Renee Crown Wellness Institute welcomes applications for Finance and Grant Manager

The Renee Crown Wellness Institute seeks an individual with aligned values and interests to oversee the finance, accounting and grant operations for the Institute. The individual in this position will assist the Institute Director and Associate Director with the oversight of all financial operations of the Institute, management of Institute budgets including overseeing projections and ensuring the ongoing financial stability and growth of the Institute, as well as personnel administration. The Director of Finance and Grant Management provides professional pre and post-award research administration support to Institute Principal Investigators and research personnel. This position interacts with Institute employees and is a liaison to departments on campus including the Office of Contracts and Grants, the Campus Controller's Office, the Research & Innovation Office, and Human Resources.  This position also interacts with numerous external funding agencies and specific funding and grant administration rules and guidelines. This position will oversee all functions of the Finance Office, including proposal submission, sponsored project post-award management, purchasing, and travel services. This position also will provide supervision to business support personnel in the Institute and will report to the Associate Director and the Institute Director. 

Key Responsibilities Include: 

Manage grant, contract, and fund accounts 

• Monitor activities across all funds, with emphasis on foreseeing challenges and opportunities to maintain and grow the financial well-being of the Institute. 
• Demonstrate judgment to make decisions with consideration of long term consequences and precedents.
• Independently analyze the needs of individual project and program accounts.
• Use professional judgement to choose most appropriate and fiscally sound methods of fund financial disbursement ensuring that they are in compliance with GASB principles of accounting and state fiscal rules, funding agency rules and University, Institute, and Department regulations and policies. 
• May devise, implement or revise internal accounting procedures based on program and project contract or grant needs.
• Monitor expenditures, project expenditures and perform postaward management of research contracts and grants, including subcontracts. 
• Verify indirect cost returns in compliance with university, college and department policy; and prepare annual budgets for auxiliary funds. 

Proposal and Award Resource Advisor 

• Advise grant proposal writers on the use of proper forms, budget templates and processes in proposal preparation.
• Assist faculty members with at-risk forms if proposal has been funded but not yet processed through the CU system. 
• Monitor entries in the Office of Contracts and Grants database for new and existing award funding and notify faculty members of anticipated problems by analyzing the information available and comparing it to proposal documentation. 
• Advise faculty members when expenditures and/or encumbrances differ from planned budgets and propose solutions to assist faculty in managing these accounts. 
• Assist faculty members with the audit processes required by Office of Contracts and Grants and Sponsored Projects Accounting, ensuring that all documents meet audit standards. 
• Prepare periodic and ad hoc grant project or program financial reports for the Institute Director and Associate Director in addition to grant Principal Investigators.

Institute Staff, Graduate Student, Research Faculty, and other Appointments 

• Use professional judgement and knowledge of university rules and policies in partnership with Human Resources advise the Institute Director and Associate Director as to which position types to use to hire new employees, recommend salaries for new Institute staff, research associates, professional research assistants, and senior research associates, set salaries for student assistants. 
• Oversee all hiring paperwork for undergraduates, Graduate Research Assistants, Visiting Scholars, and Research Faculty using appropriate University processes. 
• Develop internal processes and deadlines, and communicate these to faculty members to ensure that data and other relevant information are compiled in a timely manner to enable position to meet deadlines set by payroll for hiring and biweekly and monthly payroll. 
• Process tuition remission waivers for Graduate and Undergraduate students as needed. 
• Process changes to funding for research personnel as instructed by Director/Associate Director or based on review of fund balances. Work with International Student and Scholar Services to recommend appropriate documents needed for international scholars.
• Process visa paperwork for international research faculty if necessary.

 Manage purchasing and accounts payable and receivable functions for all Fund types 

• Review purchasing requests and prepare proper documentation to implement purchases to assure conformance to statues, rules, regulations and procedures governing such items. 
• Verify availability and allowability of funds in appropriate budget pools for purchases. 
• Oversee preparation of procurement card, travel card, and reimbursement expense reports in compliance with Federal, State, University, and Department policies. 
• Review documentation for accuracy and proper authorization. 
• Authorize payment for invoices for supplies and services obtained. 
• Collect on invoices for supplies and services when due payment. 
• Based on monthly professional review and reconciliation of accounts, recommend and process cost transfers with appropriate documentation to clear deficits, correct errors and move expenditures to proper accounts.

What We Require

• Bachelor's degree (or combination of education and relevant experience on a year-for-year basis).
• Three (3) years of experience in coordination or administration of sponsored project operations. 

What You Will Need

• Demonstrated skills in MS Word, Excel, Outlook, other MS Office programs.
• Understanding of fund accounting principle.
• Work independently to meet timelines and resolve problems without close supervision.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and interpersonal problem-solving skills.
• Ability to handle multiple, complex assignments.
• Excellence in integrity, responsibility and ethics with regard to the conduct of fiscal management and professional relationships, including but not limited to attention to detail with regard to compliance with ethical, professional, and fiscal standards and guidelines; excellent judgment and analytical skills to identify problems when they do arise and to develop solutions effectively and efficiently; capacity to flexibly  meet challenges as they arise; excellent time management skills, with capacity to prioritize tasks and set deadlines and excellent follow through on commitments and deadlines; takes personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and failures; uses data for monitoring work and measuring results.
• Commitment to inclusive excellence including demonstrated knowledge and skills in being oriented to equity, diversity, and inclusion as evidenced by  seeking and engaging with diverse perspectives, identifying and mitigating personal and institutional biases and barriers to inclusion, actively welcoming and encouraging participation of all members of Institute teams and communities, recognizing and mitigating ineffective dynamics related to power differences and hierarchies.
• Excellent capacity for innovation, including ability to think critically and creatively with regard to fiscal oversight and growth; develops new ideas that contribute to the fiscal integrity and growth of the Institute; puts creative ideas into practice; engages in continuous learning to promote personal and Institute growth. 
• Excellent collaboration skills, including the ability to prioritize the goals of the university and Institute; to identify clearly how personal work supports the mission of the Institute; to work in partnership with diverse groups of faculty, staff and community members on and off campus including but not limited to Office of Contracts and other fiscal management services on campus, faculty and research staff, external foundations and federal organizations; to value and incorporate diverse perspectives and remove barriers to solving problems.
• Excellent communication skills, including verbal and written communication skills; ability to navigate complex dynamics and systems across the University; ability to adjust communication style for setting and audience; ability to listen to others; ability to encourage and support expression of diverse viewpoints; ability to engage in candid and constructive dialogue on difficult topics; consistent expression of respect for others in verbal and nonverbal communications.

What We Would Like You to Have 

• Experience working at a university or research institution.
• Working knowledge of the administration of grant-funded programs.
• Experience with CU Travel Policies.
• Experience with CU Systems (HCM, Marketplace, FIN, Cognos, SIS, Concur, InfoEd and other CU systems) Two (2) years of experience in coordination or administration of sponsored project operations.

The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to building a culturally rich community of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to creating an inclusive and culturally responsible environment. We particularly welcome applications from candidates whose background, expertise, and commitment reflect social justice oriented work among underrepresented communities.  

The anticipated starting salary is $70,000.00, commensurate with experience.

CU Boulder recently established the Renée Crown Wellness Institute, a research institute committed to promoting the mental health and wellness of children, youth and the families and educators who support them. The Wellness Institute is an equity focused interdisciplinary institute. Current key areas of research include the study of mindfulness, compassion, belonging, and agency. Our research seeks to address disparities in mental health, wellness, and education due to gender, race, ethnicity, linguistic diversity, geography, income, and other structural and systemic inequities.