Assistant Director of Financial Operations

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: $83,000 - $90,000

Position Summary

Reporting to and working closely with the Associate Director of Financial Operations, the Assistant Director of Financial Operations serves as a central resource for the School’s client populations and operational units on financial policies and procedures. The scope of duties include reviewing, developing and submitting budgets into the University’s financial accounting system for client units and populations; performing budget analyses to assist in data-drive decision-making; and reconciling payroll and non-payroll expenses and submitting appropriate corrections to bring spending in line with established budgets.

Responsibilities

• Provides guidance to faculty, staff, and students by proactively managing and providing clear, timely, and University compliant solutions on a wide range of financial matters.  This includes serving as a resource to concentration directors and coordinators as needed.
• Budgets, reconciles, monitors, and reports on discretionary funding allocations for approximately 75 fulltime faculty members and 8 concentrations. Anticipates and takes actions to prevent overdrafts in academic program and faculty research accounts; performs financial analyses as needed.  Works closely with the Associate Director of Financial Operations on grant administration.
• As part of the HRF team, formulates annual budgets in the University’s Budget Tool (Finsys).  Assists with the annual budget submission process, quarterly updates, and other regular and ad hoc financial and reporting requirements.
• Working with the SIPA HR team, prepares reports and conducts data analytics on personnel and salary metrics for SIPA's annual budget submission to the Trustees.
• Generates salary histories, reconciles disbursements against ARC, and tracks and researches expenditures against master budgets. Working closely with the SIPA HR team, prepares reports on year over year and quarterly variances and assists in preparing feedback for submission to the Office of Management and Budget.
• Collects, reviews and submits quarterly and annual budget updates from affiliated Institutes, Centers and Programs into ARC (IGP, CWP, CIEP, Picker, etc.)
• Working closely with the Associate Director of Financial Operations, distributes revenue and expense reports for review and reconciliation to SIPA cost centers, Institutes, Programs and Centers and troubleshoots related issues as they arise.
• Reviews budget requests from School units for hourly employees (casual and Federal Work Study) and temporary staffing assignments, and updates ARC chartstrings as appropriate, flagging potential overdrafts to the Associate Director of Financial Operations.
• Working with the SIPA HR unit, clears suspense and submits payroll cost transfers and salary distributions for student and temp payments on a quarterly basis or as needed for sponsored projects.
• Liaises with other SIPA and CU offices to ensure compliance with all policies and procedures.
• Manages financial records retention in accordance with University guidelines.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and or its equivalent.
• Minimum of three years of full-time related experience in financial management.
• Demonstrated ability to prepare reports, summaries, and analyses of financial and HR data.
• Highly proficient use of Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
• Highly proficient with financial and human resources management systems such as PeopleSoft and ARC or similar systems.
• Must be detail-oriented with excellent organizational, critical thinking, interpersonal, written, and oral skills, and have the ability to communicate effectively with all client populations.  
• Must have good judgment and the ability to exercise initiative and discretion with highly confidential information.
• Must be able to identify priorities across multiple assignments in a fast-paced, high-volume environment, and work with diplomacy and efficiency.
• Must have a passion for excellent customer service and commitment to exceptional quality.
• The successful candidate will be flexible in nature with a collaborative style that fosters teamwork and cooperation across the team, School and University.

Preferred Qualifications

• Five+ years of directly related experience. 

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.