Director of Operations

Summary:

The Department ofPsychology in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) invitesapplications for the Director of Operations. The Department of Psychology is aninnovative unit in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences with a robustresearch portfolio and is a diverse department with almost 50 faculty membersfrom varying backgrounds. The department serves a student body of over 1700undergraduate students and over 130 graduate students. The Director ofOperations has significant leadership and operational managementresponsibilities. This individual provides leadership for the management andcoordination of the departments complex state research (direct and indirect)student fee and foundation accounts including oversight and leadership overseeinga $10 to 12M/year federal grant portfolio ensuring fiscal team compliancewith Commonwealth and university policies as well as grant requirements andguidelines. The position reports to the Chair of the Department of Psychologyand has a dual report to CHS fiscal leadership.

The role provides keyleadership for the department and interfaces with other leaders in thedepartment and institution on setting the units strategic agenda with keyattention to fiscal resources and policies including working with theleadership team to establish and manage the annual budget. The individualis responsible for providing high-quality finance accounting budgetingforecasting and procurement leadership and team management for theDepartment.

The role will coordinatewith principal investigators supporting timely and efficient faculty access toresearch and professional development support providing leadership for theeffective management of graduate student tuition and stipend resources andpayments and engaging with other intersecting administrative leaders in thedepartment and College (e.g. HR central fiscal and grants admin). Thisposition leads a team with post award grant responsibilities (e.g. awardverification NCEs prior approvals re-budgeting index reconciliationcoordinating closeout paperwork and etc.) that maintains records for andcollaborates with CHS-SPO as needed on proposal development and submission(e.g. budget development review/interpretation of funding announcementscoordinating proposal submissions and etc.).

The position ensuresnecessary support and budget/expenditure oversight for assigned projectsincluding oversight of grants and contracts funding and support of appropriatepersonnel actions purchasing monthly reconciliation budget statusmonitoring for unallowable costs administrative actions and other reportingrequirements etc. Coordinates and assists with post-award actions includingNCEs prior approval requests re-budgeting requests and etc. Assists andsupports their team in resolving grant accounting issues by workingcollaboratively with department and university office staff. Communicates withexternal sources to discuss financial processes or issues related to assignedgrants/contracts.

The VCU job series forthis position is Administrator/Senior Administrator in the Financial Servicesjob family. For more information please see the VCU Human Resources JobFamily and Salary Ranges site at combines learning research creativity service and discovery with acommitment to inclusive excellence. Ranked by U.S. News as one of the 30 mostinnovative public universities in the country VCU is a premier urban publicresearch university home to multiple nationally ranked programs. Here yoursuccess is supported and your career can thrive.

VCU is committed to hiring veterans! VCU will add your military years ofservice to our leave plan. This may provide veterans with an increased leaveaccrual!

Typical Duties

The Director ofOperations ensures daily fiscal planning and operations of the Department ofPsychology are promptly carried out following established policies andprocedures
Serves on the Departmental Leadership Team (Chair Associate Chair Directorof Operations Director of Undergraduate Studies Director of Graduate Studiesand Director of Academic Operations) to advise and support strategic departmentplanning
Ensures departmental resources are effectively managed to support the missionand faculty staff and students
Responsible for oversight of all financial transactions of the unit acrossfunding 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

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors degree in accounting finance orbusiness and 5 to 7 years of relevant experience or equivalent combination ofeducation training and experience
Supervision and leadership experience in administration and leadership ofteams including support of team members skill building and professionaldevelopment
Extensive budgetary development experience with emphasis on financialanalytics and the demonstrated ability to work effectively with complexbudgets analyze data and produce summary reports for a variety of audiences
Demonstrated ability to develop and execute a department strategic plan toinclude multi-prong stakeholders through fiscal and administrative operationsdata analysis of an annual operational budget the departmental researchportfolio and foundation accounts
Experience with post-award management of sponsored research processes acrossfederal state local and internal funding streams
Demonstrated ability to independently problem solve using sound judgmentdiscretion 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 toeffectively run the Psychology Service Center as an example of a positiveteam-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

PreferredQualifications

Masters degree in business administration accounting/finance orrelated field and seven years of progressive experience; or equivalent combination ofeducation training and experience
Experience with pre-award management of sponsored research processes acrossfederal state local and internal funding streams
Experience in all relevant VCU financial and grant systems (Banner ReportingCenter SAS Reporting RealTime DocuSign VCU FileLocker RealSource ChromeRiver Collegiate Travel Planners Google Suite applications RamSpot ECC)
Certified Research Administrator (CRA) by RACC

Job Specific Physical and Cognitive Requirements

Physical Demands:
Light lifting (<20 lbs.): marginal
Pushing/pulling: marginal
Standing: essential
Sitting: essential
Repetitive motion: essential
Walking: essential
Climbing: marginal
Reaching: marginal
Bending: marginal

Emotional Demands:
Fast pace: essential
Average pace: marginal
Multiple stimuli: essential
Intense customer interaction: essential
Frequent change: essential

Mental/Sensory Demands:
Memory: essential
Reasoning: essential
Hearing: essential
Reading: essential
Analyzing: essential
Logic: essential
Verbal communication: essential
Written communication: essential

Kevin Allison

Required Experience:

Director