Travel Specialist

Job ID

5865

Location

SLAC - Menlo Park, CA

Full-Time

Regular

SLAC Job Postings

Position overview:

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory seeks a Travel Specialist or who is detail-oriented and is a dependable self-starter with strong interpersonal and communication skills to join our Travel Team within the SLAC Controller’s Office. The SLAC Controller’s Office is responsible for providing excellent service and timely payments to employees and vendors, ensuring accuracy, reliability, and integrity of financial information, and delivering accounting & financial services to the Laboratory, Stanford University, and the Department of Energy.

Reporting to the Travel Manager, this role will be responsible for ensuring prompt and accurate travel and employee reimbursements. The Travel Specialist will gain a thorough understanding of the lab’s policies and procedures and make independent judgments on the appropriateness of expense submissions. This includes escalating complex issues. Other areas of focus include contributing to process improvement as well as ad-hoc projects.

Your specific responsibilities include:

• Perform moderately complex accounting activities and functions, including monitoring accounts, preparing documentation, expenditure reconciliations and reviews, revenue reporting/accounting, purchases and reimbursements, general ledger transactions, and journal entries.

• Audit and evaluate expense submissions from new hires, employees, and visitors.

• Serve as a liaison to other departments to resolve travel-related issues.

• Provide finance-related support to accounting and finance function.

• Maintain accounting/finance departmental files.

• Compile, maintain, and review data and daily reports for accuracy.

• Resolve transactional inquiries, escalate broader issues.

• Execute internal control programs established by company policies, legal and regulatory requirements, and implement changes.

• Participate in new initiatives, as needed.

• Review, process, gather, and compile accounting transactions and documents for completeness, accuracy, and compliance. Contribute to development of analyses to be used for key activities or decision making.

• Identify, prioritize, and resolve accounting issues; probe beyond stated situation; identify underlying issues; recognize exceptions; perform preliminary analysis.

• Run, maintain, reconcile, review, combine, analyze and validate financial data sets, utilizing financial reports, financial databases, and key financial information often from multiple systems. Assist in the preparation of basic management information reports.

• Identify and resolve incorrect journal entries, data anomalies, deviations from established procedures, and unusual issues.

• Collect data and perform research on details of transactions. Ensure work complies with complex internal policies and external regulations which may require interpretation.

• Participate as a member of a project team and contribute to change management strategy through communication and collaboration with others.

• Recommend, assist, test, or implement process streamlining, system improvements or work flow changes.

• Contribute to development and maintenance of desktop procedures and process documentation for area of responsibility.

• Serve as a liaison to other departments to resolve accounting-related issues.

• May train, coach, and review the work of other staff, as needed. Contribute primarily through applying individual expertise.

To be successful in this position you will bring:

• Associate degree plus two years of applicable experience, or combination of education and relevant work experience.

• Proficiency in basic business applications, such as Microsoft Office; user knowledge of Excel.

• Basic knowledge of accounting systems and the internet; computer literacy.

• Understanding of and ability to apply accounting skills and concepts.

• Ability to draft professional e-mails, memos, business letters, and reports, and to communicate information clearly and effectively to internal audiences and client groups.

• Ability to learn project management skills and to participate as part of a project team.

• Demonstrated excellent organizational skills. This includes attention to detail, and a high degree of accuracy.

• Ability to work effectively under deadlines in a busy environment with frequent interruptions and changing priorities.

• Able to work independently, follow tasks through to completion and meet commitments, proactively seeking guidance as necessary.

• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills with the ability to apply regulations to a variety of situations.

Preferred requirements include:

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Finance, or Economics.

• Prior work experience in a national lab or research and development environment preferred.

Certifications and Licenses:

None

SLAC Employee Competencies:

• Effective Decisions: Uses job knowledge and solid judgment to make quality decisions in a timely manner.

• Self-Development: Pursues a variety of venues and opportunities to continue learning and developing.

• Dependability: Can be counted on to deliver results with a sense of personal responsibility for expected outcomes.

• Initiative: Pursues work and interactions proactively with optimism, positive energy, and motivation to move things forward.

• Adaptability: Flexes as needed when change occurs, maintains an open outlook while adjusting and accommodating changes.

• Communication: Ensures effective information flow to various audiences and creates and delivers clear, appropriate written, spoken, presented messages.

• Relationships: Builds relationships to foster trust, collaboration, and a positive climate to achieve common goals.

Physical requirements and working conditions:

• Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of his or her job.

• Given the nature of this position, SLAC is open to on-site and hybrid work options.

Work standards:

• Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients and with external organizations.

• Promote Culture of Safety: Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for safety; communicates safety concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.

• Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University’s Administrative Guide, http://adminguide.stanford.edu/.

• Job Classification: Accountant 1

• Grade: G Job code: 4441

• Duration: Regular Continuing

The expected pay range for this position is $73,000 - $80,000 per annum. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer and supports diversity in the workplace. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital or family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or genetic information. All staff at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory must be able to demonstrate the legal right to work in the United States. SLAC is an E-Verify employer.