Administrative Officer - Blair, School of Music

Position Summary:

The Administrative Officer is part of the finance team for Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music and is a key individual contributor responsible for the day-to-day operations of finance functions serving as a Financial Unit Manager (FUM) in the Oracle Cloud administrative system. This position provides financial unit management, and general guidance and assistance for staff and faculty, performing in a liaison capacity. Reporting to the Chief Business Officer, the Administrative Officer interacts regularly with the faculty and staff in the Blair School, and with other FUMs across campus. Working closely with the Chief Business Officer, this position monitors systems and procedures to ensure compliance with accounting principles, University, State, and Federal regulations, and audit requirements, and serves as a key departmental contact and expert on Vanderbilt policy and process questions. 

The Administrative Officer reviews and approves all financial transactions for the Blair School, including procurement requisitions, expense reimbursements, procurement card expenses, and intercompany transactions, and ensures that all transactions are recorded accurately and are in compliance with applicable university and departmental policies. This position maintains in-depth knowledge of GAAP accounting principles and legal requirements related to day-to-day management of institutional funds, reducing legal risks and ensuring regulatory compliance. This position tracks actuals activities against budgets, performs account reconciliations, and supports forecasting efforts. The Administrative Officer integrates multiple sources of policy, financial, and operational information to resolve issues and support decision making in a dynamic, high volume administrative setting. This position also performs essential operational and project management assignments as assigned. The Administrative Officer requires strong technical skills, communication, and problem-solving abilities, with high attention to detail in a fast-paced environment. 

About the Work Unit:

About the Blair School of Music:

Situated on Vanderbilt Campus in the heart of Nashville, TN, the Blair School of Music is a vibrant and fast-paced school at Vanderbilt University, focused on the personal and professional education of highly talented young musicians who demonstrate exceptional artistic capacity and a motivation to help shape the world through music. The school has approximately 115 full and part-time faculty members and industry professionals who teach an estimated 260 music majors, 65 music minors and second majors, and 800 Blair Academy students (comprised of pre-college and adult students) https://blair.vanderbilt.edu/.

Vanderbilt is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. It offers more than 70 undergraduate majors and a full range of graduate and professional degrees across 11 schools and colleges, all on a beautiful campus—an accredited arboretum—complete with athletic facilities and state-of-the-art laboratories. Vanderbilt is optimized to inspire and nurture cross-disciplinary research that fosters discoveries that have global impact.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

Financial Unit Manager (75%)

• Reviews, approves, and monitors all financial transactions for Blair, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and alignment with available funding and budget constraints. Maintains deep knowledge of Vanderbilt financial systems, chart of accounts, POET structure, and institutional policies to ensure accurate financial management and compliance. Uses excellent professional judgment and integrity to evaluate the appropriateness of expenditures and possesses the maturity and confidence to address questionable transactions either directly or by escalating them, if needed.
• Applies analytical reasoning to assess the financial impact of purchases, contracts, and programmatic decisions, ensuring alignment with departmental goals and fiscal responsibility.
• Evaluates all financial activity with a focus on maintaining budget integrity, ensuring that approved transactions do not result in deficit spending or misalignment with funding sources.
• Adopts best practices in the review and management of financial resources, addressing any needed changes or adjustments in a timely manner.
• Maintains big picture perspective, ensuring that all expenditures are evaluated to assess impact on departmental operational needs and financial goals.
• Tracks, reconciles, and actively monitors all Blair operating expenditures, ensuring alignment with approved budgets and proactively identifying potential deficits or overspending risks. Tracks and monitors faculty fund spending, provides balances and transaction details, and partners with faculty to develop and adjust spend plans based on current and projected funding availability. Provides quarterly spending reports to Blair School areas and programs as assigned. 
• Effectively uses Vanderbilt’s financial systems and tools to gather, validate, and analyze data; leverages system capabilities to produce accurate, actionable financial reporting.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for all Procurement-related inquiries, providing guidance and support to faculty and staff on purchasing processes and policies.
• Assists with contract preparation, routing, and financial tracking for vendor engagements, performance-related agreements, and internal initiatives.
• Provides administrative and financial support for the Blair School’s Vanderbilt Opera Theatre to ensure budget, as well as manage, negotiate, and draft all contracts for Vanderbilt Opera Theatre including, but not limited to designer agreements and performance rights.
• Provides administrative and financial oversight for Blair Visiting Artist contracts and travel arrangements to ensure budget and payment processing in accordance with Vanderbilt policy and procedure. 
• Reviews and approves IT Software Store purchases to ensure the required software is available to our faculty and staff and assigned to the appropriate costing and maintains list of all software purchases for Blair, whether from Software Store or purchased outside with VUIT collaboration.
• Supports the coordination and review of Non-Standard Business Agreements (NSBAs), working closely with university partners to ensure accuracy and compliance.
• Assigns student awards in the university’s tracking system and ensures accurate documentation for audit and reporting purposes.
• Reviews, processes, and tracks all student award disbursements in compliance with institutional guidelines, in coordination with the Office of Student Financial Aid.
• Oversees COA printing and expenses for Blair School faculty, staff, and students to ensure all copy and printing costs are allocated to the correct chart of accounts.
• Manages the One Card activities for Blair to ensure all One Card transactions are aligned with the Vanderbilt policies and expenses within the required time limit.
• Develops and delivers training for faculty, staff, and students on financial systems, policies, and procedures (including procurement, travel, expense reporting, and Oracle Cloud), ensuring users are equipped to navigate processes accurately and efficiently.
• Creates and maintains guidance materials (e.g., tip sheets, process documentation, and updates) and provides ongoing support and communication to promote compliance, reinforce best practices, and ensure awareness of evolving financial policies and system changes.
• Collaborates with university Travel Services to communicate available travel credits and coordinate their application across departments.
• Reviews and distributes Payment-to-Payment (P2P) reports, identifying and resolving discrepancies to support accurate financial reconciliation.
• Acts as liaison with Blair accompanists and ensures monthly timesheets are properly reported and payments are processed by Administrative Specialist.
• Attends monthly and quarterly Oracle and Procurement meetings/webinars and distributes information as appropriate.
• Provides training and guidance to student organization leaders on financial protocols, including payment processing, funding requests, and policy compliance.
• Reconciles Blair guest artist and faculty travel endowment projects monthly.
• Serves as back-up to the Divinity School’s Administrative Officer for review and approval of financial transactions for the Divinity School in the Oracle Cloud system, including procurement requisitions, expense reports (including travel and entertainment), and procurement card expense reports.

Operations (25%)

• Oversees day-to-day financial operations, serving as a key resource for troubleshooting issues, addressing policy questions, and implementing process improvements.
• Serves as primary day-to-day point of contact for the Blair School for policy, procedure, and process related to financial topics, elevating issues to the CBO as appropriate.
• Develops and/or updates day-to-day financial processes and internal procedures for Blair, in partnership with the Chief Business Officer and communicates them to relevant stakeholders.
• Notifies faculty and staff as needed regarding travel credits from Unused Ticket Report.
• Submits and tracks travel approval requests in accordance with institutional policy, maintaining accurate records for audit and reporting purposes.
• Serves as the primary steward of the Finance sections of the Blair School website, ensuring content is accurate, timely, and aligned with current practices.
• Serves as the point of contact for internal grant-related financial processes, following established guidelines and monitoring award usage.
• Reconciles checks/cash/credit card revenue for the Blair School to ensure the payments are deposited and recorded appropriately, including making deposits and preparing monthly cash management upload templates.
• Oversees external transactions and reporting for Blair School event ticketing and performances, ensuring timely reconciliation.
• Prepares and submits monthly tax report related to sales.
• Regularly reviews CBO Toolbox reports and notifies staff as needed to take action.
• Administers PCI compliance for Blair Academy, Blair Performing Arts Center, and other programs as needed.
• Manages and updates internal costing/project numbers spreadsheet. Shares updated spreadsheet with Blair School procurement requestors. 
• Provides financial onboarding, Oracle Cloud and ongoing support to encourage adherence to University and School policies and procedures and offers training as needed. 
• Approaches questions and concerns from faculty, staff, and students with courtesy and an emphasis on customer service ensuring inquiries are handled quickly, with an emphasis on teaching, and resolution is communicated timely.
• Assists in planning, coordinating, and managing special projects and process initiatives as assigned.

Supervisory Relationships:

This position does not have supervisory responsibility but does mentor staff and students on VU financial and School policies and procedures. This position reports administratively and functionally to the Chief Business Officer for the Blair School of Music and the Divinity School. 

Education and Certifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education is necessary.

Experience and Skills:

• At least four years of directly comparable professional experience is necessary.
• At least six years of directly comparable professional experience is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work in an environment requiring strong attention to detail is necessary.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and in a highly collaborative setting is necessary. 
• Aptitude to solve problems in a timely manner and prioritize responsibilities appropriately is necessary. 
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are necessary.
• Professionalism, maturity, and experience with the prudent handling of confidential and highly sensitive information is necessary. 
• Ability to make administrative/procedural decisions and judgments is necessary.
• Ability to perform complex tasks and to prioritize multiple projects is necessary.
• Ability to provide technical advice and information to staff in area of expertise is necessary.
• Ability to analyze budgetary line items for compliance with budget guidelines is necessary.
• Expert Excel, Word and PowerPoint skills are necessary.
• Experience with Oracle or similar ERP systems, and familiarity with Vanderbilt policies and procedures, is preferred.