Senior Director of Administration and Operations

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: commensurate with experience

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), the Senior Director of Administration and Operations leads the day-to-day administrative services operation of the Zuckerman Institute within the Jerome L. Greene Building (JLG). Partnering closely with senior leaders across all functions, this role directs building activities and collaborates with PIs, lab managers, researchers, program leads, building tenants, other operational leaders to ensure the effective operations and administrative support of all external facing processes and activities. This role is responsible for identifying, developing and implementing solutions to service gaps within the Zuckerman Institute’s day-to-day operation in JLG. Solutions will require a collaboration with various business partners from the university with an overarching goal of establishing a world-class research institute nestled inside a state-of-the-art building with an open, engaging environment that attracts the best scientists in the world.

The Senior Director will be responsible for developing and directing successful large scale scientific symposiums and events that support the growing needs of the Institute’s various sponsored programs as well as those events hosted by members of the Zuckerman Institute and their lab members. Responsibilities include the identification and implementation of various business tools (e.g., event management software, event registration software, etc.) to support the operation, development of appropriate staffing models (e.g., on-call staffing to support variable needs) and coordination of event support to meet the needs of the program (e.g., setup, meeting services including AV, food and beverage services, event breakdown). This role will work closely with the COO to program activities in JLG that increase collaboration among the researchers, break down barriers that inhibit interaction in the building and nimbly support the shifting priorities of the institute.

The Senior Director of Administration and Operations will assume administrative responsibility for the Zuckerman Institute’s newly-formed travel program. Responsibilities include supporting the launch of the university’s new travel portal and developing the local business processes that will ensure the customers (traveling researchers, new recruits, invited visitors, etc.) have streamlined options that meet their unique needs; and that their travel choices will enable a streamlined expense reimbursement process through Concur.

The Senior Director of Administration and Operations is responsible for managing various service agreements to ensure their scope of work and standards of service are being met. In particular, this position will play an active role in overseeing the productivity of future Public Relations activities in support of the Zuckerman Institute to ensure specific contract goals are being met.

The Senior Director of Administration and Operations will also be responsible for the continued management and leadership of the Emergency Response Plan, setting protocols to manage, control, or mitigate the immediate effects of an incident.

Responsibilities

Additional responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Oversees the strategy and management of multiple large-scale projects as assigned including the development of scope, schedule and budget. Able to manage project activities including stakeholder involvement, development of critical path, identification of change management and communication plans, and engagement of senior leadership.
• Launches the Zuckerman Institute’s newly formed travel portal ensuring the development of local business processes.
• Represents the Chief Operating Officer on selected internal and University committees and initiatives. Provides global support to the Chief Operating Officer on numerous issues such as crisis planning, problem solving, change management, and advocating support for decisions.
• Identifies areas for improvement that promote efficiency, effectiveness, service excellence and innovation.
• Builds a management culture based on teamwork, open communication, prudent risk taking, innovation, mentoring and accountability. Supports a tone of leadership that is people-oriented, collaborative in nature and focused in data-based decision-making.
• Develops and implements processes that enable and prioritize effective service operations and continuous improvement.
• Partners with the COO in the development of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for the optimal functioning of customer-facing operations and implements leading practices to leverage new ways of doing things.
• Oversees all aspects of departmental budget.
• Build and maintain positive work relationships with customers in the building to gather feedback on the operation.
• Other duties or special projects, as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree required; master’s degree strongly preferred. 8-10 years of related work experience required. Prior management experience required.

Preferred Qualifications

Must have excellent time management, organizational, verbal/written communications, and interpersonal skills; ability to work on concurrent projects with multiple deadlines is a necessity; must have strong skills as a consensus builder, the ability to lead and act decisively and solve problems quickly; must demonstrate creativity and the ability to work effectively in a large, complex organization. Experience with standard office applications including MS Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) is required. Must be able to optimize and streamline business processes and implement enterprise wide solutions.

Experience in establishing full project lifecycle plans for one or more projects of moderate to high visibility and/or complexity. Strong project management, writing and editing, analytical, and interpersonal communication skills required. Proven relationship development and management skills. Must be capable of working independently as well as collaboratively, and take a proactive approach and anticipate senior management’s needs. Ability to quickly establish credible relationships with high-level contacts and build a broad knowledge about a variety of relevant stakeholders and their operations. Proven ability to work collegially and effectively with university administrators and faculty, and other constituencies. Must have a passion for excellent customer service and commitment to exceptional quality.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

Applications open: Dec 12 2019 Eastern Standard Time
Applications close: