Associate Director, Waisman Center

University of Wisconsin Madison; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 135,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Waisman Center seeks an Associate Director to provide leadership across research, educational, clinical and service activities. You will supervise business services, financial operations, grants and HR, and guide communications and IT in a complex academic setting.

Responsibilities include directing operations, shaping the division’s finance strategy, and ensuring effective organizational structures while managing risk and improving processes.

Qualifications

• Six+ years of progressively responsible professional experience in finance or administration.
• Experience overseeing administrative and operational processes and resources.
• Experience managing financial and sponsored project portfolios and budgeting.

Responsibilities

• Oversees implementation of all operational and administrative activities.
• Develops division’s financial strategy with budgets and cash management.
• Manages facility maintenance, security, safety, and emergency planning.
• Designs administrative structure to achieve goals while mitigating risk.
• Identifies opportunities for improvement in processes, staffing, and systems.
• Acts as primary business advisor to divisional leadership and key stakeholders.

Skills

Financial management

Budgeting & forecasting

Staff leadership

Strategic planning

Communication

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor's or higher in Business/Finance/Administration

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Budgeting software

Financial databases & networks

Job description

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.

Job Category: Limited

Employment Type: Regular

Job Profile: Business Affairs Director I

Job Summary:

The Waisman Center is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases throughout the lifespan. One of 15 centers of its kind in the United States, the Waisman Center encompasses laboratories for biomedical and behavioral research, several scientific research cores, and a clinical biomanufacturing facility for the production of pharmaceuticals for early stage human clinical trials. In addition to its research efforts, the Center provides an array of services to people with developmental disabilities, offers numerous educational and outreach programs to young children and their families, and trains scientists and clinicians who will serve our nation in the future.

The Associate Director provides administrative leadership and overall programmatic, quality improvement, and operational direction for the Waisman Center's research, educational, clinical and service activities. The Associate Director will inspire, lead, manage and coordinate the overall operations of the Waisman Center as well as provide supervision of business services, financial operations, grants and research administration, human resources, communications and information technology.

This position may require responding to facility emergencies outside of regular business hours.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Oversees the implementation of all operational and administrative activities
• Develops the division's financial strategy including planning, forecasts, budgets, and cash management that focus on attaining and sustaining long-term financial equilibrium in collaboration with university leadership
• Oversees the maintenance, repair and upgrades to the facility, building security and safety and emergency planning
• Works with senior administrative and academic leadership to design, establish, and maintain an administrative organizational structure to effectively and efficiently accomplish goals and objectives while appropriately defining duties and mitigating risk
• Assesses processes, staffing, and systems to identify opportunities for improvement and streamlining on a regular basis
• Serves as a major point of contact and catalyst for problem resolution. Provides insightful and diplomatic communications
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
• Serves as the primary business advisor, liaison, and partner to divisional leadership and key stakeholder groups

Department

Waisman Center

Compensation

$150,000 minimum; Salary is negotiable and will be based on education, experience and skills. Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off; competitive insurances and savings accounts and retirement benefits.

Required Qualifications

• Six plus years' progressively responsible professional experience with a record of significant accomplishments, preferably in finance, research or overall administration of a complex academic research center or department.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing administrative and operational processes and resources.
• Experience managing financial, sponsored project portfolio and/or budgetary processes as well as in-depth knowledge and proficiency in various budgeting and financial software tools, databases and network applications.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and managing professional staff and teams.
• Superior oral, written and interpersonal skills as well as excellent presentational and organizational skills.
• Strong leadership, analytical and creative problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two plus years' experience in pre- and post-award grants management including proposal submissions, and award setup and closeout.
• Demonstrated experience in effective policy development, strategic planning, change management, quality improvement, and program development.
• Experience in leading, designing and implementing program evaluation using quantitative and qualitative methods and enacting program modifications.
• Knowledge of and experience with public or private universities and/or State fiscal, budget and administrative policies and procedures, revenue producing activities, as well as clinical operations.
• Professional experience relevant to the Waisman Center's mission.

Education

A Bachelor's Degree in Business, Public Administration, Finance, Accounting, Management, Health Services Administration, Public Health or related field required.

A Master's Degree in the aforementioned fields is highly preferred.

Additional Information

• A Criminal Background Check will be performed.
• The successful applicant will be required to complete HIPAA training and receive certification upon hire and annually thereafter.

Contact Information

For questions regarding this position or posting, please contact Melissa Henning, Human Resources Manager, at [e-mail] or [phone].

Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Institutional Statement on Diversity

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgroundsand encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies, crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years, and on-campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW-Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.