• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: $65,000 to $70,000

Position Summary

Columbia University School of Engineering is seeking a one year, full time Finance and Grants Analyst to join the Grants Team of the Computer Science Department. Reporting to the Associate Director of Grants and Finance, the Finance and Grants Analyst provides support for restricted and unrestricted pre award and post award administrative activities of the Department of Computer Science, exercising independent judgment within established University and sponsor policies to interpret routine requirements, prioritize requests, and recommend compliant solutions.

Responsibilities

Post Award Support grants and unrestricted funding sources 65 %

Restricted and unrestricted account management

• Work closely with the Associate Director of Grants and Finance, the Grants Team, the Payroll team, and faculty in the effective administration and management of restricted and unrestricted sources.
• Prepare quarterly grants attestations and financial analyses to identify and forecast spending trends that may exceed funding levels; recommend budget modifications and strategies to manage spending and mitigate risk; review and close open commitments; and clear overruns in consultation with senior staff.
• Interface regularly with SPA, SPF, and the SEAS Dean’s Offices to prepare and submit budgetary changes and updates, including modifications of subaward budgets for increments and similar actions, start up arrangements, and other faculty support sources; determine appropriate documentation and routing.
• Work with departmental finance and business operations staff to initiate day to day transactions journals, payroll accounting and suspense clearance, accounts receivable, and accounts payable, ensuring business purpose and allowability are documented.
• Conduct periodic and ad hoc analyses and reporting to the department and School; present findings and recommended next steps for review.

Pre Award Support grants and unrestricted funding sources 25%

• Set up awards, contracts, and subawards, applying sponsor and University guidance and resolving routine discrepancies before routing for approval.
•  Work with Grants and Finance, the Dean’s Office, and SPA to establish new accounts and revise existing accounts in a timely manner, recommending appropriate chartstrings and budget structures within delegated limits.
•  Maintain and update school wide and departmental templates, checklists, and the pre award filing system; propose improvements to streamline workflow.
• Analyze Notices of Award to verify award and obligated amounts against proposal records, confirm adherence to funded proposal budgets and agency regulations, and recommend corrective actions where variances are identified.

Sponsored Awards Reporting and Deliverables-

• Work with PIs to ensure progress reports are prepared and submitted per sponsoring agency requirements; interpret routine instructions, create timelines, and escalate only complex policy questions.
• Under the direction of the Associate Director of Grants and Finance, triage the shared email system and internal administrative calendar to ensure incoming requests are managed efficiently, independently resolving standard items and routing higher risk issues as needed.

Other post award administrative duties 10 %

• Subcontracts: assist in the preparation, submission, tracking, invoicing, and final closeout of subawards; identify missing elements and request corrections from partners.
• Annual effort certification: assist the grants team with the annual effort certification process; monitor status and resolve routine exceptions before escalation.
• Closeout: support the post award closeout process, including calculating cost share, preparing and submitting financial reconciliations for project or fiscal year end SPF validation and agency required schedules; recommend final adjustments within established thresholds.
• Compliance and records management: work with the Associate Director of Grants and Finance to ensure financial activities are compliant with University and agency guidelines; maintain complete, accurate, and audit ready records, files, and documents.
• Assist with the review and clearance of payroll suspense; identify incorrect salary charges, research errors, and implement corrections using Labor Accounting and ARC. Initiate electronic salary transactions in ARC including cost transfers, salary distributions, and additional compensation within delegated authority.
• Perform financial activities including salary distributions, cost transfers, and Internal Transfer Journals ITFs, ensuring appropriate backup and approvals.
• Maintain accurate, complete, and timely financial data using multiple applications; prepare and clean data for monthly and quarterly reports, flagging variances and proposing remedies.
• Meet regularly with managers and program staff to confirm expenses are charged properly and projects are progressing in accordance with budgets; recommend adjustments when needed.
• Track financial commitments versus actual expenditures; alert stakeholders to emerging risks and propose corrective actions.
• Assist with generating and maintaining funding plans for 20 plus faculty and, in close collaboration with the Payroll Team, ensure plans are implemented accurately and on time; recommend updates to address staffing or funding changes.
  Perform other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree and/or its equivalent is required, with a preference for training in a technical field or scientific/technical writing, finance, accounting, or other relevant fields.
• Minimum 1 to 2 years of related experience in Finance administration.
• Must have the ability to utilize sound fiscal accounting practices and have analytical skills to prepare necessary reports.
• Mid to advanced knowledge of MS Excel including the creation of pivot tables and the use of formulas to create reports and analyze variances on a variety of data sets.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, interpersonal, oral and written communication skills.
• Experience in higher education or other large, complex institutions is desirable. Familiarity with Columbia financial systems.
• Must have excellent interpersonal, communication, and organizational skills. Ability to establish priorities, work under pressure, and exercise independent judgment and discretion is necessary. Ability to react quickly and effectively to other inquiries from a variety of management levels with comprehensive and accurate information in a wide variety of contexts and changing priorities is needed. Positive, forward-thinking, mission-oriented attitude and sense of humor a must.

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of applicable federal, state, and other sponsor regulation related to sponsored projects, including OMB Uniform Guidance, and knowledge of Columbia policies governing sponsored projects and grant research compliance, and internal procedures and systems for pre- and post-award financial management is preferred.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

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