Business Manager

University of Pennsylvania; Georgia; On-site; USD 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Tuition assistance

Retirement benefits

Professional development

Wellness programs

Job summary

University of Pennsylvania is seeking a Business Manager for University Life Space and Events. This role ensures financial operations, HR processes, and administrative workflows run smoothly to support campus events and spaces.

The Business Manager oversees budgeting, forecasting, payroll, and vendor relations, partnering with senior leaders to align resources with strategic goals. Collaboration across departments and external stakeholders is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; Master’s preferred.
• 2–3 years of relevant experience in budgeting/financial operations is expected.
• Experience in higher education is a plus.
• Strong communication and analytical skills required.

Responsibilities

• Oversee budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning for ULSE.
• Supervise the Financial Coordinator and Administrative Coordinator.
• Assist and process payroll transactions; manage purchasing and vendor relations.
• Administer HR processes in Workday; recruit and onboard staff.
• Coordinate reporting, calendars, and improve departmental processes.

Skills

Budgeting & forecasting

Financial reporting

HR systems (Workday)

Leadership

Vendor management

Communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Higher education experience

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Workday

Excel

Job description

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Business Manager

Job Profile Title

Business Administrator B

Job Description Summary

University Life Space and Events is a centralized resource for planning student (undergraduate, graduate, and professional), departmental, and non-Penn-affiliated events within University Life venues and managed spaces. ULSE provides guidance and education on event planning, related policies, compliance, space, and scheduling support, and generally aides students and departments in navigating the Penn ecosystem of space reservations and events. The ULSE team shares a commitment to consistently providing transformational customer service, while cultivating relationships with internal and external community members (users of our spaces/services).

Reporting to the Associate Director for Administration and Finance the Business Manager provides oversight for the financial and administrative operations for University Life Space and Events Management. As the Business Manager, this role is responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day operations of the ULSE departmental office. This role oversees the financial and administrative functions, it supports the ULSE staff, manages office resources, and helps maintain an efficient and organized work environment. Helps with forecasting, preparing and tracking the budget, manages the generation of office supplies, equipment and vendor relationships for ULSE and its functional areas. Assist and process payroll transactions, oversees purchasing activities, coordinate activities across functional areas in the department and ensures compliance with University policies. Supervises the Financial Coordinator and the Administrative Coordinator of the Business Administration team while serving as a liaison to internal and external stakeholders.

The Business Manager role ensures that organizational goals are met through effective planning, financial management, ensuring efficient resource management, supporting HR functions (such as recruitment, hiring, and onboarding). professional development training, and strategic alignment with departmental and institutional goals in mind along with team leadership. Under the guidance of the Associate Director for Business Administration the Business Manager identifies opportunities to increase revenue and reduce costs, consistently monitors the budget and prepares financial reports as needed while building and maintain relationships with clients, vendors, and stakeholders (internal and external).

Additionally, this role ensures accuracy and compliance of a variety of administrative tasks and financial activities while providing critical support to Sr. Leadership for strategic decision-making. The Business Manager for ULSE will partner closely with the Associate Director for Administration and Finance, and collaborate with managers, employees, students and others to strengthen overall business processes and continuously enhance departmental financial and administrative performance.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning for the functional areas, partners with the Associate Director of Administration and Finance along with departmental leadership to evaluate operational costs, monitor budget and track revenue. Manage processes such as payroll, expense reimbursements, purchasing cards, reconciliations, and journals. Assist with the annual fiscal year-end close process, ensure accurate financial reporting, and manages annual tax obligations.
• Oversee AV: forecast labor, equipment/production costs. Monitor project profitability, track revenue/operational expenses. Analyze margins for events and client accounts, generate P&L reports for events/departments. Reconcile, invoices, vendor payments and client billing. Monitor overtime, labor utilization and equipment costs. Manage purchasing, procurement processes, support maintenance and replacement planning. Review monthly financial performance and support annual financial planning.
• Supervise a Financial Coordinator and Administrative Coordinator providing leadership, guidance, and oversight of day-to-day financial and administrative processes. Manages general office management duties – leads efforts for departmental and divisional meetings/gatherings, helps to implement office procedures, and manage organization of storage spaces.This includes setting priorities, monitoring workload distribution, and ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and compliance.
• Execute and manage HR functions through Workday as an HR Analyst. Administration of hiring needs, including of professionals, temporary staff, and student workers. Providing training and oversight of workflows, projects, and process changes. Attend training and meetings to keep up-to-date in understanding of applicable financial and HR systems, policies, and procedures.
• Manage communication and information flow with departments and stakeholders; provide exceptional customer service by responding promptly to inquiries, proactively resolving departmental administrative and financial concerns. Developing effective solutions by gathering information, leveraging institutional resources, and applying sound business understanding Works closely with Sr leadership to define and identify process deficiencies
• Oversees the execution of changes on departmental websites; maintains, distributes, and analyzes the department’s calendar; coordinates data collection for monthly, quarterly, annual and ad-hoc departmental reporting/storytelling; and assists with assessment and information gathering as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree and 2 to 3 years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience required. Master’s degree in Business Administration or similar and 3-5 years of relevant experience preferred.
• Experience in higher education.
• Excellent communications skills are required