Administrative Officer, Vanderbilt Enterprises

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Administrative Officer serves as a key operational partner supporting Vanderbilt Enterprises, providing leadership across human capital administration, financial operations, and departmental compliance functions. This role oversees complex employee lifecycle processes for hourly, unionized, and management positions, including recruitment, onboarding, payroll-related transactions, leave administration, accommodations, and employee data management within Oracle Cloud HCM. Serving as a primary liaison between Vanderbilt Enterprises and People, Culture, and Belonging (PCB), this position provides subject matter expertise on employment processes, leave administration, accommodations, and operational policy interpretation while ensuring accurate and compliant execution of HR-related transactions and processes. This role also serves as the Financial Unit Manager (FUM) for Vanderbilt Enterprises and is responsible for reviewing and monitoring departmental financial transactions, operational procedures, and compliance practices. The position plays a critical role in supporting financial stewardship, audit readiness, and adherence to university, state, and federal policies and regulations while helping establish scalable administrative and operational processes to support the continued growth of Vanderbilt Enterprises.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in human resources, business administration, finance, or related field is required.
At least 5 years of directly comparable experience in HR management, with a focus on employee relations, labor relations, and performance management, is required.
Experience in a unionized environment is preferred.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships at all levels of the organization.
Strong problem-solving and conflict resolution skills, with a proven ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion.
Proficiency in using HRIS systems, particularly Oracle Cloud HCM, and advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to interact effectively with a diverse population.
Ability to meet multiple deadlines and manage competing priorities is necessary
Strong time management, organizational and multi-tasking skills and an eye for detail is necessary
A proactive approach, with a willingness to exceed expectations in contributing to the team.
Demonstrated ability to handle high-level sensitive and confidential information.
Ability to make administrative/procedural decisions and judgments.

Nice To Haves

Graduate or advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Champion departmental culture and employee engagement initiatives by assisting with team-building events, staff recognition efforts, and internal morale-building activities across Vanderbilt Enterprises.
Support leadership in planning and coordinating employee engagement programming, onboarding experiences, and team events that foster collaboration, communication, and a positive workplace culture.
Serve as an expert in the complete employee life cycle, managing all stages from onboarding through retirement, and ensuring a seamless employee experience.
Provide staff with advice on routine administrative processes, escalating complex cases to the appropriate leadership for resolution.
Act as the HCM specialist, overseeing employment actions and payroll transactions. Investigate payroll discrepancies, offering guidance to management and employees to resolve issues timely.
Maintain a comprehensive understanding of HCM functions and their financial implications, ensuring accurate processing and system connectivity.
Analyze and process complex HCM transactions with a clear understanding of their broader organizational impact.
Manage all HCM transactions for hourly recruitment, from compensation review, requisition creation through new hire onboarding, to support smooth hiring processes that sit within the department level.
Ensure timely and accurate weekly timecard submissions, helping and troubleshooting as needed. Process various compensation awards, including performance and sign-on bonuses.
Partner with PCB to administer employee leaves of absence, including FMLA, accommodations, disability, personal, and other leave categories, ensuring smooth processes and clear communication to employees in the department.
Serve as the departmental resource for leave administration and accommodation processes, providing guidance on policies and procedures, supporting complex leave cases, maintaining appropriate documentation, and identifying opportunities for process improvement.
Support managers and employees in addressing employee relations matters, including performance concerns, workplace issues, attendance concerns, corrective action processes, policy interpretation, and conflict resolution, while partnering with People, Culture, and Belonging (PCB) and leadership on more complex or escalated matters.
Serves as a primary departmental steward for financial compliance, expenditure oversight, and operational fiscal administration, ensuring alignment with university policy, audit standards, and budget priorities.
Maintains an extensive understanding of the university's chart of accounts and departmental use of Project Portfolio Management POET structure.
Maintains an extensive understanding of institutional and departmental policies.
Uses excellent professional judgment, confidentiality, and integrity to evaluate the appropriateness of expenditures and possesses the maturity and confidence to address questionable transactions either directly or by escalating them, if needed.
Uses high attention to detail to ensure every component of a requisition or expense report is accurate prior to approval.
Adopts best practices in the review and management of financial resources, addressing any needed changes or adjustments in a timely manner.
Maintains big picture perspective in order to ensure that all expenditures are evaluated to assess impact on departmental operational needs and financial goals.
Serves as the key trainer to staff on Oracle Cloud systems and processes.
Assists the director of finance with compiling reports for budget preparations and management.
Performs other duties as assigned.