Associate Director, Research Cash Operations

Associate Director, Research Cash Operations About the Opportunity

This position supports the functions of the Northeastern University Research Enterprise Services (NU-RES) Finance office by ensuring that the University maintains compliance with applicable federal regulations, sponsor requirements, and university policies, with a focus on fiscal compliance. NU-RES Finance supports the research and scholarly activities of Northeastern's faculty in collaboration with colleges and administrative staff by providing financial and administrative services, financial and regulatory oversight of sponsored program accounts, and monitoring trends and developing strategies to address their impacts.

Reporting to the Director, the Associate Director, Research Cash Management supports the functions and overall business operations of the central Research Finance team by providing organizational efficiencies, assisting with the oversight of financial operations and processes, and providing targeted support for the department's cash management functions. This role manages and reconciles the research bank and clearing accounts, makes necessary entries in the financial system to ensure accurate accounting of all research payments, and manages cash collection efforts and open accounts receivable (AR).

The Associate Director collaborates with the NU-RES Finance team and department leadership on identifying and resolving bad debt, cash variances, and AR write-offs as needed.

The Associate Director is responsible for the overall management of the cash team, monitoring workload and priorities, evaluating productivity against performance measures, and providing constructive feedback and performance improvement plans when necessary, including annual performance evaluations. This role serves as an escalation point for cash management issues, trains staff and University personnel on established policies, maintains system data on sponsored projects within the financial system and tracker logs in SharePoint, and develops standard operating procedures (SOPs) and process improvements for cash management procedures.

A key success factor for this role is remaining current with federal regulations and the ability to train others on their application. The Associate Director must treat effective compliance as an equal priority, stay abreast of sponsor rules, regulations, and policy changes, and lead the adoption of best practices to promote continuous improvement. The Associate Director works with NU-RES Directors on fiscal compliance and AR monitoring and fosters collaborative working relationships with colleagues across organizational units including Treasury Services, Accounting, Accounts Payable, University Advancement, and Student Financial Services (SFS).

This position works across various electronic platforms and systems and requires strong technical proficiency, including the ability to use a VPN, navigate the financial system, work in federal and non‑federal sponsor portals, and gain access to several electronic systems required for the University to obtain payments. Northeastern is a global university; remote locations and work schedules are determined based on operational needs and in consultation with team members, consistent with university policies and guidance.

• Work with the Bank Accounting team to reconcile the Research bank account.
• Oversee the overall payment identification process and assignment of incoming electronic payments and check deposits into the Research clearing account, including claiming payments from the bank and ensuring weekly check deposits are processed and recorded accurately.
• Oversee payment application processes for all incoming funds, including all Letter of Credit (LOC) draw applications; ensure funds are applied timely to accurately reflect open AR.
• Develop metrics to track accuracy and efficiency of the team; troubleshoot and resolve escalated payment identification issues flagged by the cash team; ensure the team has current analysis tools and up-to-date information for decision‑making.
• Collaborate with…