Operations Manager, Financial Aid

Princeton University•Princeton, NJ

1d•$77,000 - $88,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid (UFA) at Princeton University is a unit within the Office of the Dean of the College (ODOC). The undergraduate financial aid program supports and advances Princeton’s commitment to ensuring that students from all economic backgrounds can afford to attend. The office awards aid to over 4,000 students annually with a scholarship budget of over 325M in FY26. Reporting to the director, the UFA operations manager is an integral member of the UFA team responsible for resource allocation, logistics management, and office operations for a staff of 19.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent
Knowledge of federal aid processes, including verification and ISIR review
Excellent interpersonal skills
Judgment and tact in dealing with confidential information and sensitive situations.
Willingness to take initiative and assume responsibility while also working collaboratively as part of a team.
Accuracy, efficiency, and attention to detail; the ability to establish priorities, balance multiple demands, and work independently.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office (including Word, Excel, Access, and Powerpoint) and Google Products (Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms), and a willingness to learn new technologies.
Ability to work in-person during regular business hours with rare evening/weekend responsibilities

Nice To Haves

Competence with Prime Financials
Prior office and departmental budget management experience

Responsibilities

Manages the front end student services experience for undergraduate financial aid and student employment, including the supervision of two office support specialists. This position coordinates the physical, email and phone operations during the year including all high traffic time periods, and coordinates office support for seasonal student employment operations. Serves as a back up for all phone and email inquiries.
Determines supply needs, allocates office space, resolves logistical and operational challenges, and attends to maintenance and supply orders
Creates and maintains policies and procedures related to office operations
UFA's primary liaison and point of contact with the Office of Human Resources, tracks and approves time sheets for office support specialist positions and confirms submission of vacation/sick time for all staff.
Other projects as assigned
Supports compliance team by monitoring federal aid ISIR processing, PLUS loan applications, updating SAP statuses, and other roles as assigned in Oracle's Student Financial Planning (SFP)
Reviews ISIR information and updates V4 V5 identity statuses within the FAFSA Partner Portal (FPP)
Reviews and updates the College Financing Plan, and coordinates the annual required NJ Roadmap and exit counseling.
Coordinates aid related projects with other campus departments as needed, following institutional and office policy on data sharing when applicable
Assists with aid package adjustments and other duties as assigned to support student aid processing
The operations manager is the primary liaison with the Office of the Dean of the College’s financial administration team and the Office of Finance and Treasury. This role is responsible for keeping current with university financial policy and practices including, but not limited to, purchasing, vendor relationships, and credit card practices.
Prepares office budgets, monitors expenditures, and works with the Director to determine strategy around budget allocation. This also includes reviewing monthly spending, generating requisitions, on boarding suppliers, working with Procurement for contract approvals, purchase orders, and approving Journal entry request and scholarship payment refunds and approving all expense reports for staff.
Serves as liaison for all desktop support with Office of Admission
Responsible for the organization and execution of all office related events
Serves as office emergency coordinator, office representative on committees related to building and space. Schedules all meeting and events in EMS.
The operations manager works directly with the Director and Strategic IT and Data Manager in implementing records policies. The operations manager is the operations officer with oversight responsibility for the execution of the retention and records policy for materials held in the office and outside of the financial aid systems. This includes over 5,000 student files annually and over 1,500 endowed scholarship records - all of which are sensitive and confidential materials.
Ensures management of materials is in accordance with University policy, state and federal rules.
The manager will organize the storage, shredding, archiving, and/or purging of records on an annual basis.
The manager provides any necessary administrative support for audit materials under the direction of the Compliance Team.