Grants and Contracts Specialist

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher).
• Two (2) years of full time research administration experience in sponsored programs management.
• Comprehensive knowledge of federal grant and contract regulations (e.g. Uniform Guidance, NIH, NSF, ARPA-H, DoD, DOE) and non-federal funding environments, including industry, foundation, and local government sponsors.
• Preferred: Certified Research Administrator (CRA) or comparable certification.
• Five (5) or more years of full-time research administration experience.
• Experience working within higher education and in a central or departmental research administration office at a university or medical center.
• Experience working with electronic research administration systems (e.g. Grants.gov, NIH, eRA, Commons and ASSIST, NSF Research.gov, Huron Click).

Brief Description Of Duties

• Facilitate the administration of Sponsored Programs within the School of Medicine (SOM) through coordination of administrative activities.
• Apply knowledge of policies and procedures to determine appropriate action, escalate complex issues as needed, and utilize analytical, problem-solving, and collaborative skills to support faculty, administrators, and research teams across SOM departments.
• Aid faculty with the administrative components of externally funded research proposals and other sponsored projects, including budget development, coordination of the internal submission process in my Research, collaboration with PIs, populating sponsor portals with required materials, and submission of federal and non-federal proposals to OSP in accordance with sponsor guidelines.
• Provide assistance to faculty and administrators in proposed development, including budgeting, interpretation of sponsor terms and policies, and University policies and procedures.
• Ensure timely and accurate submission of proposals in accordance with sponsor deadlines, federal, and state regulations, sponsor guidelines, and University policies governing sponsored research; consult with appropriate offices as needed on compliance matters.
• Serve as a liaison on behalf of faculty with the Office of Sponsored Programs (pre and post-award teams) to resolve issues, clarify submission and award information, support researchers throughout the proposal and award lifecycle.
• Aid with Just-in-Time (JIT) requests, including collecting and compiling required documentation.
• Assist new hires with the transfer of existing awards and support a smooth transition to the University.
• Aid faculty with processing award modification requests through the internal electronic research administration system, including but not limited to no-cost extensions, budget modifications, and personnel changes.
• Aid faculty with progress reports as required by the terms and conditions of the award.
• Aid graduate, MD/PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows with fellowship proposal preparation and submission, including coordinating sponsor ID setup, guiding applicants through the submission process, tracking application progress and outstanding items, resolving issues, and ensuring compliance with institutional policies.
• Serve as backup support for departmental staff performing pre and post-award activities.
• Serve as a secondary backup for Dean's Office compliance reviews within SOM; ensure completion of application reviews for proposals routed through the Dean's Office; including effort reporting, cost sharing, clinical offset agreements, and VA joint appointment MOUs.
• Identify research funding opportunities across sponsor websites (e.g. NIH, NSF) and advise faculty of relevant program announcements aligned with their research areas.

Special Notes

• The Research Foundation of SUNY is a private educational corporation. Employment is subject to the Research Foundation policies and procedures, sponsor guidelines and the availability of funding.
• FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.
• For this position, we are unable to sponsor candidates for work visas.