Program Manager

The University of Kansas; Lawrence (KS); On-site; USD 62,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Kansas seeks an assistant director to run the KS NSF EPSCoR Office, overseeing operations and budgeting for the NSF EPSCoCoR RII award. The role supports timely achievement of project goals by coordinating with participating institutions and NSF while ensuring compliance with applicable policies.

Responsibilities include financial management, proposal development, and reporting, with collaboration across multiple universities, state agencies, and stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or 3 years relevant experience.
• Two years experience in management of large projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Two years experience in budget development, forecasting, reporting and analysis.

Responsibilities

• Directs day-to-day operations of the KS NSF EPSCoR Office with compliance oversight.
• Provides programmatic and administrative support including policy implementation and budgeting.
• Serves as liaison with NSF, universities, state agencies, legislators, and external stakeholders.
• Plans and coordinates program meetings and advisory committees including reporting.
• Prepares NSF progress reports and supports evaluations and site visits.
• Manages internal funding processes, RFPs, reviews, and award documentation.

Skills

Program management

Budget management

Data analysis

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

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.

Application review begins on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.

Contact Information to Applicants

Doug Byers, [e-mail]

Advertised Salary Range

$61,700 - $75,000

Anticipated Start Date

Monday November 2, 2026