Business Manager

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Business Manager

Job Profile Title

Business Administrator B

Job Description Summary

University Life Space and Events is a centralized resource for planning student (undergraduate, graduate, and professional), departmental, and non-Penn-affiliated events within University Life venues and managed spaces. ULSE provides guidance and education on event planning, related policies, compliance, space, and scheduling support, and generally aides students and departments in navigating the Penn ecosystem of space reservations and events. The ULSE team shares a commitment to consistently providing transformational customer service, while cultivating relationships with internal and external community members (users of our spaces/services).

Reporting to the Associate Director for Administration and Finance the Business Manager provides oversight for the financial and administrative operations for University Life Space and Events Management. As the Business Manager, this role is responsible for ensuring the smooth day-to-day operations of the ULSE departmental office. This role oversees the financial and administrative functions, it supports the ULSE staff, manages office resources, and helps maintain an efficient and organized work environment. Helps with forecasting, preparing and tracking the budget, manages the generation of office supplies, equipment and vendor relationships for ULSE and its functional areas. Assist and process payroll transactions, oversees purchasing activities, coordinate activities across functional areas in the department and ensures compliance with University policies. Supervises the Financial Coordinator and the Administrative Coordinator of the Business Administration team while serving as a liaison to internal and external stakeholders.

The Business Manager role ensures that organizational goals are met through effective planning, financial management, ensuring efficient resource management, supporting HR functions (such as recruitment, hiring, and onboarding). professional development training, and strategic alignment with departmental and institutional goals in mind along with team leadership. Under the guidance of the Associate Director for Business Administration the Business Manager identifies opportunities to increase revenue and reduce costs, consistently monitors the budget and prepares financial reports as needed while building and maintain relationships with clients, vendors, and stakeholders (internal and external).

Additionally, this role ensures accuracy and compliance of a variety of administrative tasks and financial activities while providing critical support to Sr. Leadership for strategic decision-making. The Business Manager for ULSE will partner closely with the Associate Director for Administration and Finance, and collaborate with managers, employees, students and others to strengthen overall business processes and continuously enhance departmental financial and administrative performance.

Job Description

Job Responsibilities

• Responsible for budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning for the functional areas, partners with the Associate Director of Administration and Finance along with departmental leadership to evaluate operational costs, monitor budget and track revenue. Manage processes such as payroll, expense reimbursements, purchasing cards, reconciliations, and journals. Assist with the annual fiscal year-end close process, ensure accurate financial reporting, and manages annual tax obligations.
• Oversee AV: forecast labor, equipment/production costs. Monitor project profitability, track revenue/operational expenses. Analyze margins for events and client accounts, generate P&L reports for events/departments. Reconcile, invoices, vendor payments and client billing. Monitor overtime, labor utilization and equipment costs. Manage purchasing, procurement processes, support maintenance and replacement planning. Review monthly financial performance and support annual financial planning.
• Supervise a Financial Coordinator and Administrative Coordinator providing leadership, guidance, and oversight of day-to-day financial and administrative processes. Manages general office management duties – leads efforts for departmental and divisional meetings/gatherings, helps to implement office procedures, and manage organization of storage spaces.This includes setting priorities, monitoring workload distribution, and ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and compliance.
• Execute and manage HR functions through Workday as an HR Analyst. Administration of hiring needs, including of professionals, temporary staff, and student workers. Providing training and oversight of workflows, projects, and process changes. Attend training and meetings to keep up-to-date in understanding of applicable financial and HR systems, policies, and procedures.
• Manage communication and information flow with departments and stakeholders; provide exceptional customer service by responding promptly to inquiries, proactively resolving departmental administrative and financial concerns. Developing effective solutions by gathering information, leveraging institutional resources, and applying sound business understanding Works closely with Sr leadership to define and identify process deficiencies
• Oversees the execution of changes on departmental websites; maintains, distributes, and analyzes the department’s calendar; coordinates data collection for monthly, quarterly, annual and ad-hoc departmental reporting/storytelling; and assists with assessment and information gathering as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree and 2 to 3 years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience required. Master's degree in Business Administration or similar and 3-5 years of relevant experience preferred.
• Experience in higher education.
• Excellent communications skills are required, including the ability to communicate and enforce policies and procedure with tact and diplomacy.
• Strongly prefer experience with and knowledge of budget procedures and accounting systems, human resources/payroll policies/procedures, and University systems such as BEN Financials, Business Objects, Concur, Workday@Penn.
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office suite of applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access), e-mail(Outlook), web browsers (Explorer).

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Student Activities

Pay Range

$55,962.00 - $60,000.00 Annual Rate

Salary offers are made based on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job’s level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

Equal Opportunity Statement 

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

Special Requirements 
Background checks may be required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

• Tuition: Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.

• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.

• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.

• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.

• Wellness and Work-life Resources: Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.

• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.

• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.

• Discounts and Special Services: From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.

• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.

• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.

• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.

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To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay