Montana State University

Announcement Number STAFF - VA - 25388

For questions regarding this position, please contact:

Julie Hager

jhager@montana.edu

406-994-7953

Classification Title Admin Assoc IV

Working Title Business Operations Manager

Brief Position Overview

The Business Operations Manager position provides high level administrative and management support to the operation of the Department of Animal & Range Sciences. This includes assisting the Department Head in all executive assistant capacities; supervising staff; initiating all HR activities such as employee onboarding, offboarding, payroll, appointment, and recruiting; coordinating all events, including conferences and community lectures; and administering the day-to-day operations of the department.

Position Number 4M0245

Department Animal & Range Sciences

Division College of Agriculture/MAES

Appointment Type Classified

Contract Term Fiscal Year

Semester

If other, specify From date

If other, specify End date

FLSA Non-Exempt

Union Affiliation Exempt from Collective Bargaining

FTE 1.0

Benefits Eligible Eligible

Salary $24.04, commensurate with experience, education, and qualifications.

Contract Type Classified Salary

If other, please specify

Recruitment Type Open

General Statement

Rangeland comprises 65% of Montana’s land area and provides many of the ecosystem services that make Montana a special place—clean air, clean water, scenic beauty, open space, and abundant wildlife. Rangelands are also critically important to Montana’s economy and culture. Agriculture is the largest segment of the Montana economy, and range livestock agriculture is the dominant land use in the state, occurring in every county and reservation. The Department of Animal and Range Sciences at Montana State University has a long and distinguished history of working across academic disciplines and directly with beef cattle, sheep, equid, and other livestock producers and land managers in Montana, the greater Rocky Mountain West and Northern Great Plains regions to scientifically examine and share knowledge to maximize the ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable production of livestock and management of rangelands. This position will support our department’s efforts to help sustain Montana’s ranches, farms, rangelands and rural communities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Administrative Support/Office Management

• Act as Executive Assistant to the Department Head to co-facilitate overall department operations.
• Arrange logistics for events, conferences, and lectures, including participating in events as on-site staff.
• Serve as the primary departmental liaison with Deans’ and Director’s office, serve on college committees as appropriate, and attend college level administration meetings Provide departmental and program data to assist Department Head in developing and implementing policies and procedures that ensure compliance with department, University, State, and Federal regulations.
• Respond to requests for uncommon information, data, or materials, provides guidance to faculty, staff, students, and external customers.

Personnel and Payroll

• Process documents and perform search support duties for all aspects of recruitment and hiring of professional employees, faculty, and classified staff.
• Ensure AnRS employees are paid in a timely manner and work to solve payroll-related discrepancies.
• Communicate relevant changes in personnel and process, and ensure annual evaluations are completed for all applicable employees.
• Serve as department contact for, hiring and payroll for classified staff, professional employees, faculty, and graduate students in coordination with Human Resources, the Dean’s Office, Office of Sponsored Programs, the Graduate School, and other MSU offices/grants that share funding with AnRS.
• Process documents for all aspects of recruitment and hiring of professional employees, faculty, and classified staff.
• Hiring and payroll for Student Employees, Short-Term Employees and Classified Fixed-Term Employees.

Supervision

• Supervise 3 FTE staff and student employees in the department.
• Maintain and model a professional and collegial office climate.
• Maintain an open and accessible department, in accordance with State of Montana business hour expectations, opening and closing the office.

Required Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills

1. Bachelor’s degree and progressively responsible administrative experience with an emphasis on customer service in a main office setting or an equivalent combination of relevant education and/or experience.
2. Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel, with experience formatting professional documents.

Preferred Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills

1. Demonstrated supervisory experience.
2. Experience working in an academic department in a higher education setting.

The Successful Candidate Will

• Experience organizing and prioritizing multiple work assignments, meeting deadlines, and exercising adaptability with close attention to detail, while maintaining a positive and professional demeanor.
• Maintain confidentiality of records and information.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively and confidently communicate with employees, students and the public in person, over the phone and by email.
• Possess demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment in decision making and interpretation when applying organization policies and procedures.
• Be able to work independently with minimal supervision as well as work effectively as a member of a team.
• Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with co-workers and other departments and staff across campus.

Position Special Requirements/Additional Information

This job description should not be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements, but a general description of the job. Nothing contained herein restricts Montana State University’s rights to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

Physical Demands

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodations. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

This position has supervisory duties? Yes

Number of Vacancies 1

Desired Start Date Upon completion of a successful search

Position End Date (if temporary)

Open Date

Close Date

Applications will be:

Screening of applications will begin on June 13, 2025; however, applications will continue to be accepted until an adequate applicant pool has been established.

Special Instructions

EEO Statement

Montana State University is an equal opportunity employer. MSU does not discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, national origin, physical or mental disability, or any other protected class status in violation of any applicable law.

In compliance with the Montana Veteran’s Employment Preference Act, MSU provides preference in employment to veterans, disabled veterans, and certain eligible relatives of veterans. To claim veteran’s preference, please complete the veteran’s preference information located in the Demographics section of your profile.

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