"Fin Ops Manager, Res/Grad Edu"

Position Summary

The Vagelos Institute’s Biomedical Research Education (VIBRE) PhD programs in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) train and support PhD students through interdisciplinary, cross-departmental education and research experiences across departments, centers, and institutes. The Manager partners with research education leadership and administrative teams to provide financial services that advance the VIBRE mission by ensuring fiscal oversight of graduate programs and student financial services functions. The Manager is part of an administrative team in the VP&S Office for Research and the Office of Graduate Affairs that supports VP&S's research and graduate education missions.

Responsibilities

• Works with VIBRE faculty and administrative leadership in the VP&S Office of Research and the Office of Graduate Affairs to ensure strategic alignment of VIBRE’s financial objectives with overall research, biomedical research training, and VP&S goals.
• Builds and participates in the process to create, execute, and continuously improve financial workflows that support student appointments, payments, registration, and unit operations.
• Partners with the HR Core team to support timely onboarding and offboarding of students from an appointment; oversees the accurate and timely disbursement of stipends, tuition, and fees for VIBRE students.
• Works with central and departmental financial units to monitor, forecast, and address student financial aid needs and responds to general questions related to financial aid including award status, document tracking, and other related matters.
• Reviews, approves, and provides oversight for student and faculty reimbursements related to VIBRE operations.
• Resolves issues related to student account transactions and billing questions.
• Establishes and maintains standard approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of student financial services and operating procedures for VIBRE’s programs and administrative team.
• Participates in the unit budget preparation process and operates within approved budgets, including planning resources and timelines across multiple projects.
• Develops, analyzes, and presents financial data to support evaluation and decision-making by committees, leadership, and VIBRE trainee success and operational teams; monitors outcomes and refines strategies based on impact and feedback to ensure objectives are achieved.
• Reviews and approves labor accounting and student-related financial transactions, including salary distributions, cost transfers, additional compensation transactions, and transactions related to student tuition and fees (e.g., billings, adjustments, and internal transfers); coordinates annual effort reporting with the departmental effort coordinator; monitors project balances; and manages the award close-out process.
• Extract data from multiple sources and provide analytics and reporting on key performance indicators to measure student/stakeholder satisfaction. Audits the fulfillment of program milestones and implements strategies based on findings for key performance indicators.
• Oversee customer service activities regarding tuition and fees billing policies and procedures.
• Actively participates in meetings as needed.
• Performs other duties related to financial services for research and graduate education activities as needed.

People

• Manages staff related VIBRE financial activities, including recruitment support, compliance, effort allocation, project assignment, and performance management.
• Serves as student financial services subject matter expert, facilitates connections, and offers guidance on student payment needs, funding for students, office operating budget, student and faculty reimbursements, etc.
• Represents the department to external and internal units to meet the financial goals of VIBRE.

Compliance

• Ensures compliance with external regulations as well as VP&S, GSAS, and Department policies.
• Interprets policies and regulations and designs a communication strategy to ensure the administrative team is informed on regulations, restrictions, and the legal responsibilities. Aligns efforts with key internal offices, including but not limited to VIBRE, GSAS, HR, and other University units as needed.

Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in the finance or accounting, or equivalent in education and experience, plus four years of related experience.
• A minimum of 4 years of related experience in higher education, science profession, curriculum development and post-award or financial management.
• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills, and the ability to mentor others in these skills.
• Capacity to work with a high degree of independence and successfully within a deadline driven, multi-tasking environment. Ability to handle multiple projects at high levels of complexity, demonstrate sound judgment in managing time, prioritizing, and decision-making.
• Ability to organize, analyze, and interpret data is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree, preferably finance or accounting.
• Familiarity with Columbia University research and financial systems and protocols is a plus.
• Previous experience managing teams and ability to lead research education team through complex projects and changing situations.

Job Details

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: $105,000 - $125,000

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.