Job Description

Responsibilities:
Financial Management, Analysis and Compliance - 55%
● Partner with principal investigators, faculty and staff to manage awarded sponsored research grants and non-sponsored accounts. This includes post-award, accounting, reconciliations, and auditing transactions utilizing UM Analytics.
● Prepare reports and forecasts related to sponsored and non-sponsored activities.
● Regularly meet with Center Directors, Principal Investigators and faculty to support short- and long-term financial planning for their sponsored project and non-sponsored accounts.
● Submit requests to the Financial Operations Center for journal entries, retro distributions and payroll distribution updates as needed.
● Ensure compliance with sponsor’s awarded terms and condition as well as University policies and procedures.
● Work with Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) to ensure sponsored requirements are met, as well as the proper set up and close out of awards.
● Work with Sponsored Financial Reporting (SFR) to prepare and analyze detailed reports provided to sponsors for accuracy.
● Review and approve financial transactions to ensure compliance with university, college and departmental policies, as well as state and federal regulations.

Grant Preparation and Effort Coordination - 25%
● Develop sponsored project budgets in collaboration with university faculty and staff and ensure adherence to sponsor and University research policies and procedures.
● Prepare appropriate sponsored administrative and budget documents as required for submission (i.e., grants.gov packages, other sponsor forms and budgets)
● Act as a liaison to other organizations to develop and obtain subaward proposals.
● Prepare funding proposals in MN-GEMS in collaboration with faculty and staff and ensure that all appropriate signers are included.
● Track funding proposals and respond to SPA and others as needed. Assist with preparation of revised budgets and other documents if requested by the agency.
● Work with PI to provide information required for subaward issuance and requesting pre-award accounts.
● Set up cost sharing per sponsor guidelines.
● Provide pre-award backup support when needed.
● Develop and maintain accurate effort reports per faculty and principal investigator to monitor effort commitments and reportable cost-share
● Verify that paid and unpaid effort have been properly accounted for in the payroll system and ECRT

Supervisory Management - 10%
● Manage other members of the ROC system serving primarily in financial roles. Serve as direct supervisor for those members, including annual reviews and performance management in consultation with the ROCs/ MAES Finance Manager
● Working with the ROCs/ MAES Finance manager to assign roles to supervised ROC system members, matching individual skills and experience to the specific needs of units/projects. Organize and assign staff so that ROCs system finance team fulfills its role of providing auxiliary, interim, and/or specialized support as needed in the system.
● Meet regularly with individual team members to discuss performance, train, answer questions, and provide feedback. Mentor and support the development of individual team members.
● Respond to inquiries from leaders across the ROC system, or as delegated by the ROCs/ MAES Finance Manager, to evaluate opportunities for additional assignments.

Financial Management - 10%
● Support Internal and External Sale activities of the centers.
● Works with Finance Manager on annual budget preparation.
● Attend professional development opportunities and serve on committees when able.


Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications:
● BA/BS plus at least 4 years of finance professional work experience or a combination of related education and work experience to equal 8 years.
● Familiarity with food, agricultural, and natural resource sciences sectors.
● Strong written and oral communication skills.
● Experience in proposal preparation and managing sponsored accounts.
● Experience in managing finances for a multifaceted organization
● Experience with Excel, Word, grant proposal routing systems, and enterprise financial system.
● Knowledge of and experience using University policies and procedures
● Experience supervising a distributed finance team using a variety of in-person and virtual teamwork tools
● Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks and work both independently and as part of a team.
● Ability to provide excellent customer service while maintaining compliance with University and federal policies and procedures.

Preferred Qualifications:
● Agricultural production and/or research experience.
● Experience with grants.gov, NIH ASSIST, and other agency proposal submission portals. Able to identify many variables with many options and explain various outcomes of each situation. Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks.
● Professional accounting or finance experience
● Demonstrate excellent attention to detail in both written and verbal communications
● Ability to balance multiple work demands and to thrive in a changing environment
● Skilled in learning new software programs thoroughly and efficiently.
● Ability to provide excellent customer service while maintaining compliance with University and federal policies and procedures.
● Recent knowledge of University financial, HR/ Administrative, and Sponsored Projects systems
● Current University of Minnesota Certified Approver