Job description

The Business Operations Manager provides a high level of administrative and management support to the operation of two departments within the College of Letters and Science: Political Science and Sociology and Anthropology. Duties include, serving as the executive assistant for the department heads; providing fiscal oversight and budget management for all departmental funds, including monitoring expenditures and purchasing card activity, performing analyses, providing budget projections, and reallocation of resources when necessary; coordinating events; assisting with management of graduate programs; supervising other staff in the office; and administering the day-to-day operations of the department.

Duties and Responsibilities
Executive Assistant to the Department Heads

Works closely with the Department Heads of Sociology and Anthropology and Political Science to facilitate overall operations.
Provides departmental and program data and implements decisions.
Researches and prepares data on budgetary and academic issues, such as course offerings, enrollments, and course loads to provide supporting documentation to manage curricula.

Fiscal Manager

Performs many accounting and all budgeting functions for the departments.
Budgets and oversees the state index, including main salaries and operations.
Prepares budgets for graduate student programs, graders, and all events, including conferences and/or student field trips.
Serves as the first point of contact for purchasing card and travel software needs.
Manages student scholarships.
Serves as departmental liaison with the College of Letters and Sciences Fiscal Services for centralized accounting services.

Conference and Event Organizer

Works directly with the Academic Services Coordinator to make arrangements for events, conferences, and lectures, including securing facilities, preparing schedules, promoting events, and, where appropriate, arranging for food, lodging, and transportation. This may include participating in events as on-site staff.

HR Liaison

Serves as the first contact person for hiring and payroll issues.
Creates and processes various types of appointments, for faculty (tenure track and non-tenure track), staff, graduate and undergraduate students.
Processes tax forms and all required new employee forms, conducts pre-payroll audits, reconciles payroll, submits appointment forms, and approves timesheets.

Operations Manager

Oversees the daily functions, workloads, and services of the department.
Provides support for curriculum assessment activities, and for Retention, Tenure, and Promotion processes.
Supervises all department staff.
Oversees department property management for departmental offices, common spaces, teaching labs, conference rooms, and research lab property issues.

Required Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills
Progressively responsible administrative/office management experience with an emphasis on human resources or fiscal management, or a bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
Demonstrated competence managing fiscal and budget records, generating multiple reports and communicating complex information effectively to various constituents (student, staff, faculty, executives).
Demonstrated skills in decision-making, personnel management, and problem solving.
Demonstrated competence organizing and managing events, and/or prioritizing multiple work assignments, meeting deadlines, and exercising adaptability to changing priorities while maintaining a positive, effective, and professional attitude.
Demonstrated effective communications and customer service skills.
Demonstrated competence using personal computers and various software such as word processing, spreadsheets, database, presentation, email and internet. Microsoft Office software preferred.

Preferred Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills
Knowledge of MSU procedures and policies or previous experience working in an academic department in a higher education setting.
Progressively responsible management experience.

The Successful Candidate Will
Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with various constituencies, including students, administrators, co-workers, and faculty.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Strong organizational and time management skills.
Attention to detail, to meeting deadlines, and to prioritizing competing demands.
Aptitude for problem solving and facilitating the work of others.
Good judgment and self-motivation.
Skill at prioritizing, organizing, and working on multiple projects.
Demonstrated capacity for leadership.
Successful experience hiring, training, supervising and mentoring employees.
Represent the departments, college, and university to others in a professional and courteous manner.

Position Special Requirements/Additional Information
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodations. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Physical Demands
Normal office work environment.

This job description should not be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements, but a general description of the job. Nothing contained herein restricts Montana State University’s rights to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

This position has supervisory duties? Yes
Posting Detail Information

Number of Vacancies 1
Desired Start Date Upon completion of a successful search.
Position End Date (if temporary)
Open Date
Close Date

Applications will be:
Screening of applications will begin on June 19, 2023; however, applications will continue to be accepted until an adequate applicant pool has been established.

Special Instructions
Diversity Statement

Montana State University values diverse perspectives and is committed to continually supporting, promoting and building an inclusive and culturally diverse campus environment. MSU recognizes the importance of work-life integration and strives to be responsive to the needs of dual career couples.

In compliance with the Montana Veteran’s Employment Preference Act, MSU provides preference in employment to veterans, disabled veterans, and certain eligible relatives of veterans. To claim veteran’s preference please complete the veteran’s preference information located in the Demographics section of your profile.

MSU’s Non-Discrimination Policy and Discrimination Grievance Procedures can be located on the MSU Website: https://www.montana.edu/hr/recruitment/dualcareer.html

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