Intermediate Specialist, Finance

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Posting Reason:

New Position

Job Type:

Employee

Anticipated Duration in Months (for contracts and temporary assignments):

N/A

Job Family:

Accounting

# of Open Positions:

2

Faculty/Service - Department:

Finance_Faculty of Social Sciences

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

SSUO

Date Posted (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/10/08

Applications must be received BEFORE (YYYY/MM/DD):

2026/10/19

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

SSUO Grade 10

Salary Range:

$85 040,00 - $107 421,00

Job Description Summary
About the Faculty of Social Sciences
The FSS comprises nine departments, schools and institutes, which offer undergraduate, masters and doctoral programs in both English and French. With its 10,000 students, 260 full-time professors, and wide array of programs and research centres, the Faculty of Social Sciences plays a key role at the heart of the University of Ottawa. Its graduate students are supervised by excellent researchers and undertake cutting-edge research in the Faculty's masters and Ph.D. programs. Along with its complement of about 100 administrative employees, the faculty is proud to provide a collaborative working environment that inspires new ideas, encourages creative ingenuity, and promotes excellence.

Position Purpose

Undertakes financial analyses, projects, and assignments of varying complexity to address emerging operational requirements and support faculty priorities. Provides specialized financial support and expertise, including assistance to other areas of the financial services team, as required.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Financial Operations: Oversees the financial administration of operational funds, specialized funds and revenue-generating activities within the faculty. Monitors revenues, expenditures, fund balances and financial commitments to ensure compliance with University policies and funding requirements. Under the guidance of the Finance Manager, monitors financial transactions and activities to identify actual or potential financial risks, ensures appropriate internal controls are in place and operating effectively, and investigates anomalies or compliance concerns. Supports internal and external audit activities by maintaining accurate financial records, preparing supporting documentation, and promoting audit readiness.
• Reporting and Financial Tools: Creates moderately complex financial reports and helps design analytical tools such as dashboards, performance and quality control indicators, and costing models.  Supports the effective, consistent and efficient management of the Faculty’s financial resources by providing meaningful financial information and analysis.
• Accounts Payable Approval and Expenditure Oversight:  Reviews and approves invoices with delegated signing authority, ensuring expenditures are eligible, accurately coded and aligned with budgetary provisions and funding requirements.  Provides oversight of spending activities, identifies potential compliance and budgetary concerns, and recommends corrective actions to main financial integrity and support sound resource management. 
• Other Accounting Functions: Oversees all stages of the customer invoicing process from the creation of client accounts to the preparation of invoices and the monitoring of accounts receivable balances. Ensures compliance with relevant requirements for tax applications. Approves cash deposits. Reconciles balance sheet and income statement accounts; prepares necessary journal entries to ensure accounting accuracy and GAAP compliance.
• Budget planning and financial analysis: Conducts financial analyses and forecasts to support budget development and short, medium and long-term planning.  Provides recommendations to management and other members of the faculty on budget preparation, financial projections, funding shortfalls and resource allocation strategies to optimize revenues, manage expenditures and support decision-making.
• Salary budget and funding management:  Monitors and analyzes salary expenditures, funding allocations and budget commitments to ensure personnel costs are accurately charged to the appropriate funding sources. Oversees the financial impact of staffing activities on operating and unrestricted funds, identifies actual or potential funding shortfalls, and provides timely advice and recommendations to leadership to support effective budget management and long-term financial sustainability.
• Special projects:  Contributes and leads special projects involving financial analysis, process review, business improvement and system implementation.  Evaluates financial and operational impacts, develops recommendations, and supports the execution of initiatives to improve financial reporting, resource management and operational effectiveness and compliance with University requirements.  Provides support to the research post-award finance team on complex research files and assist with miscellaneous academic contracts, in addition to CNFS reporting.
• Advisory Services: Acts as a resource for management and members of the Faculty by providing support and guidance on financial systems, policies, procedures, and compliance requirements to promote the consistent administration of funds.
• Functional authority and team support:  Acts as a senior resource and subject matter expert for the team by providing technical guidance, training and mentorship to junior staff.  Assists in coordinating work activities, supports the resolution of complex financial issues and provides operational guidance in the manager’s absence to ensure the effective delivery of services. 

What you will bring:

• University degree in accounting, finance or business administration, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• Minimum five years of demonstrated experience in a similar role
• Professional accounting designation, or active enrolment in a recognized accounting designation program, preferred.
• Knowledge of business administration processes and practices, including financial planning and budgeting
• Knowledge of financial planning principles, policies, procedures and practices
• Thorough knowledge of the administrative structure and governance of a large organization, preferably in a university setting
• Supervisory experience an asset
• Autonomy and discretion
• Critical and analytical thinking
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Knowledge and experience using computer systems and software such as Windows, financial systems, spreadsheets, databases, the internet and email
• Bilingualism – English and French (spoken and written)

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 
Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.
The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [email protected] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.
If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.