Pre and Post Award Research Grants Specialist

About the role

Vitalief is a clinical research consulting firm focused exclusively on the clinical research industry, providing consulting, staffing, and technology-enabled services to academic medical centers, health systems, sponsors, CROs, and site networks. By combining deep subject matter expertise with the experience of senior research practitioners, we help organizations accelerate study activation, optimize operations, improve financial performance, and build scalable workforce solutions that reduce costs, increase efficiency, and advance clinical breakthroughs for patients.

The Specialist will support a major statewide clinical research initiative for our client, a leading academic medical center in New Jersey. The Specialist will manage and coordinate a portfolio of research, engineering, and education-related grants across the full pre- and post-award lifecycle. This role will work closely with Principal Investigators, institutional leadership, and cross-functional teams including Research Administration, Finance, Sponsored Programs, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, Data, Operations, and external collaborators.

Responsibilities

• Review and coordinate grant and contract proposals for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements.
• Assist Principal Investigators and research teams with proposal development, budgets, justifications, required forms, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate multi-investigator and multi-institutional proposals and ensure submissions meet internal and sponsor deadlines.
• Submit proposals through institutional systems and sponsor portals and maintain accurate submission records.
• Serve as a liaison between sponsors and Principal Investigators regarding questions and requirements before award issuance.
• Coordinate award setup, budget management, financial monitoring, reporting, subawards, and closeout activities.
• Monitor budgets and expenditures, assist with forecasting, and identify and resolve financial or compliance issues.
• Prepare and submit Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) and other required progress reports.
• Coordinate sponsor prior-approval requests, including no-cost extensions, budget changes, changes in scope or PI, and carryforward requests.
• Ensure compliance with sponsor terms, institutional policies, and applicable federal and state requirements.
• Serve as a central point of contact for assigned grant portfolios and coordinate activities across faculty, research administration, Finance, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, Data, Operations, and external collaborators.
• Track project deliverables, milestones, deadlines, dependencies,