Research Administrator/SR Research Administrator

About the role

The Research Administrator/Senior Research Administrator will advise and assist BME faculty in the preparation and submission of agreements and proposals for funding.

Responsibilities

• Advise and assist BME faculty in the preparation and submission of agreements and proposals for funding and ensure compliance with university and sponsor policies, procedures and requirements.
• Serve as a liaison between VT's Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and BME faculty and assist in resolving all agreement, proposal, and grant related matters to ensure timely submission of agreements and grant proposals and proper award management.
• Prepare accurate program budgets in compliance with university guidelines and sponsor requirements.
• Accurately complete VT and sponsor required documents and forms in support of funding proposals and agreements.
• Initiate, submit, and navigate agreements and proposals successfully through the VT OSP Summit system, Cayuse, and other designated internal and external submission portals by internally and externally established deadlines.
• Serve as liaison between OSP, BME faculty, and sponsors when needing to address and resolve agreement, proposal, and grant related issues.
• Serve as liaison to the sponsor when clarification on application materials, requirements, or policies is needed.
• Apply extensive knowledge of government regulations, cost principles, and uniform administrative requirements to ensure accurate information is included and presented on agreement and proposal submissions.
• Assist with preparing post-submission information and Just-In-Time requests as required by the sponsor.
• Provide guidance regarding federal and university policies and procedures and sponsor requirements.
• Confirm credit assigned to BME personnel in proposals.
• Develop reports on status of submitted and funded proposals and completed agreements.
• Develop resource documentation (e.g., standardized checklists, timelines, boilerplate language, facilities, descriptions, and curated resource guides) for commonly submitted proposals.
• Procure and/or develop faculty-facing training and orientation materials (e.g., short recorded modules that address grant policies, submission requirements, or common compliance issues).
• When serving in this capacity, assist BME faculty with preparation of grant reports as required by the sponsor (e.g., NIH annual RPPRs, grant close out reporting, and other sponsor reporting requirements).
• Coordinate with BME staff and OSP to assist BME faculty with preparation of grant reports as required by the sponsor.
• Assist with expiring funds surveys, letters of guarantees, current and pending reports, monitoring project burn rates, monitoring end of project expenditures and overages, assisting with award modifications, and verifying personnel salaries.

Requirements

• Masters degree in Public or Business Administration, Finance, or related field or Bachelor's degree in similar field with significant experience.
• Previous experience in the management and submission of research agreements and proposals.
• Previous financial and/or administrative experience in support of research agreement and proposal submission, post award management, and project administration.
• Experience interpreting and applying federal and non-federal regulations and guidelines, cost principles, uniform administrative requirements for grants, and audits of states, local governments, and nonprofit organizations in a university or an agency funding or conducting research.
• Excellent computer skills and familiarity with Microsoft 365 apps and large financial databases.
• Prior experience accessing, compiling, analyzing, and synthesizing large data sets pulled from multiple computer systems.
• Prior experience developing complex budgets.
• Prior experience with internal and external agreement and proposal submission portals.
• Ability to communicate effectively and tactfully with diverse constituencies both internally and externally.

Qualifications

• Professional certification/designation as a Certified Research Administrator (CRA), Certified Federal Contracts Manager (CFCM), or Virginia Tech Research Administrator Certificate (Level I and II) is preferred.
• Prior experience working at a higher education research institution is preferred.
• Prior experience working with specific accounting/fiscal, purchasing, and agreement/proposal submission systems such as Banner, Summit, OSP's Post Award Management System, OSP's PAN System, MicroStrategy, ES Legacy Web Reports, Cayuse, and Hokiemart is preferred.