Business Manager

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Job description

Job Type: Officer of Administration

Bargaining Unit:

Regular/Temporary: Regular

Hours Per Week: 35

Salary Range: $80,000 - $95,000

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Academic Administration and Finance (DAAF) at the Department of English and Comparative Literature, the Business Manager manages and implements the financial, budgetary, and administrative operations of the department. The Department of English and Comparative Literature is a large, complex, and diverse department with 45 full-time faculty members; nearly 200 PhD and MA students; 200 undergraduate majors; and roughly 90 lecturers and adjuncts. The department is the appointment home and financial routing house for several highly active programs and centers, including the University Writing Program, the Writing Center, the Columbia Core, the Creative Writing Academy, the Center for Jazz Studies, and Theater and Performance. The department's faculty and graduate students regularly teach Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization. The research faculty is highly active, and they originate and develop a range of activities related to the public humanities. In many areas, we lead the field in showing the centrality of literary arts and methods as an engaged form of scholarly and public practice.

Responsibilities

Finance and Budget Operations

In close collaboration with the DAAF, creates budgets and manages the reconciliation of accounts and annual fiscal closing. Analyzes short and long-term revenue projections. Independently, performs budget analysis, identifies, and solves budgetary issues.

Develops spending reporting systems that best support the department's operations. Coordinates with the DAAF the creation of report templates and reporting tools. Generates and provides financial reports to the department's leadership, faculty, and external stakeholders.

Interprets and communicates financial policies to faculty and administrators and works together to ensure compliance.

Develops and implements practices and procedures to accommodate growing financial responsibilities and added partnerships. These include creating, documenting, and distributing internal policies, processes, and workflows, interpreting accounting and purchasing policies for domestic and international stakeholders, advising and making recommendations to faculty and administrators on travel and business expense reports, invoices, purchase orders, consultant contracts, and steps for nuanced requests.

Approves payment and procurement requests including check requests, purchase orders, requisitions, invoices, reimbursements, and travel and business expenses.

Ensures the timely submission of all required paperwork for vendor setup, wire requests, reimbursements, and invoice payments.

Independently identifies and reconciles payment discrepancies and/or disagreements between external vendors, the Office of Procurement, faculty, staff, and students.

In close collaboration with the DAAF and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences, performs quarterly reporting, fiscal year-end closing, budget tool submissions, and variance analysis.

Supervises a Financial Assistant.

Administrative Operations

Manages the hiring process and ensures compliance with human resources policies and procedures.

In collaboration with the International Students & Scholars Office (ISSO), handles the Visa application process.

Develops comprehensive onboarding processes and activities to acclimate new hires to the complex structure of the department.

Responsible for space management, oversees maintenance and repair of office equipment and furniture, and prepares and tracks facilities service requests.

Performs additional duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree and/or 3 years of equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in accounting or finance.

Knowledge of university financial policies and systems.

Experience in higher education financial administration.

Other Requirements

Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.

Ability to maintain high confidentiality and professionalism with a client focus.

Strong multi-tasking, prioritization, and organization skills.

Attention to detail, research, critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills.

Self-starter, a fast learner who can work independently under limited supervision.

Work well in an interactive team environment.

Working knowledge of database programs.

Ability to interpret accounting and purchasing policies.

Capacity to build morale and group commitments to objectives.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

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

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