 days per week or as needed based upon business needs
• Ability to travel as required for the role

Preferred Qualifications:

• Operational experience in education
• Board observer experience preferred
• Working in portfolio management companies, both in equity and/or debt-focused
• Broad knowledge of project management

This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

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Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.