Grants & Contracts Analyst

We are seeking a Grants & Contracts Analyst, Pre-Award.

Research Management Services (RMS) supports the pre and post-award administration for sponsored funding across multiple departments within the School of Medicine. RMS strives to provide the highest quality of customer service in sponsored research management to our customers including departments, faculty, key stakeholders and central teams including the Office of Research Administration (ORA), Sponsored Projects Shared Services (SPSS) and the School of Medicine Business Office.

The Grants & Contracts Analyst works alongside faculty and fellow colleagues to support post-award activities for Research Management Services (RMS). The primary goal of this position is to ensure sponsored funding is managed compliantly and per the sponsoring agencies instruction. This position will be tasked with all post award activities related to managing sponsored funding and will serve as the direct point of contact for communicating financial information to the faculty/departments we support. This position reports directly to the Associate Director of RMS.

Position Overview

This position will work alongside a dedicated post-award team to meet with investigator(s) and/or key stakeholders within RMS. The position requires knowledge of accounting and budgeting theory in order to accurately and confidently convey financial information to the investigators and departments we support. A key aspect of this position will require proactively identifying areas of financial risk so communication can take place well in advance to avoid any potential cost overruns. Post award functions include, but may not be limited to: account maintenance, budget distribution, billing/invoicing, reporting, compliance audits, effort reporting, allocating payroll and non-payroll expense, ensuring expenses are allowable and allocable, submitting cost transfers, annual projections, and timely closeouts. This position will require the ability to make independent financial judgements on a daily basis. Excellent communication skills and a customer service minded focus are essential skills required to succeed in the position. While this role may assist with some aspects of non-sponsored funds, the primary goal of this position is to ensure timely, effective and efficient functioning of sponsored funding.

Job Scope/Complexity

• Will work independently the majority of the time, with support from Principal Investigator (PI) and/or senior management level grants & contract professionals on managing increasingly more complex grants/contracts. Will provide standard professional administrative level guidance on protocols, regulations and guidelines to PI and other scientific/research professionals within the department. May interact with external research/administrative professionals.
• Types of sponsored awards for which the position is responsible:
• This role functions at an intermediate level, with responsibility for independent management of simple to moderately complex grants/contracts and clinical trials, including those from NIH, DOD, foundations and pharmaceutical companies.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Coordinate the process of setting up awards in designated department/division after grant number is assigned, including reviewing award, verifying award set-up and ensuring personnel are allocated appropriately/timely.
• Ensure that post-award responsibilities are completed, including budget distribution, account reconciliation, e-form setup, effort reporting, cost transfers, paying invoices and finalizing agreement documents related to sub-award setups.
• Proactively manages unsupported salary and allocates payroll expense to projects to ensure accurate spending rates.
• Reviews budgets and related justifications for appropriateness and completeness of content. Ensures that all applicable and indirect costs have been applied. May also provide groundwork for subcontract negotiations.
• Ensure compliance in all other areas related to grant and contract management, including sponsoring organization guidelines, internal protocols, accurate protocol information within grant documents, conflicts of interest, etc.
• Utilizes cost principles for both federal and non-federal funded projects to ensure expenses billed are allowable, reasonable, allocable and consistently applied.
• Approves shopping carts, check requests, reimbursements and/or other related payment requests applying cost principles set forth above.
• Develops and coordinates independent contracting agreements.
• Develops and coordinates sub-award contracting agreements. Processes invoices for payment utilizing the university’s standard operating procedures for low and high risk sub-awards.
• Maintain ongoing u