Administrative Officer - Divinity School

Position Summary:

The Administrative Officer is part of the finance team for the Vanderbilt Divinity School and is a key individual contributor responsible for the day-to-day operations of finance functions serving as a Financial Unit Manager (FUM) in the Oracle Cloud administrative system. This position provides financial unit management, and general guidance and assistance for staff and faculty, performing in a liaison capacity. Reporting to the Chief Business Officer, the Administrative Officer interacts regularly with the faculty and staff in the Divinity School, and with other FUMs across campus. Working closely with the Chief Business Officer, this position monitors systems and procedures to ensure compliance with accounting principles, University, State, and Federal regulations, and audit requirements, and serves as a key departmental contact and expert on Vanderbilt policy and process questions.

The Administrative Officer reviews and approves all financial transactions for the Divinity School, including procurement requisitions, expense reimbursements, procurement card expenses, and intercompany transactions, and ensures that all transactions are recorded accurately and are in compliance with applicable university and departmental policies. This position maintains in-depth knowledge of GAAP accounting principles and legal requirements related to day-to-day management of institutional funds, reducing legal risks and ensuring regulatory compliance. This position tracks actuals activities against budgets, performs account reconciliations, and supports forecasting efforts. The Administrative Officer integrates multiple sources of policy, financial, and operational information to resolve issues and support decision making in a dynamic, high volume administrative setting. This position also performs essential operational and project management assignments as assigned. The Administrative Officer requires strong technical skills, communication, and problem-solving abilities, with high attention to detail in a fast-paced environment.

About the Work Unit:

About the Divinity School:

The Divinity School administrators and staff comprise a team committed to excellence in theological education. From different composite areas: admissions, community life, academics, special programming, communications, theological and religious library resources, and development and alumni relations, each person contributes to an innovative and collegial environment. The unit as a whole is committed to the mission of both the University and the Divinity School. We seek to lead the nation in the care, preparation, and professional qualification of our students to the religious and theological professions.

In a global and multi-religious world, the Divinity school seeks to fulfill the following objectives:

• to engage in theological inquiry;
• to help persons prepare for the practice of Christian ministry and public leadership;
• to encourage personal and spiritual formation;
• to prepare agents of social justice; and
• to educate future scholars and teachers, locally and globally.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

Financial Unit Manager (45%)

• Reviews, approves, and monitors all financial transactions for Divinity, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and alignment with available funding and budget constraints. Maintains deep knowledge of Vanderbilt financial systems, chart of accounts, POET structure, and institutional policies to ensure accurate financial management and compliance. Uses excellent professional judgment and integrity to evaluate the appropriateness of expenditures and possesses the maturity and confidence to address questionable transactions either directly or by escalating them, if needed.
• Applies analytical reasoning to assess the financial impact of purchases, contracts, and programmatic decisions, ensuring alignment with departmental goals and fiscal responsibility.
• Evaluates all financial activity with a focus on maintaining budget integrity, ensuring that approved transactions do not result in deficit spending or misalignment with funding sources.
• Adopts best practices in the review and management of financial resources, addressing any needed changes or adjustments in a timely manner.
• Maintains big picture perspective, ensuring that all expenditures are evaluated to assess impact on departmental operational needs and financial goals.
• Reconciles and actively monitors all operating expenditures, ensuring alignment with approved budgets and proactively identifying potential deficits or overspending risks.
• Tracks and monitors faculty fund spending, provides balances and transaction details, and partners with faculty to develop and adjust spend plans based on current and projected funding availability. Provides quarterly spending reports to Divinity School areas and programs as assigned.
• Effectively uses Vanderbilt's financial systems and tools to gather, validate, and analyze data; leverages system capabilities to produce accurate, actionable financial reporting.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for all Procurement-related inquiries, providing guidance and support to faculty and staff on purchasing processes and policies.
• Assists with contract preparation, routing, and financial tracking for vendor engagements, performance-related agreements, and internal initiatives.
• Reviews and approves IT Software Store purchases to ensure the required software is available to our faculty and staff and assigned to the appropriate costing and maintains list of all software purchases for Divinity, whether from Software Store or purchased outside with VUIT collaboration.
• Supports the coordination and review of Non-Standard Business Agreements (NSBAs), working closely with university partners to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Assigns student awards in the university's tracking system and ensures accurate documentation for audit and reporting purposes.
• Reviews, processes, and tracks all student award disbursements in compliance with institutional guidelines, in coordination with the Office of Student Financial Aid.
• Oversees COA printing and expenses for Divinity School faculty, staff, and students to ensure all copy and printing costs are allocated to the correct chart of accounts.
• Manages the One Card activities for Divinity to ensure all One Card transactions are aligned with the Vanderbilt policies and expenses within the required time limit.
• Develops and delivers training for faculty, staff, and students on financial systems, policies, and procedures (including procurement, travel, expense reporting, and Oracle Cloud), ensuring users are equipped to navigate processes accurately and efficiently.
• Creates and maintains guidance materials (e.g., tip sheets, process documentation, and updates) and provides ongoing support and communication to promote compliance, reinforce best practices, and ensure awareness of evolving financial policies and system changes.
• Collaborates with university Travel Services to communicate available travel credits and coordinate their application across departments.
• Reviews and distributes Payment-to-Payment (P2P) reports, identifying and resolving discrepancies to support accurate financial reconciliation.
• Attends monthly and quarterly Oracle and Procurement meetings/webinars and distributes information as appropriate.
• Provides training and guidance to student organization leaders on financial protocols, including payment processing, funding requests, and policy compliance.
• Serves as back-up to the Blair School's Administrative Officer for review and approval of financial transactions for the Blair School in the Oracle Cloud system, including procurement requisitions, expense reports (including travel and entertainment), and procurement card expense reports.

Operations (20%)

• Oversees day-to-day financial operations, serving as a key resource for troubleshooting issues, addressing policy questions, and implementing process improvements.
• Serves as primary day-to-day point of contact for the Divinity School for policy, procedure, and process related to financial topics, elevating issues to the CBO as appropriate.
• Develops and/or updates day-to-day financial processes and internal procedures for Divinity, in partnership with the Chief Business Officer and communicates them to relevant stakeholders.
• Notifies faculty and staff as needed regarding travel credits from Unused Ticket Report.
• Submits and tracks travel approval requests in accordance with institutional policy, maintaining accurate records for audit and reporting purposes.
• Serves as the primary steward of the Finance sections of the Divinity School website, ensuring content is accurate, timely, and aligned with current practices.
• Serves as the point of contact for internal grant-related financial processes, following established guidelines and monitoring award usage.
• Regularly reviews CBO Toolbox reports and notifies staff as needed to take action.
• Manages and updates internal costing/project numbers spreadsheet. Shares updated spreadsheet with Divinity School procurement requestors.
• Provides financial onboarding, Oracle Cloud and ongoing support to encourage adherence to University and School policies and procedures and offers training as needed.
• Approaches questions and concerns from faculty, staff, and students with courtesy and an emphasis on customer service ensuring inquiries are handled quickly, with an emphasis on teaching, and resolution is communicated timely.
• Assists in planning, coordinating, and managing special projects and process initiatives as assigned.

Accounting and Analysis (20%)

• Reconciles checks/cash/credit card revenue for the Divinity School to ensure the payments are deposited and recorded appropriately, including making deposits and preparing monthly cash management upload templates.
• Reconciles Divinity professional student scholarship entry to ensure accuracy and availability of funds on a quarterly basis.
• Reconciles and prepares Divinity School Doctor of Ministry revenue share payment once per semester.
• Forecasts revenue for endowed lectures/student awards and library funds on a quarterly basis to ensure the information is available to stakeholders for funds distribution.
• Provides quarterly revenue/projections/spending analysis to Divinity School major programs to ensure all the expenses are allowable and recorded appropriately.
• Reconciles endowment distributions on a quarterly basis to ensure accurate application to faculty salaries, scholarships, and programmatic funds; monitors fund balances and spending to ensure compliance with donor intent and fiscal year deadlines.

Grants Manager (15%)

• Manages all pre and post award grants activities for Divinity School.
• Pre-award activities include developing budgets in accordance with sponsor guidelines and expense factors: analyzing sponsor guidelines for all grant proposal submissions; developing, reviewing and submitting grant proposals in VERA to ensure all the grants' proposals are entered and approved internally.
• Post-award activities include developing budget revisions for existing awards; serving as the primary contact for grant's rollover activities; producing grants annual financial reports to sponsors as needed; conducting grants transactions review to ensure all costs posting to external or internal grants are allowable and appropriate and are consistent with sponsor guidelines.
• Other grant activities include processing retroactive costing transfers for all unallowable transactions; requesting, monitoring, and reviewing subcontract invoices; monitoring approaching end dates for all grants; managing the financial aspects of no-cost extension, and closeout activities for all grant/contract projects.
• Serves as a manager for ECRT (effort certifications) for grants to ensure all faculty effort is recorded and approved in the system.
• Serves as CORES and ILAB administrator to ensure all charges are costed correctly, and projects added to the applications.
• Provides financial grants information for the annual budget to the CBO.

Supervisory Relationships:

This position does not have supervisory responsibility but does mentor staff and students on VU financial and School policies and procedures. This position reports administratively and functionally to the Chief Business Officer for the Blair School of Music and the Divinity School.

Education and Certifications:

• A Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution of higher education is necessary.

Experience and Skills:

• At least four years of directly comparable professional experience is necessary.
• At least six years of directly comparable professional experience is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an environment requiring strong attention to detail is necessary.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and in a highly collaborative setting is necessary.
• Aptitude to solve problems in a timely manner and prioritize responsibilities appropriately is necessary.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are necessary.
• Professionalism, maturity, and experience with the prudent handling of confidential and highly sensitive information is necessary.
• Ability to make administrative/procedural decisions and judgments is necessary.
• Ability to perform complex tasks and to prioritize multiple projects is necessary.
• Ability to provide technical advice and information to staff in area of expertise is necessary.
• Ability to analyze budgetary line items for compliance with budget guidelines is necessary.
• Expert Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills are necessary.
• Experience with Oracle or similar ERP systems, and familiarity with Vanderbilt policies and procedures, is preferred.

At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of "America's Best Large Employers" as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice.

We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it. We encourage you to apply today so that you might become a part of our story.

Vanderbilt University is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.