Business Manager: Department of Chemistry - UTK

The Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (www.chem.utk.edu) invites applications for a regular, full-time Business Manager position. This position manages the financial activities of the Department of Chemistry, ensures these activities are in compliance with applicable university, state, and federal policies, regulations, and laws, and oversees accounts payable and receivable in the department. This position supervises the staff of the business office, which handles all ordering, shipping, and receiving of equipment and supplies for the department, completes time entry and effort certifications for employees of the department, and performs financial accounting for departmental accounts, including all grants and contracts in the department. The Business Manager is the liaison with College and University Offices with regards to matters of finance and accounting for the Department of Chemistry. The Business Manager reports directly to the Department Head.

Business Office Management

• Provides supervision, training, and direction to the department's business office staff.
• Oversees ordering, shipping, and receiving of equipment and supplies for the department.
• Ensures payment for goods and services are completed in a timely manner and that goods received match those ordered.
• Ensures payments to the department are properly receipted, deposited, and posted to accounting records.
• Maintains departmental chem store, chemical, and equipment inventories.
• Works effectively with the main office supervisor in budget for new employees, budget for promotions, approval of pay changes, and approval of termination of employees in the department.
• Approves time entry to payroll for employees of the department.
• Oversees chem store operations, including the sale or supplies, LN2, and dry ice to various internal department accounts and external UT accounts.
• Supervises business office staff with their assistance to faculty in pre-award responsibilities, including the submission of proposals for research, education, and outreach activities.
• Supervises and assists business office staff with post-award responsibilities, including the accounting, monthly ledger reconciliation, and agency reporting for approximately ninety research accounts.

Departmental Budget and Accounts Management

• Prepares annual departmental budgets totaling $5 million to $6 million.
• Reconciles and approves departmental ledgers monthly as well as monthly ledgers for approximately seventy department endowment and gift accounts.
• Oversees the submission of department semester and monthly non-service fellowship spreadsheets to the college.
• Reconciles and ensures reimbursement for 100+ GTA fee waivers.
• Acts as liaison with College and University Offices with regards to matters of finance, accounting, and research funds.
• Works with lab staff for two recharge centers to ensure the timely receipt of service billings and ensures the proper accounting for these billings.
• Reconciles ledgers for recharge center accounts monthly and provides a monthly financial position to recharge center directors including year-to-date A account balances, revenue, receivables, and expenditures.

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business management, or equivalent

Experience: Five years business management and three years supervisory experience.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Expertise in MS office suite including: Word, Excel, Outlook, and Access.
• Ability to solve problems and improve processes through critical thinking.
• Ability to learn new software and processes.
• Ability to effectively communicate with diverse group of faculty, staff, and students from many different cultures and work with them in a mutually respectful, cooperative manner.
• Ability be organized, multi-task, and pay attention to detail.
• Ability to be dependable, punctual, and a team player.
• Ability to assess strengths and weaknesses of business office staff and utilize these for effective operation of the office.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment visa status.

Preferred Qualifications

Education: Master's degree in accounting, finance, business management, or equivalent

Other Licenses/certifications: CPA or equivalent

Experience: Experience in higher education with business and research-intensive background

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Knowledge of uniform guidance and UT policies.
• Working knowledge of DASH (Oracle) or equivalent software.

Work Location

• Knoxville, TN: onsite

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range: MR13
• Anticipated hiring range: $90,000 - $105,000 DOE&Q
• Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here
• Find more information on UT Benefits here

Application Instructions

For full consideration, interested individuals should provide a cover letter addressing professional experience relevant to each required minimum qualification, a current resume, and complete contact information (phone and email address) for three professional references. Screening of applicants will begin August 25, 2025, and will continue until the position has been filled.

About The Department:

The Department of Chemistry is the oldest PhD granting department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, offering the University’s first PhD degree in 1947. Our 25 faculty members (and growing) have research interests that span the traditional areas of chemistry and encompass new interdisciplinary fields such as materials chemistry, chemistry of the life sciences, and environmental chemistry. Our graduate PhD and MS programs are also growing and include people from diverse cultures, providing an international business environment.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has shaped leaders, changemakers, and innovative thinkers since its founding in 1794. The university is home to more than 38,000 students and 10,000 statewide employees—the Volunteers—who uphold the university’s tradition of lighting the way for others through leadership and service.

UT Knoxville offers over 900 programs of study across 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. As Tennessee’s flagship land-grant university, its footprint spans the entire state. The university holds the highest Carnegie classification for research activity and has deep partnerships with industry leaders and the US Department of Energy’s largest multidisciplinary laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Knoxville campus serves and recruits for UT Knoxville, including the Institute of Agriculture and the Space Institute, as well as the UT Institute of Public Service.

UT Knoxville considers its employees its number one asset. With values that focus on work-life balance, compensation, and innovation leadership, all Vols are supported to advance professionally. Employees have access to career development and coaching, continued education, and an extensive list of development and training possibilities. The Volunteer employee experience implements structures and practices that attract and retain a diverse community and that support a culture where everyone matters and belongs.

The university holds a strong commitment to its land-grant mission of learning and engagement, with a tradition of service and leadership that carries that Volunteer spirit throughout the state and around the world. It has been ranked nationally as “Best Employer for New Graduates,” “One of America’s Best Large Employers,” and “Best Workplace for Women,” and has been designated as “Best Place for Working Parents” by Forbes Magazine.

Apply today and join the Tennessee Volunteer community!