Financial Specialist II

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:

Employment Type:

Job Profile:

Job Summary:

Mechanical Engineering is a large, research-intensive department with over 55 faculty, 1,800 students, and more than $36M in annual operational and research expenditures. The department is supported by an innovative and collaborative administrative team of 15. 

Under general supervision of the Academic Department Manager, the Financial Specialist provides financial management, transaction processing, and administrative support for the Department. This position is the main resource for Department activities relating to reimbursements, payments, and purchasing. The position serves as the first point of contact for Department faculty members, staff, and graduate students for advice, direction, training, and problem resolution relating to financial transactions and processes. Non-routine business is handled by this position to make it a truly broad and versatile service for meeting or resolving complex activities. The successful candidate should:

• Have the ability to create, manage, and coordinate financial spreadsheets and reports, projects, and programs.

• Possess excellent organizational skills, a propensity for detailed accuracy, and the ability to organize and coordinate diverse activities.

• Will be able to make a wide variety of decisions, analyzing situations, and exercising good judgment.

• Practice excellent interpersonal human relations, and oral/written communication skills. 

• Possess excellent customer service and professionalism. Be courteous, respectful, responsive, cooperative. 

• Have the ability to adapt to and apply new and changing methods, requirements, and priorities. 

• Have excellent time management skills and ability to work quickly and accurately with strict time deadlines and under pressure. Ability to work independently with limited supervision and manage multiple priorities at the same time. 

• Have an interest in working in a cohesive team environment, contribute, and learn with others.

Additional Information: 

• The successful applicant will be responsible for ensuring eligibility for employment in the United States on or before the effective date of the appointment. University sponsorship is not available for this position.

• The anticipated hybrid work schedule will be up to two days remote, with 3 days onsite after an initial 6 month training period which will require working 5 days on site.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Audits or reconciles original purchase documents with payments

• Audits or processes advanced transactions and assigns funding codes in accordance with established rules, regulations, and policies

• Creates general reporting for transactions

• Audits, monitors, organizes, and updates fiscal records, reports, and affiliated materials

• Reviews transaction processing internal controls and recommends policies and procedures

• Answers advanced fiscal questions and provides information based on set materials and standards to various audiences

• Drafts communications and advanced reports and maintains organization of varied records to provide administrative support within a specified work unit

• Reallocates expenses to appropriate funding strings

Department:

College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Compensation:

The starting rate for the position is $24.00 per hour but is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.  

Required Qualifications:

• Extensive professional experience processing invoices, travel payments/ reimbursements, allocating expenses to appropriate funds, using and/or managing an employer credit card and other financial transactions.

• Moderate experience in a role responsible for interpreting and adhering to regulatory frameworks, including state statutes and organizational policies.

• Extensive experience providing customer service (internal or external customers) in an administrative setting

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience using Excel or other spreadsheet applications (comfortable with basic navigation, data entry, simple functions and formatting)

• Experience working collaboratively on process improvement initiatives

• Experience supporting non-finance employees and students with financial transactions

• Experience working in a professional position higher education

• Experience with Workday

Education:

Preferred: Associate’s degree

How to Apply:

Please go to the “Apply Now” area and select your current UW Employment Status. Your cover letter and resume should address how your training and experience align with the Required and Preferred Qualifications listed above.

Please specifically provide examples that demonstrate your experience in each of the following:

• Processing financial transactions, including the types of transactions handled and the systems or tools used to process, record, and track them (e.g., Excel, Google Sheets, Workday, SAP, Quick Books, etc.).

• Customer service experience supporting internal or external customers with financial transactions, including resolving inquiries, explaining transaction-related processes, and the interpretation and application of relevant regulatory requirements to ensure accurate and compliant support.

Application reviewers will rely on these written materials to determine which applicants move forward in the process. We will notify selected applicants to participate further in the selection process directly. References will be requested from final candidates. All applicants will be notified after the search is complete and a candidate has been selected.
 

Contact Information:

Alissa Girdler

1513 University Ave

Madison, WI 53706

[email protected]

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 fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

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 backgrounds and 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). 
 
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