ORA Operations Coordinator

Engineering a world of possibilities

The ORA Operations Coordinator partners closely with ORA Leadership and staff to manage both strategic priorities and operational duties for the Office of Research Administration (“ORA”). ORA manages the research portfolio for the Colorado School of Mines including proposal development, contracting and accounting for externally sponsored research and other programs. This position has primary responsibility for managing ORA’s general operations, assisting with strategic projects, training of new ORA staff, supervising undergraduate student employees; developing and maintaining procedures, forms, and external communications; logging incoming awards into the ORA database; facilitating annual audit functions; assisting in the daily upkeep of the ORA database; and serving as ORA’s expert in procurement and travel policies.

This is a hybrid work environment.

ORA Operations Management

• Ensure that office-wide policies and procedures are kept current including making sure all new policies, procedures, forms, etc. are branded according to office and school conventions.
• Manage the operating budget for the office including estimating/forecasting budget needs, preparing accurate budget documents, ensuring budget and expenses comply with school policy, and recommend budget adjustments to Director. Analyze budget spending and optimize the budget based on spending data and past performance.
• Work closely with the Director and the leadership team to monitor and achieve the ORA strategic plans and the FA&O Mines@150 strategic plan. Provide support related to long-term strategy planning and execution.
• Responsible for the procurement of all hardware, software and services related to ORA business.
• Develop internal reports for the management team. These reports will be focused internal metrics tailored to each unit. Examples include, account receivable reports, processing timelines, etc.
• Maintain the ORA website and make sure it stays current with ORA policies, procedures and federal regulations.
• Prepare communications to campus and other departments, as necessary. This position will develop, maintain and present training materials for ORA as appropriate for campus. They also support ORA Staff with the creation and promotion of training sessions and work with subject matter leads on content for presentations.
• Process physical checks to Research Billing and the Bursar’s office, as needed.
• Maintain and track professional development opportunities for ORA staff. This position will review upcoming webinars, conferences, etc. for content and make recommendations to management on ORA attendance.
• Plan and coordinate the quarterly ORA on-campus retreats and staff development meetings.
• Serve as the ORA lead for DI&A activities. This position will prepare the ORA DI&A plans and reporting, ensure staff are aware of campus opportunities, lead any as appropriate.
• Make travel arrangements and conference registration arrangements for ORA. Assist with the generation and submission of travel authorizations and travel expense reports via the travel and expense management system.  
• Coordinate scheduling of various meetings and trainings as necessary. Manage the Director’s calendars.  Maintain ORA vacation and hybrid work calendars
• Coordinate the hiring of new employees by scheduling interviews for hiring managers and interview committees and ensure the new employee has all the equipment needed – such as computer, monitors, etc.
• Oversee departmental onboarding by overseeing the first two weeks of training for new staff, including Office function, School structure, strategic planning, unit specific tasks and general system walk through.
• Enter and inactive agencies into Banner and/or Workday and ensure accurate sponsor coding in our financial and non-financial systems.
• ORA maintains several profiles in external sponsor systems that need user management. This position will be responsible for maintaining our profiles and granting appropriate permissions into the various systems.

Award and Contract Processing

•  Logging of all incoming awards actions, Research Contracts and At-Risks into the ORA database and routing to the appropriate Contract Administrator for review and approval.   Monitor for actions that would delay the logging of an award, determine action steps to resolve the delay to ensure timely logging of the award, research contract or at-risk.   
• Support and coordinate with Contract Administrator team regarding any necessary changes to be made to the award logging process. Responsible for responding to Mines Program Assistant queries related to award receipt questions.
• Creation and on-going management of the office’s electronic filing system in compliance with the approved structure