Grants & Contracts Specialist, Post-Award Team (Hybrid/Remote)

Stony Brook; Stony Brook (NY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote/Hybrid work

Job summary

Stony Brook University is seeking a Grants & Contracts Specialist on the Post-Award Team to provide post-award guidance and support for research projects. The role requires strong communication, attention to detail, and ability to work collaboratively with faculty and staff across campus, while adapting to evolving policies and timelines.

The position offers a hybrid/remote work arrangement, with a focus on ensuring compliance with sponsor guidelines and university policies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher) or four years of higher education plus administrative experience.
• Two years of full-time finance, accounting, and/or administrative experience.
• Experience with grant administration and complex policies is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide post-award administrative guidance to faculty and staff to facilitate research activities.
• Review, negotiate, and approve terms for grants and cooperative agreements; ensure PI certifications are in place.
• Coordinate non-fiscal award management actions requiring sponsor approval and understand budget implications.
• Review progress reports with AOR signatures and monitor Other Support Documents.
• Keep abreast of federal, state, and institutional policies governing grant administration; propose workflow improvements.

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

4 years of combined higher education and admin experience

Job description

Job Description - Grants & Contracts Specialist, Post-Award Team (Hybrid/Remote) (2603967)

Grants & Contracts Specialist, Post-Award Team (Hybrid/Remote)

Required Qualifications (as evidenced by an attached resume): Bachelor’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher). In lieu of a Bachelor’s degree, a combination of higher education and administrative experience equaling four (4) years may be considered. Two (2) years of full-time finance, accounting, and/or administrative experience.

Preferred Qualifications: Experience using electronic pre- and post-award systems such as Grants.gov, NIH ASSIST, NSF Research.gov, Grants Solutions, Huron Click, InfoEd, Cayuse. Experience developing or analyzing grant budgets. Experience managing grant application processes. Experience interpreting and applying policies from multiple levels of authority (federal, state, and institutional). Customer service experience. Experience with pre- and/or post-award management in a government, non-profit, and/or academic setting.

Brief Description of Duties: The Office for Research and Innovation (ORI) is seeking post-award grants and contracts professionals to fill one specialist position vacancy. The role provides post-award administrative guidance, oversight, and assistance to faculty and staff to facilitate University research and sponsored program activity, in accordance with federal and state laws, sponsor guidelines, and the Research Foundation and/or University policies and procedures.

The Grants & Contracts Specialist serves as a research administration professional within Sponsored Programs, accepting workflow assignments and providing the highest level of service to faculty on post-award actions. As an integral part of the research administration community and in support of the University’s overall research mission, this position requires an unwavering commitment to service and excellence in a demanding, deadline-driven environment. This position involves working closely with and serving as a liaison between faculty and staff within the college and across campus to meet administrative award management objectives and deadlines, using a variety of communications methods.

The Grants & Contracts Specialist will keep abreast of laws, regulations, external and internal policies, and procedures governing the administration of grants and cooperative agreements. They will be adaptable and flexible to accommodate ongoing changes to policies and regulations; facilitating short lead times on proposal or project deliverables; balancing conflicting priorities; and contributing and adjusting to a continuously evolving environment are vital. They will contribute to the ongoing improvement of workflow, current practices, business processes, and policy.

The successful incumbent must have strong verbal and written communication skills, exceptional interpersonal skills and ability to interact collaboratively with a diverse constituent population, ability to work independently and in a team-based environment to achieve common goals, strong attention to detail, and strong organizational and prioritization skills, and ability to meet deadlines.

• Review, negotiate, and approve terms and conditions for grants and cooperative agreements; Ensure that the Principal Investigator (PI) has obtained all required certifications and assurances (regarding, for example, the use of animals or human subjects in research, biohazards, conflict of interest etc.).
  • Serve as a liaison between the university community and the external sponsor regarding non-fiscal research award management issues.
  • Coordinate non-fiscal and limited fiscal award management and process actions that require prior sponsor approval and/or those allowed by the expanded authorities (including Grantee Approved No-Cost Extensions; Sponsor Approved No Cost Extensions, Change in Scope; Budget Revisions/Reallocations; Carryforward requests; etc); with an understanding of the budgetary implications of each action.
  • Review and process non-competing continuations, including review of budgetary aspects of the award such as unobligated balances that merit Sponsor prior approval.
  • Initiate Award Set-up after thorough review of Notice of Award, determine if an undistributed or detailed budget is required.
  • Review and submit progress reports that require AOR signature (including non-SNAP NIH RPPRs that require detailed budgets, explanations of unobligated balances, identify when carryforward approval is required, etc), ensure Other Support Documents are complete/accurate, and monitor technical report submission.
  • Ensure university concurrence and overall compliance with federal regulations;
  • Accept awards as authorized official (AOR) on behalf of The Research Foundation for The SUNY at Stony Brook University.
  • Serve as primary contact for sponsors in consultation with the PI and department business office staff as appropriate.
  • Approve and manage award transfers to other institutions.
  • Assist with the interpretation of sponsor requirements and federal regulations and ensure University and sponsor policies, procedures, and processes are followed.
• Provide direction, training, and assistance to principal investigators and department staff in award management, and serve as a resource to both internal and external colleagues.
  • Keep abreast of laws, regulations, external and internal policies, and procedures governing the administration of grants and cooperative agreements.
  • Contribute to the ongoing improvement of workflow, current practices, business processes, and policy.
  • Serve as a member of the campus team for the training of the Huron Click Awards module.
• Attend workshops and conferences geared towards honing grant administration skills as well as those that address changes in proposal submission requirements. Share responsibility, and provide input to, OSP organized committees regarding website presence and communication strategies, including OSP bulletins.
  • Participate in office-wide projects that ensure the Institution is compliant with sponsor obligations and requirements.
  • Provide coverage and back up administrative support to other members of the team.
• Other duties or projects as assigned.

Special Notes: The Research Foundation of SUNY is a private educational corporation. Employment is subject to the Research Foundation policies and procedures, sponsor guidelines and the availability of funding. This is a full-time appointment. FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.

This position is eligible for alternative workplace arrangements/telework (remote or virtual) or hybrid.

Due to U.S. Export Control laws and regulations, the candidate hired will need to be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or other "protected individual" (as defined by 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1324b(a)(3)).

For this position, we are unable to sponsor candidates for work visas.

Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in the creation of an inclusive learning and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other protected classes under federal or state laws.

Stony Brook University is dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants, including individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application, interview, or hiring process, please request one by contacting [e-mail]. We will consider accommodation requests in compliance with applicable laws. This process is independent and does not require any voluntary self-identification of disability status. Please include the position title and position number (if known) in your message.

In accordance with the Title II Crime Awareness and Security Act a copy of our crime statistics can be viewed here.

The starting salary range (or hiring range) to be offered for this position is noted below, it represents SBU’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Job Number:

2603967

Official Job Title:

Sponsored Programs Associate I

Job Field:

Administrative & Professional (non-Clinical)

Primary Location:

Department/Hiring Area : Office of Sponsored Programs

Schedule:

Full-time

Shift:

Day Shift Shift Hours : 8.30 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.

Appointment Type:

Regular

Salary Grade:

E3

SBU Area:

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York at Stony Brook