Operations Specialist

Type of Appointment: Full-Time, Probationary 

Job Classification: Administrative Analyst/Specialist Exempt I

Anticipated Hiring Range: $4,598 - $5,600

Work Hours: Monday - Friday 8am-5pm

THE DEPARTMENT:

The President is the Chief Executive Officer of the University and is responsible for all operational aspects and strategic initiatives for the University, including student recruitment, retention and graduation; academic policies and programs; state and non-state operating budgets; personnel policies and procedures; external outreach, collaboration and fundraising. The Operations Specialist provides assistance and support to the Office of the President to include the President, Vice President and Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff, Presidential Aide, Administrative Operations and Budget Analyst, and Executive Assistants.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Administrative Support:

• Proactively addresses sensitive issues and knows when to seek advice from lead or manager. Handles and prepares responses to phone calls made to the President's Office; uses judgment to independently determine the best approach to handle concerns, questions, and inquiries. Independently assesses issues and redirects inquiries to the appropriate department when needed.
• Demonstrates creativity and initiative by suggesting solutions, best practices, or approaches to ensure precision in administrative tasks, financial management, and systems analysis.
• Acts as a project administrator in ServiceNow, directing requests to Vice President offices for streamlined tracking and communication within a single platform.
• Assists with the President's Office signature tracker in Smartsheet; ensure signature requests are assigned and complete, as needed.
• Administrator for the 25Live room/event scheduling system for conference areas overseen by the President's Office. Creates and delivers training sessions for multipurpose room (MPR) users addressing computer, audio, and related equipment usage.
• Maintains gift inventory to track gifts presented to faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and external constituents. Compose letters of congratulations from the President for retiring faculty and staff; ensure a gift is provided to retirees with 20+ years in recognition of their service.
• Serve as lead for student assistants to manage front desk coverage, coordinate work schedules, assign special projects, and prepare welcome gifts for new hires as part of the university’s onboarding process.
• Oversee the President’s Honor List, which involves sending 2,500-6,000 student award letters via email in partnership with the University Registrar. Work with the Registrar/Academic Affairs to distribute letters during the summer, Fall Semester, and Winter Intersession as students become eligible for the award.
• Schedules maintenance for the copy machine and arranges water deliveries. Manages and orders both hospitality and office supplies.

Budget and Payroll Administration:

• Lead budget analyst for Foundation accounts providing strategic operations and systems analysis to assist with annual budget preparation and oversight; program and project expense tracking; and implementation of new or revised policies.
• Prepare, analyze, and interpret budget reports, make budget projections and examine documents for conformance with established policies and procedures. Reconciles accounts and generates monthly and ad hoc reports to ensure accuracy of expenditures.
• Serve as the primary department timekeeper; analyze, review and implement payroll policies/procedures, recommend enhancements for department payroll processing, and serve as a resource to provide staff training and guidance. Serve as the primary contact with Payroll Services attending information sharing/training sessions when offered. 
• Track, process and monitor attendance, including hybrid schedules, leave balances, retired annuitant hours, and other forms of leave for staff and student assistants.
• Monitor employee leave credits on a quarterly basis and inform employees, leads, and HEERA managers of excess or insufficient leave credits.
• Oversee and manage student payroll, timesheet policies and procedures, provide recommendations to improve/implement revised policies.
• Coordinate the recruitment, hiring and onboarding of student assistants in the President's Office. Develop and implement a framework for recruitment and onboarding efforts for new student assistants. Serve as the primary coordinator with the Career Center and EODA as needed.
• Lead for student assistants; coordinate work schedules, primary trainer for front office responsibilities to include 25Live training, receptioni