Property Control Supervisor Job Description

Salary Range

$55,950 - $85,090

Experience

Some property or inventory experience, under 5 years

Work Environment

Campus property office and surplus warehouse

What Does a Property Control Supervisor Do?

Auditors and grant sponsors expect an organization to find any piece of equipment it has bought, from a lab freezer to a laptop. The property control supervisor makes that possible at many universities and government agencies, running the yearly inventory count, supervising the staff who tag and track assets and approving every transfer, write-off and disposal.

Also known as: Facilities Inventory Supervisor

Other Job Titles for This Work

Workers in this occupation report titles such as Accounting Manager, Accounts Payable Supervisor, Accounts Receivable Manager, Administrative Supervisor, Customer Service Manager, Customer Service Supervisor, Office Coordinator, Office Manager.

Property Control Supervisor Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of a property control supervisor include:

• Plan the annual or rolling physical inventory and assign buildings to property staff.
• Supervise property control specialists and surplus warehouse workers, including hiring and training.
• Approve asset transfers, write-offs and disposals within the limits set by policy.
• Resolve discrepancies between inventory results and the asset register with department heads.
• Prepare property reports for auditors, grant sponsors and federal agencies on request.
• Set tagging thresholds and procedures with accounting so capital assets are recorded consistently.
• Oversee surplus sales, auctions and recycling contracts, and account for the proceeds.
• Investigate lost or stolen equipment and coordinate reports with campus police.
• Choose and maintain the asset tracking system, scanners and label stock.
• Brief department property contacts each year on their responsibilities and deadlines.

Required Skills and Qualifications

To succeed as a property control supervisor, you will need the following skills and qualifications:

• Fixed-asset accounting basics
• Federal property rules for grant-funded equipment
• Asset tracking systems with RFID or bar-code scanning
• Supervising a small field and warehouse team
• Excel reporting and reconciliation
• Firm, diplomatic follow-up with departments
• Audit preparation
• Organizing large physical counts

Education and Training

Most supervisors come up from property control specialist jobs, and some later move into asset or materials manager roles. Business or logistics courses help with that later move. That fits the BLS profile for first-line office and administrative supervisors: a high school diploma and under five years of related work.

Salary and Job Outlook

According to BLS, employment of first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers is projected at about 0.1 percent growth for the decade ending in 2035. That is essentially flat. Property control is a small niche within that group, which BLS expects to produce roughly 127,400 openings a year. And, as long as research grants buy equipment, institutions will need someone to make sure every item can be found.

Outlook source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2025 to 2035, First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers.

Property Control Supervisor Pay Range

Highest-Paying States for Property Control Supervisors

The states with the highest median pay for this occupation are Washington ($79,480), District of Columbia ($79,200), New York ($79,170), Connecticut ($78,200), California ($77,590). Pay is lowest in Arkansas ($58,100), Louisiana ($57,180), West Virginia ($53,660).

What the Work Is Like

O*NET surveys people who work as first-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers about their daily conditions. Of those surveyed:

• 98% are on the phone every day
• 93% say teamwork is very or extremely important in their job
• 89% use email every day
• 85% spend more than half the workday sitting
• 81% say being exact and accurate is very or extremely important
• 70% work indoors in a climate-controlled space every day
• 39% have a lot of freedom to make decisions

Education Workers Say the Job Needs

Tools and Software Property Control Supervisors Use

Tools and equipment

• 10-key calculators
• Computer data input scanners
• Computer laser printers
• Desktop computers
• Laptop computers
• Laser facsimile machines
• Liquid crystal display LCD projectors
• Multi-line telephone systems
• Personal computers
• Photocopiers

Software

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Office software
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• Adobe Acrobat
• Apple macOS
• Facebook
• Google Docs
• Henry Schein Dentrix
• IBM SPSS Statistics
• Intuit QuickBooks

Is This Job a Good Fit for You?

People who do well in this job tend to enjoy leading, persuading and making business decisions as well as organized work with data, records and clear procedures.

Skills O*NET rates most important: Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination.

Knowledge areas used most: Administration and Management, Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Administrative, Computers and Electronics.

Preparation: O*NET places this occupation in Job Zone 3 of 5, which means medium preparation.

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These jobs use similar skills, according to O*NET's related-occupation data:

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Applying for a Property Control Supervisor Job

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