"Director of Fiscal Operations"

Job Description Summary

The Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) provides the expertise, business process, policies and standards required to plan, design, construct, operate, maintain and renew the physical assets of the University, excluding the health system. In addition, the Division, comprised of approximately five Departments, is responsible for the strategic planning, management and operation of non-academic University property, and collaborating with the neighborhood to create a safe and economically vibrant destination. With close to 12M square feet of space, FRES maintains 186 buildings on a campus of 276 acres, completes over 60,000 maintenance requests per year, and starts approximately 250 projects a year. FRES is comprised of the following Departments: Administration, Office of the University Architect, Design and Construction, Real Estate, Operations, and Maintenance.

The University of Pennsylvania is implementing a campus transformation entitled Penn Connects. This comprehensive, award winning effort is expanding the campus over the next 20 years, including the construction of new academic research and recreational facilities. In addition, the University has secured $300M in Century Bond funding and continues to upgrade existing facilities over the coming years. https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/

Job Description

Reporting to the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, the Director of Fiscal Operations acts as the Controller for FRES and provides leadership for accounting and administration for 186 buildings and a $200M operations and maintenance budget; procurement administration of about 30 contracts valued at $12M; and weekly and monthly payroll functions for approximately 1100 employees, including union and non-union staff. This position is responsible for 2 direct reports and 9 staff and is critical to the success of all FRES back-office accounting and procurement functions. As such, the professional is required to have strong leadership skills to effectively manage people, processes, and customer service interactions with many University organizations, both internal and external to FRES, as well as changes to information technology systems required to complete work. In addition to managing the day-to-day functions of such a group, the Director of Fiscal Operations ensures appropriate accounting treatment of all transactions that occur in the organization, proper procedures that adhere to audit requirements for accounting and recording, best practices for all accounting system implementations and upgrades, and the development and implementation of solid sourcing strategies across the organization. Professional will evaluate proper internal controls; ensure timeliness and accuracy of internal and external reporting; and make key contributions in budgeting and forecasting.

This position is the Liaison to the Comptroller's Office to supply annual building costs used for allocation purposes. In addition to the ongoing performance of the department, s/he is responsible for all human resource functions related to Fiscal Operations staff, including hiring, training, employee development, formal performance management process, and employee engagement while fostering a collaborative work environment.

Job Responsibilities

• Provide accounting and administration leadership for $200M operations and maintenance budget for 186 buildings and procurement management of about 30 contracts with $12M of annual spending.
• Weekly and monthly payroll functions for 1100 employees including union and non-union staff
• This position is responsible for 2 direct reports and 9 staff and is critical to the success of all FRES back-office accounting and procurement functions.
• Strong leadership skills to effectively manage people, processes and customer service interactions with many University organizations both internal and external to FRES
• Oversees changes to information technology systems required to complete work and ensures appropriate accounting treatment of all transactions that occur in the organization, proper procedures that adhere to audit requirements for accounting and recording, best practices for all accounting system implementations and upgrades and the development and implementation of solid sourcing strategies across the organization.
• Evaluate proper internal controls; ensure timeliness and accuracy of internal and external reporting. Make key contributions in budgeting, forecasting and systems development and implementation.
• Liaison to the Comptroller's Office to supply annual building costs used for allocation purposes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting or related discipline required
• 7 - 10 years of Accounting, Payroll, or Financial Management experience required
• Demonstrated proficiency with enterprise accounting / financial management, payroll and procurement software system packages, and intermediate Microsoft Office Suite, Excel, Word, Access and PowerPoint required
• Supervisory experience required, inclusive of training, motivating and evaluating multiple levels of staff
• Strong oral and written communication skills as well as proven analytical and problem solving ability
• Demonstrated ability to apply Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Facilities and Real Estate Services