Research Administration Hub Manager

About the role

The Research Administration Hub Manager provides overall operational leadership, personnel management, and regulatory governance for an assigned hub of departmentally embedded Sponsored Research Administrators (SRAs). The primary purpose of this position is to ensure the uniform, high-quality delivery of both pre-award and post-award services across their assigned cluster of academic departments.

Responsibilities

• Direct Supervision: Lead, manage, and provide direct oversight for a team of permanent sponsored research professionals (SRAs) embedded within the hub’s assigned academic departments. Monitor and assign portfolios, counsel and discipline employees, develop comprehensive work plans, and execute formal performance appraisals for permanent SRAs within the assigned hub.
• Dynamic Workload Allocation: Actively monitor macro-level proposals and award metrics across all departments within the hub’s footprint. Dynamically redistribute research portfolios, reassign staff coverage, and balance workloads across departmental boundaries during peak sponsor submission windows, staff absences, or sudden spikes in volume to ensure college-wide operational continuity, meet Service-Level Agreement (SLA) targets, and mitigate staff burnout.
• Performance Standardization & Mentorship: Establish objective performance standards and hub-wide key performance indicators (KPIs) for embedded sponsored research professionals to ensure uniform service delivery. Provide continuous technical mentorship, advanced training coordination, coaching, and professional guidance to cultivate a high-performing, agile, and cohesive hub team.
• Advanced Compliance, Risk Management & Escalation Governance: Evaluate, interpret, and apply complex Federal, State, University, and sponsor-specific fiscal policies (including Uniform Guidance, Cost Accounting Standards, and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) to safeguard the university’s research enterprise. Serve as the first formal escalation point for embedded SRAs, faculty, and departmental leadership regarding high-risk or ambiguous research administration challenges (e.g., complex cost-share arrangements, subrecipient monitoring complications, justification of unusual direct costs, or severe budget over-expenditures).
• Audit Readiness & Internal Controls: Develop, implement, and maintain rigorous internal quality-control frameworks across the hub’s departments. Perform spot-audits of proposal files, award setups, Project Modification Requests (PMRs), and closeout packages to ensure absolute data integrity and audit readiness.
• Strategic Operations, SLAs & Stakeholder Relations: Monitor and enforce adherence to the College’s standardized Service-Level Agreements (SLAs), ensuring embedded SRAs deliver timely, accurate pre- and post-award support to departmental principal investigators (PIs). Partner regularly with Department Heads and Departmental Financial Leads within the hub’s footprint to align research administration capabilities with departmental infrastructure, faculty recruitment plans, and strategic research objectives. Represent the College hub on cross-institutional committees, professional groups, and central administrative offices (such as the central Contracts and Grants Office and the SPARCS office) to align hub operations with broader university initiatives.

Qualifications

• Minimum Education and Experience: Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Business, Finance, or a related discipline with 12 Credit Hours of accounting coursework and three years of professional accounting experience, of which at least one is supervisory; or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
• Other Required Qualifications: Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in sponsored research management within a tier-one (R1) research university or complex research enterprise. At least 3 years of demonstrated experience directly supervising professional-level employees and managing complex fiscal programs. Expert-level knowledge of public fund accounting principles, financial management methods, budgetary control, audit guidelines, and federal circulars (Uniform Guidance / 200, CAS). Advanced technical proficiency within complex enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms (such as PeopleSoft Financials and HR), institutional research portals (RED), and master-level execution of data tracking tools (Excel, Word, Access). Excellent executive-level written and verbal communication, leadership, organizational, and complex problem-solving skills. Proven ability to operate effectively and maintain high customer-service standards within a highly matrixed or shared-services environment.
• Preferred Qualifications: 5+ years of extensive financial and research administration experience specifically utilizing NC State University financial modules (PeopleSoft, RED, and Payroll Distribution frameworks). Successful completion of the Research Administration Management Program (RAMP) training or equivalent institutional master-level certificates. Active Certified Research Administrator (CRA) credential.