"Director of Operations"

Job Details

The Department of Psychology in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) invites applications for the Director of Operations. The Department of Psychology is an innovative unit in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences with a robust research portfolio and is a diverse department with almost 50 faculty members from varying backgrounds. The department serves a student body of over 1,700 undergraduate students and over 130 graduate students.

The Director of Operations has significant leadership and operational management responsibilities. This individual provides leadership for the management and coordination of the department’s complex state, research (direct and indirect), student fee and foundation accounts including oversight and leadership overseeing a $10 to 12M+/year federal grant portfolio, ensuring fiscal team compliance with Commonwealth and university policies as well as grant requirements and guidelines. The position reports to the Chair of the Department of Psychology, and partners with CHS fiscal and sponsored programs leadership.

The role provides key leadership for the department, and interfaces with other leaders in the department and institution on setting the unit’s strategic agenda, with key attention to fiscal resources and policies, including working with the leadership team to establish and manage the annual budget. The individual is responsible for providing high-quality sponsored programs leadership, finance, accounting, budgeting, forecasting and procurement leadership, administrative coordination and team management for the Department.

The role will coordinate with principal investigators, supporting timely and efficient faculty access to research and professional development support, providing leadership for the effective management of graduate student tuition and stipend resources and payments, and engaging with other intersecting administrative leaders in the department and College (e.g., HR, central fiscal and grants admin). This position leads a team with post award grant responsibilities (e.g., award verification, NCEs, prior approvals, re-budgeting, index reconciliation, coordinating closeout paperwork, and etc.) that maintains records for, and collaborates with, CHS-SPO as needed on proposal development and submission (e.g. budget development, review/interpretation of funding announcements, coordinating proposal submissions, and etc.).

The position ensures necessary support and budget/expenditure oversight for assigned projects including oversight of grants and contracts funding and support of appropriate personnel actions, purchasing, monthly reconciliation, budget status, monitoring for unallowable costs, administrative actions, and other reporting requirements, etc. Coordinates and assists with post-award actions including NCEs, prior approval requests, re-budgeting requests, and etc. Assists and supports their team in resolving grant accounting issues by working collaboratively with department and university office staff. Communicates with external sources to discuss financial processes or issues related to assigned grants/contracts.

Typical Duties

• The Director of Operations ensures daily fiscal planning and operations of the Department of Psychology are promptly carried out following established policies and procedures
• Serves on the Departmental Leadership Team (Chair, Associate Chair, Director of Operations, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of Academic Operations) to advise and support strategic department planning
• Ensures departmental resources are effectively managed to support the mission and faculty, staff, and students
• Oversees departmental post-awards activities including supervision of two post-awards staff and coordinates with departmental and College fiscal, sponsored programs and HR team members.
• Responsible for oversight of all financial transactions of the unit across funding sources: E&G, sponsored awards, and foundation accounts
• Serves as the Primary Effort Coordinator for the department
• Point of contact for department audits
• Works with Chair on annual budget process

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 5 to 7 years of relevant research and/or fiscal/business experience, or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience
• Supervision and leadership experience in administration and leadership of teams, including support of team member’s skill building and professional development
• Experience with post-award management of sponsored research processes across federal, state, local and internal funding streams
• Extensive budgetary development experience, with emphasis on financial analytics, and the demonstrated ability to work effectively with complex budgets, analyze data and produce summary reports for a variety of audiences
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute a department strategic plan to include multi-prong stakeholders through fiscal and administrative operations, data analysis of an annual operational budget, the departmental research portfolio, and foundation accounts
• Demonstrated ability to independently problem solve using sound judgment, discretion, and with nimble and creative solutions
• Demonstrated experience working in and fostering an environment of respect, professionalism, and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from various backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a member of VCU
• Demonstrated leadership style of team-based approach to effectively coordinate the Psychology Service Center as an example of a positive, team-based workplace environment
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize work and handle multiple tasks
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree and seven years of progressive experience; or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience in research administration and leadership and/or fiscal/business
• Experience with pre-award management of sponsored research processes across federal, state, local and internal funding streams
• Experience in all relevant VCU financial and grant systems (Banner, Reporting Center, SAS Reporting, RealTime, DocuSign, VCU FileLocker, RealSource, Chrome River, Collegiate Travel Planners, Google Suite applications, RamSpot, ECC)
• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) by RACC

The more of the position’s preferred qualifications the candidate possesses, the more appropriate a salary offer towards the middle or upper end of the salary range for the position. To determine starting salary, the individual’s years of relevant job experience in a similar position are taken into account. The more relevant experience one has, the more appropriate it is for a higher salary to be offered.

Contact Information:

Contact Name: Kevin Allison
Contact Email: kallison@vcu.edu