Program Manager

University of Kansas

Lawrence (KS)

On-site

USD 62,000 - 75,000

Full time

7 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Vacation time

Sick leave

Holidays

Retirement plan

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Educational opportunities

Job summary

University of Kansas invites applications for an Assistant Director to manage operations and budgeting for the NSF EPSCoR RII program across Kansas universities. The role requires coordinating with NSF, partner institutions, and state agencies to support timely project goals.

You will lead day-to-day activities, oversee financial reporting, planning, and stakeholder communications, and help ensure compliance with federal and university policies. Travel may be required.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree or 3 years relevant experience.
Two years experience in managing large projects with multiple stakeholders across sectors.
Two years experience in budget development, administration, forecasting, reporting.
Experience with Microsoft Office products such as Excel, Outlook and Word.
Excellent written communication skills.
Experience organizing conferences, workshops and meetings.
Two years experience in data analysis and preparing reports from multiple data sets.

Responsibilities

Directs day-to-day operations of the Kansas NSF EPSCoR Office, ensuring compliance with policies, regulations, and reporting requirements.
Provides programmatic and administrative support to the Director, including budget coordination and policy implementation.
Serves as liaison with NSF, participating universities, state agencies, legislators, and external stakeholders.
Coordinates planning and logistics for program meetings and events, advisory committees, and the NSF EPSCoR Symposium.
Prepares and submits project and program reports, including NSF progress reports, and maintains data for evaluations and site visits.
Administers internal funding and proposal processes, including RFPs, external reviews, and award documentation.
Shares responsibility with Office of Research for all financial, accounting, budgeting, compliance, and reporting functions.

Skills

Written communication

Data analysis

Conference planning

Microsoft Office

Travel flexibility

Stakeholder liaison

Education

Bachelor's degree in business / accounting / English / communications / STEM

Tools

Excel

Outlook

Word

Job description

Position Overview

The KS NSF EPSCoR Office is seeking an assistant director to work within the Kansas NSF EPSCoR Office to manage the operations and budgeting for the NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) award. The assistant director will join a team that administers the award and involves institutions of higher education across Kansas. The assistant director will help manage the Kansas NSF EPSCoR Office and ensure compliance with the National Science Foundation while working closely with staff at participating institutions to support timely completion of the project goals.

KU offers great benefits to employees with up to 176 hours of paid vacation per year, 72 hours of sick leave earned per year, nine paid holidays plus one discretionary day, a retirement program, medical & dental insurance, life and disability insurance, other benefit plan options and State of Kansas discounts offered by various vendors. KU also offers employees educational and professional development opportunities.

Job Description

Program Management 40%

Directs day to day operations of the Kansas NSF EPSCoR Office, ensuring compliance with applicable federal, state, and university policies, regulations, and reporting requirements.
Provides programmatic and administrative support to the Director, including implementation of policies, budget coordination, proposal development, and assumption of delegated responsibilities as assigned.
Serves as a primary point of contact and liaison with NSF, participating universities, state agencies, legislators, and other external stakeholders.
Coordinates planning and logistics for program related meetings and events, including advisory committees, proposal review panels, and the Annual NSF EPSCoR Symposium.
Prepares and submits required project and program reports, including annual NSF progress reports, and maintains data necessary for evaluations, assessments, and site visits.
Administers internal funding and proposal processes, including development and distribution of Requests for Proposals (RFPs), coordination of external reviews, and preparation of award documentation.

Financial Management 40%

Shares responsibility with Office of Research for all financial, accounting, budgeting, financial compliance, and reporting functions. To meet this responsibility, must interpret financial policies and procedures for implementation, execution, and auditing purposes for Kansas NSF EPSCoR, a statewide initiative based at the University of Kansas funded primarily by the National Science Foundation.
Performs complex technical analysis and financial reporting for varied and complex sources of funding for Kansas NSF EPSCoR Program. Conducts various statistical analyses and modeling involving financial data.
Researches and prepares variance analysis explanations to inform explanations to program staff and Director. Provides suggested changes to address these variances.
Works closely with Shared Service Center and Office of Research staff on day-to-day financial management of Kansas NSF EPSCoR programs including cost share, subaward, and expenditure monitoring as necessary.
Corresponds with financial staff at subaward institutions to implement the Kansas EPSCoR programs.
Initiates financial changes as necessary to ensure accounting and sponsored project management principles are followed.

Program Strategic Planning 10%

Works with Kansas NSF EPSCoR Director to develop a strategic plan for program and financial operations. Produces financial data scenarios to model short and long-range strategic plans (tasks may include revenue forecasting, expenditure trend analysis, resource allocation models and development of financial strategies to accomplish deliverables).
Works with Office of Research to prepare budgetary forecasts and reports from the financial systems to support progress toward financial strategic goals. Develops reports as necessary to inform and advise Kansas NSF EPSCoR Director on financial risk management and program financial health.
Provides leadership/guidance on business processes and/or suggestions to ensure strategic planning and forecasts are met.

Other Duties 10%

Assists with materials for annual stakeholder, advisory, and other Kansas NSF EPSCoR meetings.
Assists with sponsor reporting as necessary.
Other activities as necessary to support Kansas NSF EPSCoR Director.

Position Requirements

Flexibility to attend conferences, workshops and meetings that may require travel and overnight stay.

Required Qualifications

Bachelors' degree (business, accounting, English, communications, STEM) or 3 years relavent experience.
Two years experience in management of large projects involving multiple stakeholders across multiple sectors.
Two years experience in the development and administration of budgets and accounts, including financial forecasting, reporting, and/or analysis.
Previous experience with Microsoft Office products such as Excel, Outlook, and Word.
Excellent written communication skills, as demonstrated in application materials.
Experience in organizing and implementing conferences, workshops and meetings, as evidenced by application materials.
Two years experience in data analysis and the preparation of reports from multiple data sets.

Preferred Qualifications

Administrative experience in working with National Science Foundation policy, proposal development, budget guidelines, reporting requirements, and general grants management.
Experience and understanding of budget and accounting policies, procedures, and on-line financial systems at the University of Kansas and its Office of Research.
Experience in collecting data and producing financial reports.
Coursework in accounting.

Additional Candidate Instructions

A complete application consists of: