Finance Specialist III - Innovation Lab for Crop Management

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Position Summary

While position responsibilities vary, every member of our community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a psychologically healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative, collaborative, open, and welcoming; showing respect, compassion, and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting work/life integration of oneself and others.

Cornell University's School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS) is seeking a Business Manager to provide financial and administrative leadership for the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Crop Improvement (ILCI). The vision for ILCI is to serve as a support system for national agricultural research institutions in target regions to identify, develop, pilot and transfer appropriate tools, technologies and methods, equipping them to deliver increased genetic gain and new varieties for key product profiles that advance economic growth, resilience and nutritional development goals of the US Government's Global Food Security Strategy. ILCI started in 2019 with a five-year, $25 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is expected to be renewed in 2024 for an additional $25 million over five years, with possible associate awards and buy-ins increasing the total award amount to $40 million. The ILCI program works with researchers at US-based universities, collaborating with local partners in more than nine countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, with potential to expand to additional countries and regions.

The Business Manager will report to the Section Head of Plant Breeding, with a dotted line reporting relationship to the Assistant Director of Finance and Budget, who provides financial oversight for all of SIPS. The Business Manager will be responsible for managing financial and contracting aspects of the ILCI program. This position will be responsible for managing a large number of subcontracts - potentially 25 or more -with far-flung institutions across the world, in various time zones. Furthermore, Feed the Future Innovation Labs, such as ILCI, act as their own grant-making bodies, requiring frequent contract and subcontract amendments, which the Business Manager is responsible for managing. The Business Manager position will involve close collaboration with programmatic and institutional leadership at partner institutions, domestically and abroad; success in this role will require mastering key actors, roles and institutions, as well as a working understanding of the operational scope for each subcontract. ILCI's award is a Cooperative Agreement with the donor; the position will require close communication and collaboration with relevant program officers and administrators at USAID, and mastery of relevant policy and compliance aspects of ILCI's award.

The Business Manager will be the primary liaison between ILCI's Management Entity (ME) and relevant offices at Cornell related to administration of the grant, i.e., the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), the CALS Office of Sponsored Research, the Business Service Center (BSC), etc. As part of the program's ME, the Business Manager will work closely with other key leadership and administrative roles on the program, including the Program Director, Associate Director(s), Program Manager, and other roles to be determined. This hybrid (remote / in-person) position requires an ability to work independently yet as an integral part of the management and broader project teams; discipline, communication, responsiveness and motivation are key elements to success.

Visa sponsorship and relocation assistance are not available for this position. This is a fixed-term position with the possibility of renewal annually through 9/24/2029, contingent on successful performance and continued funding.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 3 to 5 years relevant experience or equivalent combination.
• Strong working knowledge of budgeting and accounting policies and practices, grant and contract management, personnel policies and procedures
• Ability to create and manage financial reports, to project expenses and revenue, and to explain these reports/outcomes to others.
• Superior knowledge of spreadsheet creation and management using MS Excel
• Strong working experience with financial and contracting software platforms, e.g., RASS, Kuali, etc.
• Proven experience managing contracts and subcontracts
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Self-motivated, highly organized, and able to consistently deliver against expectations
• Strong interpersonal skills and a demonstrated ability to communicate with a broad range of people, from diverse backgrounds
• Attention to detail and organizational skills; ability to effectively manage a large, complex project with dozens of subcontracts and institutional partners in multiple countries
• Ability to work quickly, effectively under pressure, to use judgment in accomplishing tasks that are of urgent, sensitive, or confidential nature
• Comfort in working in an environment where change in process/procedures is the norm
• Possess strong professional writing skills
• Experience in and/or demonstrated commitment to supporting diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and wellbeing.
• Experience working directly with people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds
• Must be willing and able to travel domestically and internationally to meet with project partners, including principal investigators, financial officers, and institutional leadership in ILCI project counties; travel may be on short notice, and may require multiple trips per year, approximately one to two weeks in duration each Maintain a valid passport; acquire visas as needed for specific travel

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in financial or business administration
• Proven experience working in sponsored research / grant management within higher education institutions
• Proficient in use of specific Cornell administrative and financial computer applications such as Kuali Financial System, IDR dashboards, and Workday.
• Knowledge of the donor community for international agricultural research projects, in particular prior experience working with projects or programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Prior experience working with national agricultural research institutions outside the United States, particularly with organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa and / or Latin America
• Working knowledge of French, Spanish or Portuguese

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