FINANCE SPECIALIST

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

UW Medicine Strategic Marketing and Communications has an outstanding opportunity for a Finance Specialist to join their team.

At UW Medicine, we work to improve health for all people through excellence in clinical, research, and education and training programs. As the only comprehensive clinical, research and learning health system in the five-state WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) region, UW Medicine provides the most up-to-date care for each individual patient, leads one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive medical research programs, and provides innovative learning programs for students, trainees, and practitioners in the health professions.

The UW Medicine’s Strategic Marketing and Communications (SMC) team plays a unique and vital role in advancing UW Medicine’s mission to improve the health of all people.  We advance UW Medicine’s mission by creating connections to the discoveries, knowledge, and care that improve people’s lives. Our team is comprised of 50+ dedicated professionals who work across a variety of marketing and communications disciplines for both the health system and UW School of Medicine, including brand and marketing strategy, news and media relations, internal and crisis communications, web development, UX/DX strategies, social media, writing, and graphic design.  Our success lies in our core values: respect, teamwork, creativity, continuous improvement, and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, that are reflected in all that we do.

The Finance Specialist (Specialist) is responsible for leading the finance and procurement activities for the fast-paced SMC team. As a procurement expert, the Specialist provides highly technical expertise that includes learning and mastering UW’s procurement process for purchases and contracts, managing invoice processing, initiating, and maintaining blanket purchase orders, onboarding/offboarding employees, and travel policies. The Specialist is also responsible for making purchases using a UW Procurement Card (credit card) and reconciling purchases in alignment with UW compliance requirements. This position troubleshoots with vendors payment issues and contracts. This person manages and prepares the SMC budget and will partner with budget owners to forecast and manage annual allocations. The role collaborates closely with the School of Medicine Financial Support Services who serves as SMC’s primary finance administrator.

The Specialist reports to the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. This role requires an individual who is detail-oriented, highly organized, and an excellent project manager who can juggle multiple tasks with varying deadlines and in-house clients. The Specialist thoughtfully and proactively seeks financial process improvements to help save time and create more transparency in processes. The Specialist trains new and existing members of SMC’s team on new or revised financial processes and practices. This position takes care to nurture positive relationships with colleagues across UW Medicine, including those in campus finance and procurement.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Fiscal Management – 80%
Oversees comprehensive procurement processes and financial operations, including pre-approvals, invoicing, and strategic vendor contract management. Manages office supply procurement, Procurement card reconciliations, and serves as a reliable resource for navigating finance-related policies and procedures. Collaborates on specialized finance projects under the guidance of senior leadership.