Director of Finance and Administration

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $115,000- $145,000

Position Summary

Reporting to the Department Chair, the Director of Finance and Administration is the senior administrative and financial officer for the Electrical Engineering Department in The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) and as such, is responsible for the overall financial management and administrative operations of the Department. The Director provides active, hands-on leadership of the EE Department's financial activities, including budgeting and financial planning, expense reconciliation, closing, reporting, and internal controls; leads the department's Human Resources and Faculty Affairs programs, including the recruitment, and onboarding of faculty, researchers, and administrative staff; engages in hands-on training, coaching, counseling, and team-building within the administrative staff; promotes innovation, documentation of SOPs, and optimization of departmental efficiency; oversees academic administration in close collaboration with the Student Services team; oversees the department's facilities needs and external relations activities; and performs other duties as assigned.

Responsibilities

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  (40%) Financial Planning, Budgeting, Reporting, and Internal Controls:

  
  
  
  
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    Budgeting and Financial Planning. Provides strategic financial planning and forecasting to the Chair by capturing and analyzing data to inform financial decisions of the Department. Utilizes budget analyses and modeling to forecast future financial needs/resources. Responsible for budget submission and other regular and ad hoc reporting.

    
    
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    Expense Reconciliation: Assumes overall responsibility for managing the Department's administrative budget, including gift projects, discretionary projects, and pre-and post-award grants and projects connected with any special programs. Responsible for ensuring monthly reconciliation of departmental accounts, and of oversight of the reconciliation of sponsored projects to prevent overdrafts. Investigates and resolve variances, and recommend budget modifications to adjust spending levels.

    
    
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    Payroll: Collaborates with the Operations Manager in the allocation of payroll expenses for faculty, researchers, students, and casuals. Manage the cyclical submission of graduate students' tuition, fees, and stipend payments. Responsible for maintaining suspense costs to a minimum. Provide oversight of all payroll activities, including salary allocations, cost transfers, payroll reconciliation, and overpayment recoveries.

    
    
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    Internal Controls. Provides oversight and direction for the department's financial transactions and accounting practices. Designs, implements, and monitors financial reporting and control systems. Establishes departmental financial policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Ensures compliance with departmental, SEAS, and University policies and procedures, as well as external rules and regulations from sponsoring agencies and legal and regulatory authorities. Approves high-dollar threshold transactions and provides ad hoc approvals. Coordinates with SEAS Finance, CU Internal Audit, SPA/SPF, and other internal stakeholders to comply with any audit requirements. Approver of reconciled departmental P-Card transactions.

    
    
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    Closing and Reporting. Provides guidance and direction to departmental financial staff and works in close collaboration with the SEAS Finance team to complete all year-end transactions for the Department.

    
    
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    Surveys: Responsible for responding to annual survey requests, which include student enrollment and demographic data, faculty count, educational data, and other analytics.

    
    
    
  
  
  
  
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  (30%) Human Resources, Faculty Affairs, and Administration:

  
  
  
  
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    Administrative Staffing. Responsible for the recruitment, selection, onboarding, training, and supervision of departmental Officers of Administration and Support Staff. Monitors utilization of casuals and agency temporary staff.

    
    
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    Faculty Recruitment and Onboarding: Leads departmental recruiting and onboarding efforts for new faculty. Collaborates with departmental Search Committees, SEAS Human Resources, the SEAS Financial Office, and other colleagues in the Dean's Office to ensure the timely, effective onboarding of new Officers of Instruction and Research. Manages recruitment and selection processes in the Jobs at Columbia (J@C) and Recruitment of Academic Personnel System (RAPS), including coordination of external advertising. Ensures compliance with School and University protocols for Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Assists new faculty and researchers to connect with designated representatives for benefits, relocation, housing, child tuition, and other transitional matters.

    
    
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    Promotion and Tenure. Provides general administrative support to process faculty promotion and tenure cases, working in close collaboration with faculty committees, the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Human Resources, and the Associate Provost for Academic Appointments.

    
    
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    Personnel Transactions. Reviews and approves all departmental Personnel Action Forms (PAFs) and nomination forms for full- and part-time Officers of Instruction, Research, and Administration, for Support staff, and student officers and casuals.

    
    
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    Employee & Labor Relations. Collaborates closely with SEAS Human Resources and CUHR Labor Relations to ensure proper administration of the collective bargaining agreement, and to avoid and address labor-related grievances and disputes. Monitors staff interactions and collaborations to ensure a positive working environment and to ensure effective conflict resolution.

    
    
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    Safety. Works closely with the Business Manager, the Dean's Office, and Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) to ensure safe working practices and environments in accordance with university policies and Occupational Safety and Health rules and regulations. Collaborates with SEAS HR to ensure prompt reporting of workplace accidents, injuries, and illnesses.

    
    
    
  
  
  
  
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  (10%) Staff Training, Development, and Leadership:

  
  
  
  
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    Hands-on Leadership. Demonstrates day-to-day leadership and guidance to staff by proactively managing and providing clear, timely, and university-compliant solutions on various administrative and financial matters.

    
    
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    Development and Documentation of SOPs. Works with staff to document workplace procedures and processes and to optimize efficiency through standardization.

    
    
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    Training and Professional Development. Provides training and instruction for new departmental staff, and ensures that staff members are appraised of relevant changes in departmental, School, and University procedures and policies. Designs systems for cross-training, peer coaching, and mentoring to promote skill development and career progression for departmental staff. Proposes opportunities for recognition of staff achievements.

    
    
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    Staff Collaboration. Leads regular staff meetings as a forum for disseminating information and promoting staff collaboration, particularly for cross-functional projects. Assigns teams to address departmental goals and objectives.

    
    
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    Innovation and Continuous Improvement. Proactively collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to enhance operating efficiencies through recommended process improvements. Promotes a departmental culture of innovation, advancement, and continuous improvement.

    
    
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    Performance Management. Coaches, counsels, mentors, and implements corrective action to address performance deficiencies. Completes performance evaluations and partners with staff to implement and monitor progress toward S.M.A.R.T. Goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound).

    
    
    
  
  
  
  
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  (10%) Academic Administration: provides oversight of the Student Affairs functions of the Department. Works closely with the Director of Student Affairs and the Department Chair to review accreditation, admissions, registration, advising, curricular planning, curriculum proposal, faculty teaching schedules, class times, and room assignments; engages in planning new program initiatives and oversees their implementation. Monitors international hiring through Student Affairs, liaising as needed with the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) to obtain visas, visa renewals, housing, and related needs. Create an annual presentation reflecting student data across all programs by semester.

  
  
  
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  (5%) Oversight of Facilities and External Relations: provides oversight of departmental facilities projects in collaboration with SEAS Facilities and the Business Manager. Supervises the Publicity Coordinator and oversees departmental media and external relations. Collaborates with other University offices and departments as needed to ensure the effective operation of the department.

  
  
  
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  (5%) Performs other tasks, duties, and responsibilities as assigned

  
  

Minimum Qualifications

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  Bachelor's Degree is required, with a preference for training in Business Administration, Human Resources, Finance, Accounting, or other relevant fields. Advanced degree desirable (e.g., MBA, MPA). Minimum of 5 to 7 years of substantial hands-on experience in financial administration and supervisory/management experience is required.

  
  
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  Background in budgeting, accounting, and contract administration is highly desirable. Experience in higher education or other large, complex institutions preferred. Familiarity with Columbia financial systems, particularly the Accounting at Columbia (ARC) system, is preferred. Experience with running financial reports for project reconciliation, budgeting in the University Budget Tool, handling labor accounting in People @ Columbia (PAC), working in the Financial Front End (FFE) and RASCAL systems, and performing affirmative action employment searches in the Recruitment of Academic Personnel System (RAPS) is desired.

  
  
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  Must have, or be able to acquire quickly, detailed knowledge of University policies, procedures, and systems. Extensive experience with grants is highly preferred, including a thorough knowledge of internal policies and external regulations governing sponsored projects and grant research compliance, as well as procedures and systems for pre- and post-award financial management.

  
  
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  Must have excellent interpersonal, communication, organizational, and leadership skills. The ability to establish priorities, work under pressure, and exercise independent judgment and discretion is necessary. The ability to react quickly and effectively to other inquiries from various management levels with comprehensive and accurate information in a wide variety of contexts and changing priorities is needed. Must be detail-oriented and possess quantitative skills with a high degree of proficiency in spreadsheets using Excel. Must have strong proficiency with MS Office.

  
  
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  A positive, forward-thinking, mission-oriented attitude and a sense of humor are a must.

  
  

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

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