Budget and Administrative Specialist

Founded in 1880, the University of Southern California (USC) is a leading private research university located in the heart of Los Angeles and the city's largest private employer. As a member of the USC community, you will join a world-class institution and become part of the Trojan Family, a community of faculty, staff, students, and alumni dedicated to advancing knowledge, discovery, and innovation.

The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is the university's largest and oldest academic unit and serves as its academic core. USC Dornsife advances knowledge and provides educational opportunities across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Through a divisional framework, Dornsife's Academic Services Hubs provide specialized administrative and operational support to approximately 35 academic departments across the college. Each hub supports a designated academic division, tailoring services to the needs of its departments and their faculty, staff, and students.

The mission of the Academic Services Hubs is to deliver responsive, coordinated, and high-quality support that strengthens academic operations and fosters faculty success, instructional excellence, and research engagement.

The USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is seeking a Budget and Administrative Specialist for the Physical Sciences and Math Academic Services Hub. This position monitors, reconciles, analyzes, and reports on budget activity while providing financial and operational support to departments within the Physical Sciences and Math division.

Working collaboratively with department leadership, faculty, staff, university financial offices, and external vendors, the Budget and Administrative Specialist helps ensure that financial transactions, purchasing, agreements, and related operational processes are completed accurately, efficiently, and in accordance with university policies and procedures. The successful candidate will be analytical, highly organized, service-oriented, and skilled at managing multiple priorities and deadlines in a dynamic academic environment.

Responsibilities:

The responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to the following:

Budget Monitoring, Reconciliation, and Reporting

• Administer assigned departmental budgets by tracking balances, monitoring income and expenses, and running recurring and ad hoc financial reports.
• Reconcile account balances and financial activity to university records, research discrepancies, initiate correcting entries, and coordinate year-end financial transfer and closing activities.
• Analyze budget performance, variances, and trends; develop projections; and bring issues and recommended actions to the attention of the appropriate supervisor or department leadership.
• Compile and organize financial data to support short- and long-term budget planning, forecasts, and budget adjustments.

Financial Transactions, Purchasing, and Supplier Support

• Coordinate large purchases for faculty research and other approved departmental needs, ensuring appropriate documentation, approvals, and compliance with university requirements.
• Coordinate purchasing activities, interface with vendors, onboard suppliers, and support the issuance and payment of honoraria.
• Process or support faculty and staff reimbursements, including assisting with backlogs and resolving transaction-related questions.
• Provide financial guidance to faculty and staff on purchasing, travel, reimbursements, and other university financial policies and procedures.

Agreements, Invoicing, and Specialized Departmental Support

• Serve as the lead point of contact for independent contractor agreements and professional services agreements across supported departments, coordinating each agreement from initial setup through purchase order creation and payment in conjunction with college and university partners.
• Manage financing and invoicing activities for the Earth Sciences Plasma Center and fleet vehicles, including related Fleet Business System processes.
• Troubleshoot financial and operational issues by researching relevant information and partnering with appropriate university offices and stakeholders to achieve timely resolution.

Event and Operational Coordination

• Coordinate the financial and administrative components of large departmental events, including multi-day conferences, workshops, and summer programs.
• Manage event budgets and pre-approvals, catering orders, room reservations, purchasing, vendor coordination, and related financial documentation in collaboration with faculty, staff, and university partners.
• Identify opportunities to improve financial and administrative workflows, standardize processes, and enhance service delivery across supported departments.
• Perform other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Performs other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least one year of relevant experience. Combined experience and education may substitute for the minimum education requirement.
• Budget experience and knowledge of business administration, accounting, government accounting, or fund accounting principles.
• Strong computer skills, including experience using automated spreadsheets to organize, analyze, and report financial information.
• Demonstrated ability to reconcile financial activity, analyze variances, maintain accurate records, and manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Strong written, verbal, interpersonal, problem-solving, and customer service skills, with the ability to work effectively with diverse stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two or more years of relevant budget, business analysis, accounting, or financial administration experience.
• Experience working in higher education, particularly in an academic department, research environment, or shared-services setting.
• Knowledge of university financial systems, purchasing procedures, supplier onboarding, reimbursements, contracts, grants, and financial policies.
• Experience coordinating independent contractor agreements, professional services agreements, purchase orders, invoicing, honoraria, and vendor payments.
• Experience supporting complex events or programs with responsibility for budgets, approvals, purchasing, vendors, and logistics.
• Ability to work independently, collaborate across teams, and handle confidential or sensitive information with discretion.

Hourly Range

The hourly rate range for is $39.03 - $43.47. When extending an offer of employment, USC considers factors including the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education and training, key skills, internal peer alignment, applicable federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, and external market and organizational considerations.

Work Arrangement: This is a 100% full-time, on-site/on-campus position.

Required Documents and Additional Information:

• Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of (5) five business days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.

• To support the well-being of our faculty and staff, USC provides benefits-eligible employees with a broad range of perks to help protect their and their dependents' health, wealth, and future. These benefits are available as part of the overall compensation and total rewards package. You can learn more about USC's comprehensive benefitshere.