Financial Assistant

Department: MED-Medical Social Sciences
Salary/Grade: NEX/11

Target hiring range for this position will be between $19.89-$25.64 per hour. Offered salary will be determined by the applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

Medical Social Sciences Department

The Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is innovative, collegial, collaborative, inclusive and highly committed to team science. We are dedicated to leveraging the social sciences to develop and implement innovations to transform health and healthcare equitably. MSS has grown to roughly 280 faculty and staff in its 15-year history and we are hiring a Financial Assistant to serve on a team providing administrative and operations support to the department.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, has impeccable follow-through, is proactive by nature, strives to provide superb customer service, and thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced, and ambitious environment with a collaborative and mission-driven culture. We are seeking someone with excellent quantitative skills and high proficiency with Excel and accounting principles. We also need someone with excellent skills in self-organization, time management, oral and written communication, as well as someone with a team player attitude, an ability to work with individuals at all levels within the department, a desire for continuous learning, and enthusiasm for growing their skills.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to preparing and submitting expense reports for NU personnel and visitors, invoice payments, add pay and special pay requests, and adding new vendors to NU Financials; submitting wire transfer requests for international vendors; managing purchases and reconciliations for corporate credit card purchases; supporting the annual budget planning process; supporting payroll management by deploying funding and submitting correction journals in myHR; pulling reports and cleaning data in preparation for meetings; serving as a resource to all department members regarding NU financial policies and practices; and other duties as assigned.

This position has a hybrid schedule - remote Mon & Fri and in-office Tue, Wed, Thu (office is located at 625 N Michigan Ave in Chicago, IL).

Job Summary

• Provides day-to-day financial & accounting support using an advanced knowledge of applicable skills, methods & practices & some innovation, analysis, & reasoning to choose appropriate alternatives from among pre-defined policies & procedures to complete work that includes successive steps & involves some non-routine problems &/or decisions.
• Applies industry and professional standards, university policy and procedure, federal and state laws and other regulations.
• Provides administrative &/or clerical support.
• Accounting policy & procedure
• Additional/special pay
• Budget
• Creating new accounts
• Expense reimbursement
• Journal &/or ledger
• Payroll
• Procurement card program
• Purchase orders
• Reconciliation
• Wire transfers

Please note: Supervisor provides objectives & deadlines. Work is reviewed for fulfillment of objective & deadlines & overall compliance with policy & procedures. EE completes some activities without direction, informing supervisor only of potentially controversial matters, &/or far-reaching implications.

Specific Responsibilities:

Budget

• Updates calendar, spreadsheets, templates & forms; monitors submissions.
• Completes reconciliation procedures.

Transactions:

• Completes & maintains transactions in enterprise systems.
• Provides review and oversight of all types of financial transactions some of which may be complex in regard to size or duration of account.
• Reviews; ensures approval based on alternatives regarding practice & policy.
• Troubleshoots problems.
• Performs vendor/account research as needed.
• Obtains additional information from or provides instruction & guidance for customers/vendors; corrects or escalates.

Administration:

• Provides excellent customer service, over the phone and in person answering standard questions regarding status of requests, policies and procedures for processing transactions, &/or instructions for completing paperwork.
• Instructs & advises regarding options and appropriate courses of action & follows-up inquiries to ensure customer satisfaction.

Training:

• Assists with training of new staff members.
• Creates & provides financial training on practice, procedure, policy &/or laws & regulations to customers.

Miscellaneous

Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Competencies: (Skills, knowledge, and abilities.)

• Strong quantitative skills.

• Experience using Microsoft 365, Zoom, and Smartsheet.

• Excellent organizational skills and impeccable follow-through.

• Superb time management skills.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

• Strong, enthusiastic team-player.

• Ability to work effectively with people at all levels of the organization.

• Commitment to providing superb customer service.

• Thrives in a dynamic, fast-paced, and ambitious environment with a collaborative and mission-driven culture.

• Has a desire for continuous learning and enthusiasm for growing their skills.

• Highly proficient in Excel and other spreadsheet systems.

Benefits:

At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful and competitive benefits. The available benefits package for this position will include health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance; paid vacation and holidays; paid medical/sick and parental leave; tuition benefits for the employee and dependents; pre-tax and flex spending accounts for commuting and dependent care; generous retirement savings options; and wellness programs. For a comprehensive overview of available benefits, including eligibility details, visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to learn more.

Work-Life and Wellness:
Northwestern offers comprehensive programs and services to help you and your family navigate life's challenges and opportunities, and adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles.
We support flexible work arrangements where possible and programs to help you locate and pay for quality, affordable childcare and senior/adult care. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/work-life/index.html to learn more.

Professional Growth & Development:
Northwestern supports employee career development in all circumstances whether your workspace is on campus or at home. If you're interested in developing your professional potential or continuing your formal education, we offer a variety of tools and resources. Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/learning/index.html to learn more.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics, including disability and veteran status. View Northwestern's non-discrimination statement. Job applicants who wish to request an accommodation in the application or hiring process should contact the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance. View additional information on the accommodations process.

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