Associate Director of Administrative Operations

The Associate Director ensures operational excellence by working collaboratively with functional areas of the school to ensure cross-functional collaboration and alignment resulting in increased operational efficiencies.

General summary/purpose: We are seeking an Associate Director of Administrative Operations to provide strategic support for the school's short-term and long-term projects. The incumbent serves in a leadership capacity on projects as assigned, by overseeing and/or managing projects from concept to implementation and is responsible for project planning, oversight, implementation, monitoring, and assessment.

Specific duties & responsibilities:

Business Administration (60%)

1. Serve as a close advisor to the Sr. Associate Dean of Finance and Administration.
2. Lead school strategic projects that originate from school or university leadership.
3. Provide consultation and guidance, as needed, in the day-to-day operations, strategic planning, and policy and process improvement for the school, centers, institutes, business units, and programs.
4. Independently manage time-sensitive and high-priority administration and operational initiatives for the school.
5. Serve as a point of contact for operational inquiries across the school.
6. Coordinate with building leadership to ensure delivery of quality operations support services (IT and Facilities) to SAIS; troubleshoot where needed and assist SAIS departments in liaising with building operations as required.
7. Meet regularly with centers, institutes, business units, and program leadership, to include Directors and faculty, to gather feedback on current service levels, policy and procedure concerns, and staff performance and training needs.
8. Make recommendations to school leadership and partner with functional areas on implementing changes as needed.
9. Partner with SAIS leadership to develop, coordinate, and standardize services, policies, and support for centers, institutes, business units, and programs, while ensuring alignment with the overall goals of the school and University.

Project Management (30%)

1. Conduct in-depth research and provide senior leadership with information and recommendations, as assigned.
2. Identify and facilitate cross-functional workgroups to develop, deliver, operationalize, document, and support projects and solutions.
3. Lead and/or manage business improvement processes and strategic initiatives. Work with other members of the dean's office and administrative teams to integrate identified initiatives into organizational effectiveness efforts of the school.

Other (10%)

1. Represent the objectives, goals, vision, and strategy of the school in management meetings including those with senior leaders.
2. Attend meetings and serve on committees on behalf of the Sr. Associate Dean of Finance and Administration.
3. Help to develop an ongoing internal communication strategy that covers HR, finance, and IT facilities.

Special knowledge, skills, and abilities:

1. Unquestionable integrity, strong work ethic, and resiliency required.
2. Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to draft clear, concise professional reports and correspondence.
3. Business process management and improvement experience is required.
4. Experience in a higher education or non-profit environment is preferred.
5. Demonstrated experience effectively utilizing planning, organizational, supervisory, and management skills.
6. Demonstrated ability to make independent judgments and to act on decisions on a daily basis required.
7. Demonstrated ability to work for extended periods of time independently while managing competing priorities and projects in a high-demand environment with time constraints.
8. Evidence of ability to form and build effective relationships with cross-functional teams composed of various levels of leadership, faculty, and staff in a collaborative environment.
9. Demonstrated ability to lead projects that will improve the quality of administrative functions of the school.
10. Demonstrated ability to make sense of complex information and apply a systematic, disciplined approach to solve complex problems, lead consultative engagements, and adapt to changing situations.
11. Demonstrated ability to maintain confidentiality and provide excellent customer service.
12. Expertise in setting and managing expectations. Ability to effectively influence and negotiate.
13. Demonstrated ability to apply business process improvement tools and methodology, i.e., Lean Six Sigma, to analyze business processes and propose process improvement.

Minimum Qualifications:

1. Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Accounting, or other related field.
2. Five years progressively responsible professional-level administrative or financial experience related to monetary or non-monetary resources of a department, center, or unit.
3. Master's degree in a related field may substitute for required experience and additional experience may substitute for education, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Lean Six Sigma Certification (Green or Black Belt).

Classified Title: Sr. Administrative Manager
Role/Level/Range: ATP/04/PE
Starting Salary Range: $72,600 - $127,000 Annually (Commensurate with experience)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am-5pm
Exempt Status: Exempt
Location: Hybrid/District of Columbia
Department name: Finance and Administration
Personnel area: SAIS