Grants Administrative Assistant

Princeton University; United States; Remote; USD 67,000 - 78,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Benefits package

Job summary

Princeton University seeks a Grants Administrative Assistant to support a team of eight grant administrators in a fully remote role. The position focuses on post-award management, including data entry in financial systems, invoice preparation, and monthly reporting, with additional pre-award duties as needed.

A bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and strong MS Office skills are required. The role emphasizes accuracy, compliance, and timely communications with sponsors.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience is required.
• Strong MS Office skills (Excel, Access, Word) and basic accounting knowledge.
• Ability to understand and apply multiple funding agency policies.

Responsibilities

• Post-award support: cost transfers, labor data entry, and sponsor billing backups.
• Generate and review monthly financial reports; flag overspending for grants managers.
• Assist with ERA proposals, budgeting, and data entry during heavy workloads.
• Aid with award closeout and maintain grant records in OnBase and ERA systems.

Skills

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Accounting fundamentals

Microsoft Office proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Excel

Access

Word

Job description

Overview

The Department of Molecular Biology is seeking a full-time Grants Administrative Assistant to support a team of eight grants administrators. The individual in this position will play an important role in performing supportive tasks for sponsored research administration. This is a fully remote position.

Responsibilities

Support the grants team in post-award management of funding including:

• Entering cost transfer and labor accounting information provided by grant managers into University financial systems.
• Preparing invoices and backup documentation for sponsor billing.
• Extracting monthly financial reports on faculty grants and filing/forwarding those as appropriate; reviewing reports for significant under or overspending and notifying grants managers. Performing searches for unallowable costs on faculty grants and providing those to grants managers.
• Assisting with award closeout process.

Support the grants team in pre-award activities including:

• Handling Department Limited Submissions
• Act as a backup for Grants Managers in times of heavy workload for smaller grants/fellowships, assisting the GMs with ERA proposals (budgets, compliance, other data entry)
• Training Grant Data Collection and Entry-xTrain Updates

Other day-day responsibilities will include:

• Assisting the team with grant records retention and management tasks in our OnBase system.
• Maintaining departmental funding opportunities in the Princeton Research Funding Gateway
• Preparing the monthly accounts list
• Attending training classes and meetings to keep up-to-date on the financial systems and programs, including University compliance requirements used in performing job duties
• Other duties as needed

Qualifications

A bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, biological sciences, or a related field or several years of progressively responsible, relevant professional experience in lieu of a degree is required. Prior biomedical or biology grants–related experience in a university setting is beneficial but not required. The candidate must be proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Access, and Word) and possess a solid understanding of basic accounting principles. Must be able to understand and implement the policies of multiple funding agencies. Strong attention to detail, excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both written and oral), and a demonstrated commitment to financial integrity and confidentiality are required.

Preferred:

Familiarity with University policies and procedures regarding grant applications. Familiarity with the University's personnel and fiscal management policies, and the University's financial system applications, such as ERA, Labor Accounting, Information Warehouse, and PeopleSoft PRIME or previous experience with these systems at another University is desirable.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's qualifications, work experience, education/training, key skills, market, collective bargaining agreements as applicable, and organizational considerations when extending an offer. The posted salary range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate for a full-time position; salaries for part-time positions are pro-rated accordingly.

If the salary range on the posted position shows an hourly rate, this is the baseline; the actual hourly rate may be higher, depending on the position and factors listed above.

The University also offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees.

Standard Weekly Hours

36.25

Eligible for Overtime

No

Benefits Eligible

Yes

Probationary Period

180 days

Essential Services Personnel (see policy for detail)

No

Physical Capacity Exam Required

No

Valid Driver’s License Required

No

Experience Level

Entry Level#LI-ZY1

Salary Range

$67,000 to $78,000