Senior Grants Officer, Pre-Award

UTS; Broadway; On-site; AUD 112,000 - 124,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

17% superannuation

Flexible work practices

Generous parental leave

Salary packaging opportunities

Job summary

UTS seeks a Senior Grants Officer, Pre-Award to join the Research Grants and Development unit. You will provide high-level pre-award support across all funding schemes, guiding researchers on compliant budgets, costing, pricing and deadlines.

The role demands expert costing advice, strong communication, integrity with confidential information, and the ability to work in a dynamic, team setting. This is a full-time fixed-term role in Sydney.

Qualifications

• Ability to work effectively in a dynamic, semi-structured environment—learn quickly, adapt, prioritise workload, deliver results independently or in a team.
• High-level problem-solving and analytical skills with accurate literacy, numeracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to handle confidential information ethically and professionally.
• Ability to provide specialist advice for research costing, pricing and budget development across complex proposals.
• Understanding of the full research grant lifecycle, pre-award requirements, costing/pricing principles and budgeting.

Responsibilities

• Working collaboratively as part of the pre-award grants team, providing specialist expertise to support consistent service delivery.
• Providing high-level, accurate and timely pre-award grant support to researchers across complex funding schemes and major rounds.
• Assisting researchers to develop compliant budgets and identify eligibility or compliance risks, escalating complex matters.
• Liaising with Research Finance and other services to ensure costings, pricing and budget compliance guidance.
• Maintaining records and documentation for pre-award activities with accuracy and traceability.
• Contributing to development and improvement of pre-award processes, guidance materials, templates and training resources.

Job description

Our vision is to be a leading public university of technology recognised for our global impact. We are a dynamic and innovative university, ranked by the Times Higher Education as Australia's top young university, and located centrally in one of the world's most liveable cities. With a culturally diverse campus life and extensive international exchange and research programs, UTS prepares graduates for the workplaces of today and tomorrow.

About the Team

The Research Office supports researchers across the full research lifecycle and partners with faculties and divisions to enable research activity. This role sits in the Research Grants and Development unit and is part of the Research Operations and Development team that supports all researchers across the university.

About the Role

The Senior Grants Officer, Pre-Award works as part of a collaborative team to provide high-level specialist pre-award support for research grants, consistent with the Research Funding Tiered Support Model. This includes more complex grant applications, all funding scheme and project types, supporting researchers to meet challenging funding guidelines, institutional requirements, and submission deadlines. A key focus of the role is the provision of specialist advice and support for research costing and pricing, to ensure compliant, accurate and competitive project budgets and educating researchers and professional colleagues in a grant context.

If successful in applying for this role, you will be responsible for:

• Working collaboratively and collegially as part of the pre-award grants team, contributing specialist expertise to support consistent, team-based service delivery.
• Providing high-level, accurate and timely specialist pre-award grant support to researchers in accordance with the Tiered Services Model, with expertise applied to complex, high-risk or non-standard funding schemes and major funding rounds during peak submission periods.
• Working with researchers to develop compliant budgets including identifying potential budget eligibility or compliance risks in pre-award applications, providing specialist advice to mitigate these risks, and escalating complex or high-risk matters to senior staff.
• Liaising effectively with Research Finance and other professional services teams to ensure consistent, aligned and high-quality advice on research costing, pricing and budget compliance.
• Maintaining high standards of records management and documentation for pre-award activities, ensuring accuracy, traceability and compliance with institutional requirements.
• Providing specialist input to the development and continuous improvement of pre-award processes, guidance materials, templates and training resources, particularly in relation to costing, pricing and budgeting practices.

With examples, please outline within your Cover Letter, how you meet the following five (5) key selection criteria:

• Ability to work effectively in a dynamic, semi-structured environment-using initiative to learn quickly, adapt to new circumstances, prioritise workload, and deliver results both independently and as part of a team.
• Demonstrated high-level problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to identify and resolve issues independently, combined with excellent comprehension, oral and written communication skills, and a high level of accuracy, literacy, numeracy, and attention to detail.
• The ability to handle confidential information and to behave in an ethical and professional manner.
• Demonstrated ability to provide specialist advice and support for research costing, pricing and budget development, including for complex or non-standard research proposals, and to interpret and apply a wide range of funder guidelines, pricing models, institutional policies and procedures.
• Understanding of all aspects of the research grant lifecycle, including understanding of pre-award requirements, research costing and pricing principles, and budget development. Understanding of research risks including mitigation / management strategies as they relate to research grants.

Remuneration

Base Salary Range: $111,749 - $123,623 pa (HEW 7)

This role attracts 17% superannuation (pension) in addition to the base salary.

UTS staff also benefit from a wide range of Employee Benefits include flexible work practices, generous parental leave and salary packaging opportunities.

This position is full-time and appointment will be made on a fixed term basis until March 2028.

Closing Date: Monday, 30th November 2026 at 11:59pm (AEDT)

Applicants must have current and valid work rights in Australia.

UTS prioritises safety, respect, and inclusion for every member of our community. In support of this, and in line with our statutory obligations under the National Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence 2026, all prospective employees must declare any past investigations relating to gender-based violence. Employment at UTS is contingent upon completion of this declaration, and, where necessary, assessment of any identified risk factors. We appreciate your role in upholding the standards and behaviour expected of our community.

Accessibility

Please note: If you have a disability that requires adjustment to the recruitment process or an alternative application pathway, please contact ***********@uts.edu.au for assistance.

At UTS, the concepts of equity and social justice are key to our core and purpose - we are recognised widely as supporting inclusivity and valuing diversity through our Wingara Indigenous Employment Strategy, Social Impact Framework and UTS Access and Inclusion Plan.

Cited as a WGEA Employer of Choice since the inception of the award, we are now among the first Australian institutions to receive the Athena SWAN Bronze Accreditation for our commitment to action addressing gender equity in the STEMM disciplines.