Research Administrator I

University of Florida; Gainesville (FL); On-site; USD 55,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Florida seeks a Research Administrator I on Main Campus (Gainesville, FL) to support post-award and pre-award processes across multiple faculty portfolios. You will learn under senior staff, manage award setup, and help ensure accurate budgeting, cost tracking and reporting.

This role emphasizes meticulous data handling and strong customer service in a university setting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Ability to track, maintain and manipulate data.
• Outstanding customer service capabilities.
• Microsoft Office experience.
• Ability to function under pressure and within tight deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Award setup: identify budget adjustments and staffing changes and set up systems in awards process.
• Post-award reporting: monitor expenses, meet with faculty, forecast financials and report on costs.
• Effort management: enter and track faculty effort in UFIRST and myUFL; coordinate payroll allocations.
• Post-award review: reconcile documents and maintain proper records.
• Pre-award assistance: learn proposal processes and assist with supplements or funding entries.
• Just in Time and sponsor requests: assist with Other and Pending Support documents.

Skills

Data tracking

Customer service

Microsoft Office

Pressure management

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

Research Administrator I

Job No: 541295

Work Type: Full Time

Location: Main Campus (Gainesville, FL)

Categories: Grant or Research Administration, Veteran's Preference Eligible

Department: 33010000 - HP-OFFICE OF THE DEAN

Job Description

Classification Title: Research Administrator I

Classification Minimum Requirements: Bachelor's degree; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

The PHHP Research Core is dedicated to fostering the scientific advancement of investigators in the college, providing helpful information, guidance and assistance in navigating the overall administration of those projects. The Core provides college-level review of all requests for funding and proposal submissions to both internal and external agencies for the college's eight departments and the Dean's Office. The Research Administrator I (RA) position, under the tutelage of senior research administrator(s), the Director of Research Administration, and the Post-award Research Administration Manager will be able to learn about the intricacies of research administration, including the various rules, regulations and policies that govern the awards process. This position will be in a more directed position, but it is expected that the incumbent in this position will be able to transition from primarily assisting to independently managing their own portfolio within the first six months.

Award Setup

When the University receives notice of a new award from a sponsor, this position will be responsible for working with the pre-award team member and faculty member to identify any budget adjustments, changes to the original proposal that require prior approval, subaward creation staffing changes and approvals, effort changes, or required exceptions from our Cost Accounting Standards (CAS). This team member will be responsible for setting up those systems in the award setup process.

Post-Award Reporting

Responsible for reporting and projecting the expenses on the grant accounts for a subset of faculty on a quarterly basis. This includes meeting with the faculty to review their financial position, translating those plans into future expenses, and reporting regularly on the expenses. This assists the faculty in making important scientific decisions that have financial impacts on their budget, as well as assisting the research administrator in tracking necessary changes to the UF financial systems that will need to be undertaken.

Effort Management and Internal Fiscal Management

Responsible for ensuring effort commitments are entered and updated correctly over the life of each sponsored award in UFIRST and myUFL. Further, this individual will be responsible for coordinating entry of payroll allocations for faculty and staff working on their sponsored awards into myUFL Department Budget Tables. This will require coordination with other RAs and Department Administrators in the college and across the University, to confirm faculty effort on sponsored awards is consistent with original effort plans and does not adversely affect other funds.

This position also assists with monitoring their appropriate charges on the college contingent pay funds. The incumbent would be responsible to ensure that all expenses charged to the contingent fund accounts for their portfolio and faculty are timely transferred to the appropriate sponsored award.

Post-Award Fiscal Review and Reconciliation

This position provides administrative support in full at the PHHP college level for post-award research administration. We are looking for a meticulous, critical-thinking team member to train and then independently manage a post-award portfolio, with emphasis on excellent customer support. Post-award activities primarily consist of reviewing award documents for reconciliation and ensuring proper document retention. This position will be learning a high-level review of financial processes at the University of Florida, such as the procurement process, internal purchasing and processing procedures, tuition waivers, salary distributions, as well as the contracting processes to support their faculty and review these charges. The incumbent is expected to handle additional actions like no-cost extensions, budget transfers and navigating UFIRST comfortably.

Pre-Award Administration

While this position is on the post-award team, there will be times when the incumbent will need to learn the proposal process and assist with supplements or additional funding entries into the proposal side of UFirst. While this is a post-award process, it utilizes the routing and portion of the pre-award team and allows for cross-team education and collaboration.

Just in Time and Sponsor Requests

After proposals are set-up, sponsors often come back and request additional documents, budget revisions, and clarifications from the University as to different aspects of the submitted proposal. This includes the Other and Pending Support documents, which summarize the grants that the faculty member is already working on. This position will be responsible for assisting faculty with the management and submission of these documents through the appropriate channels in our office and centralized in the University in collaboration with the pre-award team.

Benefits

The University of Florida (UF) offers an exceptional benefits package, including health, dental and vision insurance; state retirement plans; a generous leave program; and tuition assistance. UF is a Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligible employer. For more information on benefits, please visit UF HR Benefits and Rewards at https://benefits.hr.ufl.edu/.

Expected Salary: $26.34 - $29.69 Per Hour ($55,000 - $62,000 per annum)based on education, skills and experience.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Preferred

• Ability to track, maintain and manipulate data.
• Outstanding customer service capabilities.
• Microsoft Office experience.
• Ability to function under pressure and within tight scheduled deadlines.

Health Assessment Required: No

Applications Close: 24 September 2026

This position is eligible for veteran's preference.

The University of Florida is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

The University of Florida is a public institution and is subject to all requirements under Florida Sunshine and Public Record laws.