Business Analyst

Business Analyst

About Northeastern:
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Our locations—in Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; London; Portland, Maine; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Toronto; Vancouver; and the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant—are nodes in our growing global university system. Through this network, we expand opportunities for flexible, student-centered learning and collaborative, solutions-focused research.

Northeastern's comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs— in a variety of on-campus and online formats—lead to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 195 multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students for purposeful lives and careers.

About the Opportunity:
NOTE: Northeastern is a global university and NU-RES supports its team working remotely. Remote locations and work schedules are determined based on operational needs and in consultation with Team members, consistent with University policies and guidance.

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a private global, experiential research university. Grounded in its signature co-op program, Northeastern today provides unprecedented experiential learning opportunities around the world. The University's rapidly growing research enterprise is strategically aligned with three national imperatives: health, security, and sustainability. Northeastern University has been evolving from a more regionally-focused university with a limited research portfolio, into a national research university, achieving R-1 status in 2015. This rapid transition has included significant growth in enrollment, faculty and facilities, as well as in the number, size and complexity of sponsored research grants. This position is critical to support its current and future research growth. Research Finance manages the post award financial life cycle of an award, establishes new grants and analyzes and processes financial data within the Banner general ledger with a focus on compliance.

Responsibilities:
The Business Analyst (BA) will support the functions of the Research Finance office under the NU-Research Enterprise Services for sponsored activities by making sure that the university is in compliance with applicable federal regulations, sponsor requirements and university policies with a focus on fiscal compliance. Reporting to the Associate Director, Research Finance, the Business Analyst will be responsible for bridging the gap between systems and business operations and provide data analytics to leadership.

Responsibilities include:
The candidate will maintain data integrity of all new and modified research accounts in the Banner Financial system. He/She will work closely with all analysts in reviewing and setting up accounts to ensure proper financial management. The candidate will communicate changes to the appropriate contacts throughout the research community. Under the direction of the Director and Associate Directors, the BA will also assist in implementations to ensure technical and functional requirements are met for new systems and integrations. This includes developing current/future state assessments and collaborating with the team to maintain internal controls and reporting requirements. The BA will work closely with ITS to develop reports in Cognos. The BA will have to understand how the data is structured in various systems in order to pull the data properly into reports to inform leadership and develop efficiencies within the operation. The candidate will also provide data analytics surrounding research spending, trends and projections on the research portfolio and growth. Assist the NU-RES Finance leadership team with various projects as needed.

The candidate is expected to work in various electronic platforms and systems and must be technically savvy. Must be able to VPN and work completely electronically. The candidate must be able to navigate through the financial system (Banner) as well as the various grants systems and portals (Cognos, K2, COEUS, eCLAWS, Sharepoint, Teams, etc.) as required to perform their job.

The BA must work collaboratively within the unit as well as college level administrators to improve workflow and processes through data analytics. This person must have a strong sense of how data flows and understand how the data is stored within the data warehouse. The BA must be able to understand the award life cycle and in conjunction with the ADRF make sure controls are in place within the system.

The position is expected to foster consultative relationships as well as support a professional environment, providing award support and training when needed. The ability to create and maintain a culture of service, accountability and timeliness is essential. As a collaborative team member, the candidate will support the other members of NU-RES, interface with colleagues across organizational units such as, NU-RES Research Administration, Accounts Payable, Office of General Counsel, the Procurement Office, and Research Compliance, and perform other duties as assigned.

A key success factor for this role is being current with respect to federal regulations to understand business operations. This role must treat effective compliance as an equal priority, stay abreast of sponsor rules, regulations and policy changes, as well as institutional best practices in research administration and finance. Participate in sponsored research initiatives and projects as assigned, as well as leading the adoption of best practices to promote continuous improvement making sure that the highest quality standards are met.

Qualifications:

• BS/BA or is required
  
  
• Strong technical skills with Financial systems, Business Intelligence tools (IBM Cognos preferred), and relational database management.
  
  
• Experience in SQL development preferred
  
  
• Excel, Word, Adobe, Microsoft Teams, Outlook and other analytical tools.
  
  
• 4-6 years work experience required; 6-8 years preferred.
  
  
• Must be able to work effectively in a team-oriented environment
  
  
• Excellent analytical, problem solving skills with a high attention to detail
  
  
• Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to interact with both senior and management
  
  
• Proven customer service skills
  
  
• Basic accounting skills
  
  Salary Grade:
  12
  
  Additional Information:
  Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.
  
  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
  
  To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.
  
  
  
  To apply, visit https://careers.pageuppeople.com/879/cw/en-us/job/505872
  
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