Assistant Director of Central Business Operations

University of Colorado•Denver, CO

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

This position will lead the CU Denver Central Business Operations unit supporting administrative areas, working closely with human resources, budget, executive assistants and finance leaders across the organization, to build processes that support collaborative, effective and efficient work within the operational unit and with campus partners. This position is responsible for and leads the unit and work to ensure compliance with university, state, federal and departmental fiscal and budget rules, policies and procedures. Other duties include providing day-to-day operation management of staff, leading various teams and groups for projects as assigned, and streamlining and redefining processes to improve internal operations. The position exercises initiative to achieve organizational goals and objectives, establishes and maintains positive working relationships. This position provides guidance and consultation to ensure departments are adhering to all necessary policies, procedures, rules and regulations. This individual ensures close collaboration and effective communication across operational units resulting in excellent customer service in Academic & Student Affairs and Central Services & Administration (ASA & CSA). The successful candidate will possess a high level of related experience and be able to demonstrate a high level of discretion and analytical, technical, and problem-solving skills.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree in business, business administration, finance, accounting, public administration, or a directly related field from an accredited institution; Five (5) years of extensive, diverse, and progressively responsible professional fiscal management experience at the manager level. Substitution: A combination of education and related technical/paraprofessional experience may be substituted for the bachelor’s degree on a year for year basis.
Ability to communicate effectively, both in writing and orally;
Demonstrated competence in the use of MS Office applications, particularly MS Excel and MS Access;
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees at all levels throughout the institution;
Ability to successfully plan, organize, implement, and coordinate financial and administrative activities in a diverse system;
Demonstrated ability working with business functions in a complex organization
Outstanding customer service skills;
Demonstrate an exceptional understanding of access and engagement with commitment to developing equitable practices;
Must be able to initiate communication and communicate work effectively with leaders across campus;
Ability to analyze and interpret financial data to support decision making;
Demonstrate adaptability and flexibility.

Nice To Haves

Leadership level experience working within the University of Colorado system in a Business Services, Finance, or Budget role in a department or academic unit.
Preferred fiscal management and budget related experience working in higher education or government;
Experience developing Standard Operating Procedures in areas of procurement, contracts, accounts payable and finance;
Experience supervising professional employees;
Experience with PeopleSoft or other financial system is highly desired; and,
Experience training others on processes, procedures and tools.
Experience with process improvements within responsibility areas.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain strong working relationships with leaders of the Central Services Administration (CSA) and Academic and Student Affairs (ASA) areas served to ensure alignment, proactive communication, and clear understanding of operational and financial needs, including workforce planning, major procurements, and strategic initiatives.
Collaborate with campus and University Subject Matter Experts, such as CU Denver Human Resources, Budget, Fiscal Compliance, Controller’s Office, and CU System Procurement Service Center to ensure compliance and alignment with new and existing policies and procedures in the SME areas.
Develop and implement communication strategies through website updates, emails and meetings to keep departments apprised on campus processes, incorporating relevant updates from Procurement, Financial Services and Budget where appropriate.
Lead the development, standardization and continuous improvement of shared services processes and workflows to enhance the work and operational efficiency of the service delivery.
Leverage data, reporting tools, and performance metrics to assess service effectiveness, including workload analysis, transaction types (journals entries, PETs, procurements, etc.) and turnaround times.
Utilize data-driven insights to identify risks, recommend solutions, and implement process improvements and proactive mitigation with customer departments.
Provide strategy and recommendations to unify disparate processes amongst the CSA and ASA teams.
Lead, train and manage the Central Business Operations team, including collaboration on process enhancements, distribution of work, understanding of pain points, development of growth and training plans, and annual performance evaluations.
Develop and support the team to excel within their existing skillsets and provide opportunities for learning and development of enhanced skills as needed to support the team.
Provide oversight and management of procurement, expenses, travel, and associated contracts for administrative departments in CSA and ASA.
Ensure purchase orders are kept current with funds and are closed in a timely manner.
Review and approve (or delegate when necessary) travel reports, expense reports, and other invoices. Recommend efficiencies based on review and monitoring of contracts and spending patterns.
Identify Payroll Expense Transfers (PETs) and Journal entries (JEs) as needed in compliance with internal and external policies and procedures. Work to identify if there are processes to reduce the need for these entries.
Lead large scale procurement processes to assist department managers with competitive/sole source processes and any expenditures requiring purchase orders.
As needed, serve as Approving Official for CSA or ASA department procurement card holders; monitor, allocate, and evaluate department’s expense reports, department travel request forms in accordance with internal and external policies and procedures.
Partner with Financial Services-Fiscal Compliance to provide training on policies and procedures to administrative departments.