Contract Specialist - OSP

UMass Med School; Worcester (MA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

UMass Med School is seeking a Contract Specialist to manage and negotiate a broad range of agreements related to sponsored research and collaborations. The role involves reviewing contracts for compliance with university, state, and sponsor guidelines, and coordinating with departments, legal, and external partners.

Responsibilities include drafting and routing contracts for approvals, maintaining records, and ensuring audit-ready documentation.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 3-5 years of progressive experience.
• Demonstrate high proficiency in Outlook, Excel, Word and other office software.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and writing skills needed to present and communicate effectively with a diverse population of stakeholders.
• Demonstrated time management and problem‑solving skills with ability to organize and prioritize workload, identify problem areas and take action to meet deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Solicit, prepare, review, negotiate, and amend a full array of agreements, including collaboration agreements, sponsored research agreements, federal clinical trial agreements, subcontracts, state contracts, data use agreements, non‑disclosure agreements, materials transfer agreements, confidentiality agreements, and other forms of agreement, where required.
• Draft all outgoing new contracts and modifications to Sponsors, negotiate terms and conditions, and route for internal reviews, approvals and signature, as needed.
• Review assigned agreements to ensure compliance with University, State, Federal and Corporate sponsors guidelines and/or data security provisions; provide recommendations and contribute to negotiation with partners.
• Develop, review, and interpret processes supporting agreement review and preparation; revise procedures to increase efficiency.
• Maintain a full record of document creation, review, and negotiation in the system of record.
• Perform risk assessment and subrecipient monitoring.
• Review state contracts prior to signature and submission to state agencies; verify budget and compliance.
• Review subcontract agreements prior to signature and submission to sponsoring entities; verify budget and compliance.
• Ensure research management system is current with information and documentation for all contracts for audit compliance.
• Serve as liaison between departmental staff, legal, state, and sponsoring agencies.
• Work with campus leadership, university legal, department admins, PIs and cross‑functional teams to resolve issues.
• Attend meetings with State Agency‑ financial and programmatic as required.
• Solve complex problems by researching legal issues or other topics as required.
• Assist with processing and monitoring incoming award agreements and other OSP communications.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Verbal communication

Written communication

Time management

Problem-solving

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration/Accounting/Finance or related field

Tools

Outlook

Excel

Word

Job description

Contract Specialist – OSP

Overview

Under the direction of the Director of Sponsored Programs, the Contract Specialist develops, modifies and monitors contract and subaward processing and submission procedures and activities, reviews research related documents including material transfer, data use, and confidentiality agreements, and serves in a liaison capacity between departmental staff and provider and agencies involved in the negotiation and approval process.

Responsibilities

• Solicit, prepare, review, negotiate, and amend a full array of agreements, including collaboration agreements, sponsored research agreements, federal clinical trial agreements, subcontracts, state contracts, data use agreements, non‑disclosure agreements, materials transfer agreements, confidentiality agreements, and other forms of agreement, where required.
• Draft all outgoing new contracts and modifications to Sponsors, negotiate terms and conditions, and route for internal reviews, approvals and signature, as needed.
• Responsible for reviewing assigned agreements to ensure compliance with University, State, Federal and Corporate sponsors guidelines and/or relevant data security provisions, provide recommendations relating to any exceptions or items of concern or caution and contribute to their creative negotiation with the partners.
• Develop, review, recommend, and interpret processes and procedures supporting agreement review and preparation; revise existing procedures or develop new ones to increase efficiency of document processing.
• Maintain a full record of document creation, review, and negotiation in the system of record.
• Perform risk assessment and regular and/or ad hoc subrecipient monitoring.
• Review all state contracts prior to signature and submission to state agencies; verify budget is appropriate; assure compliance with state priorities and policies and investigate any special terms and conditions.
• Review all subcontract agreements prior to signature and submission to sponsoring entities, verify budget is appropriate; assure compliance with federal, state and campus policies and review of special terms and conditions.
• Ensure research management system is kept current with information, status and documentation for all contracts for transparency and to ensure audit compliance.
• Serve as liaison between departmental staff, legal, state, and sponsoring agencies involved in contract development and approval process.
• Work collaboratively with campus leadership, university legal office, department administrators, principal investigators and other cross‑functional teams to answer questions, resolve issues, and interpret terms and conditions.
• Attend meetings with State Agency‑ financial and programmatic as required.
• Solve complex problems by actively seeking information and new ideas from a variety of sources including conducting research on legal issues or other topics as required.
• Assist with processing and monitoring incoming award agreements, requests for additional information and other OSP communications.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's Degree required in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 3-5 years of progressive experience.
• Demonstrate high proficiency in Outlook, Excel, Word and other office software.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and writing skills needed to present and communicate effectively with a diverse population of stakeholders.
• Demonstrated time management and problem‑solving skills with ability to organize and prioritize workload, identify problem areas and take action to meet deadlines.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Previous experience in an academic, health care, or public sector setting.
• Experience with a broad range of award mechanisms, including grants, contracts, subcontracts, data use agreements, confidentiality/non‑disclosure agreements and cooperative agreements.