Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) Specialist (Hybrid Eligible)

Requisition Id 14690 

 

Overview:

The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) Specialist will be responsible for supporting Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) research staff and administration by providing customer-oriented research proposal administration services to facilitate the mission of ORNL and the Department of Energy (DOE). The SPA Specialist will join a team helping to facilitate ORNL’s research community in the proactive development of research proposals, working with research staff and administration to facilitate the development of research proposals and agreements for external funding. This includes knowledge and understanding of federal and non-federal research proposals, intellectual property and data rights, collaborative research and partnership agreements, and federal regulations related to research at federally funded research labs.

 

The incumbent will independently manage a portfolio of pending and existing pre-award, research proposals and agreements and will be responsible for the successful negotiation of research related contracts and agreements with terms acceptable to both UT-Battelle, LLC, and the DOE. Additionally, the incumbent will have the responsibility to counsel research staff involved with nonfederal research partnerships on the substantive and procedural requirements for implementing such agreements at ORNL.

 

Major Duties/Responsibilities: 

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal staff members and external contacts.

• Educate and assist ORNL research staff seeking to enter partnerships with non-federal entities, serve as a resource for ORNL research staff and external collaborators on partnering mechanisms, and understand and effectively communicate to ORNL stakeholders the proposal and contracting process for federal and nonfederal agreements.

• Review and evaluate grant and contract solicitation documents for alignment with the ORNL mission and DOE policies.

• Provide guidance and support to research staff and administration during the preparation of industry and agency specific proposal documents to ensure compliance with ORNL and DOE policies and procedures.

• Use customer relationship systems and databases to submit and track proposal development and agreement status and utilize other contract management and reporting systems as needed in the performance of described duties.

• Assist in preparing and managing internal and external project communications, including reports and documents for the Strategic Partnerships Group’s Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, Strategic Partnership Proposals, and other reimbursable agreement emplacement activities.

• Work with internal stakeholders to obtain the reviews and certifications necessary for project approval.

• Establish strategies and negotiate agreements via personal interaction with customers, and process and manage those agreements post negotiation.

• Ensure that all negotiated terms of nonfederal research partnership agreements in incumbent’s assigned portfolio comply with all federal laws and regulations, comply with DOE policies, and protect the interests of UT-Battelle, LLC and DOE.

• Perform support activities for the processing of Integrated Contractor Purchases (ICPs), Interagency Agreements (IA), and other intergovernmental agreements through which ORNL provides research support to DOE entities and government agencies.

 

Basic Qualifications: 

• A BS degree or higher. 

• Minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience facilitating and/or managing large, sponsored research proposal portfolios and/or negotiating sponsored research and/or technology related agreements. 

• Excel