Senior Finance and Operations Associate

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than a thousand affiliated researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.

The Senior Finance and Operations Associate is based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.

The Finance and Operations team at J-PAL supports J-PAL’s mission to efficiently translate research by J-PAL affiliates into actionable poverty alleviation policies around the world. We are looking to hire staff who combine a strong passion for working with organizations around the world to inform development policy with solid administrative abilities to further our mission.

Under the supervision of the Senior Manager of Finance and Operations, the Senior Finance and Operations Associate serves as financial and operational lead for a portfolio of up to three major initiatives at J-PAL and works with senior F&O staff to ensure efficient operational management at J-PAL. Tasks include a mix of financial operations, grants management, and leading organizational projects in the F&O area, all within a university environment.

Principal duties and responsibilities

Finance and Grants Management:

• Grants & Finance: will have a portfolio of grants between $20M-$30M for which they are responsible for all financial transactions and reporting, including any audits.
  • Coordinate grant and gift related financial activities for major J-PAL Initiatives and/or Program Areas. Develop budgets for proposals and submit proposals into MIT systems while also ensuring compliance with donor requirements and formats and communicating compliance concerns with the team or management; monitor proposal progress and liaise with MIT grants administrators on negotiations and funding questions; review contract terms and conditions, establish subawards and partnership agreements as needed;
    
    manage regular financial reporting and closeout.
  • Participate in donor meetings and conference calls as needed.
  • Issue new blanket POs for new fiscal years; process procurement requisitions, journal vouchers, and verify credit card purchases.
  • Process accounts payable including approving invoices/RFP's and travel expense reports, interacting with vendors to answer questions and resolve issues.
  • Provide support for IRB applications and revision processing for several researchers.
  • Implement new protocols as informed by Initiative Monthly meetings and/or Executive Committee decisions.
  • Collaborate with others for continuous improvement on grant management processes and quality of support provided.
• Analysis and Reporting
  • Pull data from internal MIT accounting systems, prepare regular financial reports on grants for donors and J-PAL staff. Report on spending compared to budget, monitor subaward spend progress, and advise project managers and senior management on financial position, spend-down, potential issues, reforecasting and gaps in project funding.
• Subawards
  • Work with MIT’s Research Administration Services and J-PAL’s initiative management to establish subawards for recipients of research grants from J-PAL Initiatives and other funding.
  • Supervise subaward management, including receipt of donor and J-PAL deliverables, submitting invoices, tracking of finances, and compliance with MIT’s IRB policies and fiscal standards.
  • Serve on task forces at J-PAL and in collaboration with MIT offices to improve subaward processing.
  • Manage subaward closeout processes with MIT and award recipients.

Operations

• Work with senior F&O staff to support efficient operational management at J-PAL.
• May lead and participate in system improvement projects to be determined by bi-annual strategic planning.
• Liaise with one or more regional offices to support their financial and operational management.
• Participate in teams with other MIT offices to support J-PAL’s work.
• Provide training for other grant admin staff in our regional offices on Initiative management.

Supervision received

The Senior Finance and Operations Associate rep…