Senior Officer, Administrative Support

University of Ottawa; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 68,000 - 86,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Ottawa seeks a Senior Officer in Administrative Support to plan and coordinate financial, human, physical and material resources for the Humanities sector at Simard Hall. Reporting to the Lead Officer, you will provide guidance to managers and professors and ensure adherence to university policies and procedures.

Responsibilities include budgeting, procurement, space management, health and safety, and academic administration such as course offerings and workloads.

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of administration, accounting, financial and human resources principles.
• Minimum 3 years of demonstrated experience in a similar role.
• Knowledge of computer systems and software including financial systems, spreadsheets, databases, Internet and e-mail.
• Experience in interpreting, explaining and applying policies and regulations.
• Experience in a unionized environment and interpreting collective agreements.
• Experience in preparing reports.
• Ability to produce high quality work under pressure while meeting deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills.
• High level of discretion.
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written).

Responsibilities

• Coordinate ongoing financial transactions and budget administration to maintain financial integrity and transparency.
• Serve as resource person for classification, staffing and leave processes, interpret policies, and support employee engagement.
• Manage space and safety practices, maintain records, and ensure accessibility and confidentiality.
• Handle procurement and contract processes, purchasing goods and services in compliance with policies.
• Support academic administration tasks including course offerings, schedules, quotas and workloads.

Skills

Administration knowledge

Budget management

Policy interpretation

Communication skills

Teamwork

Discretion

Bilingual FR/EN

Education

Postsecondary studies

Tools

Financial software

Spreadsheets

Databases

Job description

Posting Reason

Replacement of a regular position

Job Type

Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments)

N/A

Job Family

Administrative Support

# of Open Positions

1

Faculty/Service - Department

Departments_Humanities

Campus

Simard Hall

Union Affiliation

SSUO

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD)

2026/11/05

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD)

2026/11/16

Hours per week

35

Salary Grade

SSUO Grade 08

Salary Range

$68,149.00 - $86,083.00

About The Faculty Of Arts

The oldest and one of the biggest faculties at the University of Ottawa. The Faculty of Arts has evolved to be one of the leading faculties on campus. Now more than ever, the new economy needs thinkers, communicators, and creators. Whether you are interested in the Humanities, Languages and Literatures, or Fine and Performing Arts, the Faculty of Arts offers students an education for today's and tomorrow's workplace! The Faculty of Arts is dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for everyone.

Position purpose

Reporting to the Lead Officer, Administrative Support, the Senior Officer will plan and coordinate activities related to the administration of financial, human, physical and material resources of the sector in order to provide support and advice to managers and professors and to ensure that the policies and procedures are well understood and properly implemented.

In this role, your responsibilities will include

• Financial and budget: Coordinate the ongoing financial transactions and all activities and processes related to the administration of internally and/or externally funded budgets of the sector to maintain financial integrity and transparency and to ensure compliance with established policies. Perform all research and analysis necessary to provide recommendations to managers and/or researchers on the effective preparation of budgets, budget projections and shortfalls to maximize revenue and contain expenditure.
• Human resources: Act as resource person for the sector with regards to inquiries related to classification, staffing, total compensation, and leave and performance evaluation to interpret collective agreements and policies, explain procedures, and facilitate processes. Share management tools to strengthen employee engagement within the sector with the objective of maximizing productivity and minimizing turnover. May act as 2nd level approver for leave requests to ensure compliance with current policies. Coordinate the process for the Work Study program (from posting to cost recovery) to support operational needs of the sector.
• Physical resources: Manage the physical resources to ensure the most efficient use of space for the sector. To this end, receive, analyze and treat new requests, coordinate room setup and signage, and ensure that accessibility standards are met at all times. Maintain accurate records of key holders and related security access information for staff of the sector to ensure confidentiality of the records. Act as Health and Safety representative for the sector, to ensure proper communication of health and safety-related policies and practices and monitor compliance in order to minimize risk to students and staff.
• Material resources: Act as resource person for the sector with regards to inquiries on procurement policies, procedures and suppliers to ensure proper interpretation and compliance. Manage material resources of the sector to ensure that there is equipment available to meet operational needs. To this end, purchase goods and services, and create services contracts, on purchase order or on credit card, in compliance with all relevant policies.
• Academic: Executes a variety of academic administration tasks, including course offerings, schedules, quotas, and faculty workloads. Acts as a liaison between the administrative team and the undergraduate and graduate offices.

What you will bring

• Advanced knowledge of administration, accounting, financial and human resources principles normally acquired through postsecondary studies in a related discipline or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• Minimum 3 years of demonstrated experience in a similar role
• Knowledge of computer systems and software including financial systems, spreadsheets, databases, Internet and e-mail
• Experience in interpreting, explaining and applying policies and regulations
• Experience working in a unionized environment and in interpreting collective agreements
• Experience in preparing reports
• Ability to produce high quality work under pressure while meeting strict deadlines
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong organizational skills
• High level of discretion
• Bilingualism – French and English (spoken and written)

Key Competencies at uOttawa

Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

• Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
• Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
• Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
• Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [e-mail] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position

The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute. Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.