Pre-Award Specialist - Department of Medicine (Multiple Opportunities)

Job Description

The Department of Medicine has an outstanding opportunity for a Pre-Award Specialist to join their Pre-Award Integrated Resources Team.

About this Opportunity

Under the general supervision of the pre-award team lead, the Pre-Award Specialist serves as a subject matter expert in pre-award policies and practices as defined by federal, state, foundation, industry, and University sponsors. The position ensures proposals are developed, reviewed for compliance, and submitted on time, serving as a primary liaison between principal investigators, central offices, and funding agencies. This position exists to support the Department of Medicine Pre-Award Integrated Resources Team by managing all aspects of proposal development for grants and contracts submitted by divisions within the Department of Medicine.

Key Responsibilities:

Proposal Development and Compliance Management (75%)

• Serves as the expert on grants and contracts administration with substantial responsibility for managing the unit's pre-award grants and contracts program.
• Advise faculty PIs on sponsor requirements, particularly for specialized program announcements and non-federal sponsors.
• Prepare complex budgets and administrative sections of proposals based on knowledge of sponsor requirements and program objectives.
• Manage compliance of the G&C program and provide technical advice and interpretation of government, foundation, and UW regulations to PIs, program managers, researchers, and support staff.
• Acts as the grant and contract compliance officer for the department in compliance with UW, federal, and state policies and regulations.
• Review proposals for potential IRB, IACUC, and SFI issues and work with PIs for action.
• Provide faculty with clear, customer-oriented descriptions of pre-award processes.
• Interface with OSP, PAFC, and funding agencies (NIH, NSF, foundations, pharma).
• Work closely with DOM and SOM grant review teams to ensure University policies around PI eligibility, F&A waivers, cost sharing, and IP disposition memos are addressed and documented.
• Serve as the prime contact between agencies, central offices, and faculty.
• Work with funding agencies to resolve problems and/or obtain approval for deviations from authorized procedures.
• Prepare Just-In-Time documentation and time-of-award documentation as required by the sponsor.
• Coordinate preparation of routine proposals and non-award agreements.
• Use independent judgment and decision-making to complete work on time and within compliance.
• Provide training to faculty, staff, and students regarding pre-award management.
• Collaborate with pre-award shared services departments to maintain current information about staff, PIs, and policies affecting grant submission and compliance.
• Provides internal policy recommendations to Pre-Award Shared Services management based on federal and university requirements or system functionality; assists in implementing new policies and procedures.
• Coordinates with subrecipients/subcontracts to ensure proposal requirements and timelines are met; provides guidance to subrecipient contacts consistent with guidance provided to UW PIs.
• Escalates issues regarding specific proposals to the Administrator/VCFA and department contacts as appropriate.

Quality Assurance (10%)

• Conducts a quality control review of all proposals to ensure each application meets sponsor/proposal requirements and department and school policies before routing in SAGE for campus review.
• Analyzes quality assurance results to identify trends and opportunities for improvement in pre-award processes, tools, and communication.
• Works with Team Leads and Associate Director to implement process improvements.
• Collects, analyzes, and reports on metrics regarding department pre-award submissions by fiscal year.

Administration (5%)

• Participates in regularly scheduled team meetings.
• Develops policies and procedures for pre-award administrative functions.
• Acts as liaison between the Administrator, Chair, faculty, and staff regarding grant and contract proposals.
• Serves as content expert and resource for faculty and staff regarding grant and contract proposals, pre-award management, and compliance.
• Provides regular updates to faculty and department administrators regarding changes in federal and university research directives and pre-award procedures.
• Provides backup to other Pre-Award Grants Managers; contributes to special projects and performs related duties as required.
• Trains pre-award skills to new pre-award staff within shared services, including reviewing work, performing periodic aud