Financial Operations Manager, Center for Security and Emerging Technology - Walsh School of Foreign Service

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Requirements

The Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University (CSET) is a research organization focused on studying the security impacts of emerging technologies, supporting academic work in security and technology studies, and delivering nonpartisan analysis to technologists and policymakers. CSET currently focuses on artificial intelligence, advanced computing and biotechnology. Please visit CSET’s career page for more detailed information on role responsibilities and application instructions.

The Financial Operations Manager will oversee the development and management of budgets for a fully externally-funded research organization currently amounting to ~$14 million annually from 10+ current gifts and grants. CSET is increasing the diversity of its funding, which will significantly expand its financial operations portfolio. This role includes responsibilities in financial forecasting and budgetary planning, cost accounting, grants management, and other nonprofit financial and administrative operations. The Financial Operations Manager will collaborate closely with senior colleagues across the Center, while also liaising with finance, procurement, grant management, and other key divisions within the School of Foreign Service and Georgetown University. Additionally, they will directly interact with critical CSET stakeholders. Additional responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Organizational Financial Management

• Prepare the Center's annual budget, considering diverse funding sources, personnel requirements, rates, and time horizons.

• Serve as a strategic partner of the Center by integrating a robust financial perspective into all project planning and management activities, working collaboratively with CSET colleagues to prepare comprehensive organizational (program, team, project) budgets.

• Establish and manage efficient financial management processes, systems, and tools to inform leadership and staff of financial positioning, ensuring timely review and processing of payments to vendors and subrecipients.

• Collate necessary contracts components, initiating Georgetown Management System (GMS, GU’s instance of Workday) requisitions, and collaborating with Georgetown procurement for final review and sign off on contracts.

• Review financial transactions, expense reports, journal transactions, and supplier invoices, in GMS, ensuring that all data is accurately entered and all chart of account elements are consistently assigned.

• Review and cross-reference actual spend data to budget forecasts, correcting erroneous charges and ensuring budget forecasting assumptions and tools remain up to date.

• Initiate requisitions for goods and services, honoraria, contracts, and purchase orders in compliance with university policies and purchasing guidelines, coordinating with Georgetown procurement, accounts payable, and central finance teams when necessary.

Grant & Sponsored Project Management

• Prepare budgets for funding opportunities, monitoring that approved awards are received and set up in compliance with Georgetown policies and funder requirements.

• Plan award spending in accordance with funders' terms and conditions, collaborating with the Development team to prepare financial reports, statements, and other finance-related deliverables required by funders.

• Work with Georgetown financial services units to respond to funder inquiries for financial information, reviewing and reconciling expenses to ensure that they are a) allowable by the sponsor for the project, b) allocable to the project, c) reasonable and necessary, d) supported by required documents, and e) within the budgeted amounts.

• Review associated fringe benefits for accuracy and review salary distributions to ensure that they reasonably reflect employees’ level of effort on projects.

• Review the commitments of key personnel, to ensure the costs reasonably reflect the level of effort committed to the sponsors as part of proposal and notify OSP/OSR of significant variances.

• Ensure the accuracy of indirect cost recovery calculations, processing all corrections and adjustments within 90 days of when the