Job Description

Pay Grade: 35E

Context of the Job:

Context of the Job:Reporting to the Dean of the College of Engineering, the Senior Business Officer (SBO) serves as the Chief Financial & Administrative Officer of the College of Engineering (COE). The SBO is responsible for the organization, direction, and management of all administrative and business services, including budget and planning, human resources, facilties management, grant administration, procurement, and information technology. The SBO is responsible for significant contributions to institutional planning and operational strategy development.As the functioning Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, the SBO also has general oversight and accountability for 100+ administrative staff in various college units and academic departments who contribute to the performance of financial and administrative functions, which requires the close collaboration with Associate Deans, Department Chairs, and Center Directors. The SBO supports the Dean in ensuring effective use of the COE budget of approximately $140 million with research expenditures exceeding $80M annually.

Major Responsibilities:

Executive Leadership

• Participate in the development and implementation of COEs overall strategic goals, objectives, priorities, plans and initiatives.
• Lead the development of COEs finance and administration vision and strategy, with a focus on operational excellence.
• Advise the College Leadership of financial and administrative opportunities and risks.
• At the direction of the Dean, and in close collaboration with Associate Deans and Department Chairs, develop and present budget summaries and projections to College and University to inform the strategic activities of the COE.
• Lead and serve on University steering committees and task forces. Serve as a change agent for positive impact across the College and the University.

Budget & Planning

• Oversee the management and stewardship of financial resources for all departments within COE. Analyze, prepare and present long-term financial and operational projections and plans at the direction of the Dean.
• Working in close collaboration with college unit leadership, identify and assess revenue growth opportunities for COE, and closely monitor and contain costs.
• Develop new systems, policies, and practices to increase the operational excellence of departmental financial operations.
• Manage financial and operational risk through the development, implementation and maintenance of a comprehensive system of internal controls and associated measures.
• Ensure compliance with applicable University policies and procedures to ensure compliance with government rules and regulations pertaining to accounting procedures and related business operations.
• Lead the Colleges business intelligence efforts to ensure that strategic decisions are data-informed.
• Liaise with appropriate University offices to ensure COE financial and business-related policies and practices are compliant with University goals and regulations.

Human Resources

• Collaborate with the HR Director on management of human resources related activities for the college.
• Collaborate with University Human Resources partners to ensure adherence to relevant policies and procedures related to faculty and staff.
• Foster and promote a strong culture of collegiality and respect for all.
• Advise and mediate in the resolution of personnel management problems.
• Liaise with University Human Resources and Employee/Labor Relations in faculty and staff matters to ensure COE policies and practices are compliant with industry standards and aligned with University goals.

Information Technology

• Lead the information technology strategy and operations in the COE, including infrastructure planning.
• Determine appropriate funding strategy for technology initiatives necessary to meet the teaching, administration, and research needs of COE.
• Lead technology governance alignment within the Deans Office and across the College, participating in discussion with central units accordingly.
• Through close collaboration with the College IT Director, ensure development and implementation of current technology consistent with industry directions in the delivery of IT services, with an emphasis operational excellence.
• Liaise with University Information Technology to ensure that COE IT policies and practices are aligned with University goals and infrastructure.

Facilities Management

• Establish and maintain policies and procedures affecting the operation and support of COE buildings and related facilities services. Develop and maintain an asset management system to effectively oversee space inventory and space planning within COE.
• Liaise with the Associate Dean for Research & Entrepreneurship and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to ensure appropriate space allocation among the College units.
• In collaboration with FREAS and assigned Project Managers, provide direct oversight for COE capital projects and other renovation activities.
• Liaise with University Facilities Management to ensure appropriate maintenance and upkeep of all COE-assigned instructional, research, and office space.
• Research Administration Work with the Associate Dean for Research & Entrepreneurship and faculty to foster a cooperative environment conducive to fundraising for sponsored research and entrepreneurial activities.
• Oversee research administration operations relating to COE faculty as provided by COEs Office of Research Administration.
• Oversee the development and implementation of procedures related to research administration matters across COE, including proposal development, post-award management and strategic research support.
• Stay current with applicable government rules and regulations pertaining to research administration matters.
• Liaise with University Research Office on research administration matters to ensure COE policies and practices are aligned with University goals.

Staff Development

• Lead the continued recruitment of a world-class finance and administration team.
• Retain and develop the finance and administration team through coaching, mentorship and training.
• Set clear objectives and success metrics for those on the finance and administration team.
• Lead and continue to develop the CoE Research Administration, Facilities, IT, Procurement & HR teams through coaching, mentorship and training.
• Identify skill gaps and create development plans to address as appropriate.
• Assess overall satisfaction across the COE community to ensure optimal delivery of services.
• Liaise with the College units to determine appropriate staffing is available to meet the service deliverables.

Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in business administration, accounting, finance, or related field and eight years of progressively responsible professional management experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Knowledge and experience with financial and budget planning preferably in higher education.
• Strategic vision and operational knowledge, and the ability to be flexible and adaptable, revising strategy as necessary.
• Ability to successfully anticipate market trends and leverage knowledge to advance the organization.
• Excellent personnel management skills including experience in recruitment, development, and management of a strong staff.
• Ability to translate vision into actionable, quantitative plans with ambitious but accessible targets.
• Ability to drive projects and plans to completion.
• Experience in planning and human resource management.
• Ability to conduct complex analysis of financial data.
• Ability to forecast and assess financial impact of proposed plans and projects.
• Effective organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to manage key relationships and create networks of people to accomplish objectives.
• Unquestioned personal and professional integrity.
• Ability to interpret, adapt and apply guidelines and procedures, with specific objectives.
• Ability to plan, organize, implement, evaluate and modify administrative support requirements.
• Ability to develop and implement new strategies and procedures, with effective resource allocation.
• Strong analytical capabilities and technical skills, including the use of management systems technologies, relational databases and spreadsheets.
• Familiarity with University policies and procedures desired.
• Ability to analyze financial data and prepare financial reports, gather and analyze statistical data and generate reports, statements and/or projections.
• Supervisory skills with ability to mentor a diverse work force. 

Job Tags

Similar Jobs