Research Development Coordinator

The University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Psychology invites applications for a Research Development Coordinator on UT Main Campus. This 3-year fixed-term role supports growth of the department's research enterprise, coordinating proposal development, funding opportunities, and training grant administration.

You will work with faculty, the Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist, and campus partners to strengthen external funding competitiveness.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, higher education administration, research administration, communications, social sciences, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience coordinating or administering a program.
• Experience coordinating projects, programs, grants administration activities, academic operations, or other complex administrative functions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience preparing professional correspondence, reports, presentations, spreadsheets, and other administrative documentation.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively and build effective working relationships with faculty, staff, students, and external partners.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Responsibilities

• Proposal development and coordination. Assist faculty and research teams with proposal preparation logistics, internal timelines, required materials, and sponsor requirement tracking, in coordination with the Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist.
• Research development administration. Conduct proactive, department-wide identification, tracking, and organization of funding opportunities aligned with departmental research priorities and disseminate opportunities to faculty through funding announcements and other routine research communications.
• Research metrics, reporting, and information management. Collect, organize, and maintain research metrics, proposal information, initiative activity, reporting materials, and data needed for department, research initiative, COLA, and OVPR requests.
• Training program and accreditation support. Provide administrative support for T32 training grant submissions and administration, including annual progress reports, trainee appointment documentation, data collection, and timeline management. Support APA and PCSAS accreditation documentation, data collection, reporting, and compliance records.
• Faculty and internal stakeholder coordination. Coordinate with faculty, research staff, departmental leadership, the Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist, COLA, OVPR, and other campus partners to support timely, organized, and compliant research development activities.
• Other duties as assigned

Skills

Project coordination

Grants administration

Stakeholder coordination

Communication skills

Excel/Office proficiency

Data reporting

Education

Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, higher education administration, research administration, communications, social sciences, or related field

Tools

UTRMS/Cayuse/Grants.gov experience

Job description

General Notes

The Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin is home to internationally recognized research programs spanning brain and behavioral science, cognitive science, developmental science, clinical psychology, social neuroscience, quantitative methods, and related interdisciplinary fields. This position supports the department's growing research enterprise, including emerging large-scale collaborative initiatives. The successful candidate will work closely with faculty, researchers, trainees, and campus partners to strengthen proposal competitiveness, research development activities, training programs, and strategic research initiatives across the department.

Job Posting Title

Research Development Coordinator

Hiring Department

Department of Psychology

Position Open To

All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled Hours

40

FLSA Status

Exempt from FLSA

Earliest Start Date

Immediately

Position Duration

Expected to Continue Until Sep 30, 2029

Location

UT MAIN CAMPUS

Job Details

General Notes

The Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin is home to internationally recognized research programs spanning brain and behavioral science, cognitive science, developmental science, clinical psychology, social neuroscience, quantitative methods, and related interdisciplinary fields. This position supports the department's growing research enterprise, including emerging large-scale collaborative initiatives. The successful candidate will work closely with faculty, researchers, trainees, and campus partners to strengthen proposal competitiveness, research development activities, training programs, and strategic research initiatives across the department.

This is a 3-year fixed-term position.

• The university offers an impressive benefits package. For more details on benefits, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards.
• For more information about the College of Liberal Arts, please visit: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/.
• Our college seeks to build a supportive, growth-minded community and cultivate outstanding and courageous leaders. For more information on the college staff leadership academy, please visit: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/resources-for-faculty-staff/staff-leadership-academy/.
• For more information on college staff professional development, please visit: https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/larc/Staff+Professional+Development+Fund.

Purpose

The Department of Psychology seeks a highly organized, detail-oriented, and collaborative Research Development Coordinator to support the growth of the department's research enterprise. Working closely with faculty, the department's Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist, and campus partners, this position coordinates proposal development activities, identifies and disseminates funding opportunities, supports training grant and accreditation administration, and manages the research metrics and reporting that advance major research initiatives. The successful candidate will play a key role in helping faculty compete for external funding and in building the administrative infrastructure for innovative, interdisciplinary research programs.

Responsibilities

• Proposal development and coordination. Assist faculty and research teams with proposal preparation logistics, internal timelines, required materials, and sponsor requirement tracking, in coordination with the Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist. Collect and organize proposal components from investigators and collaborators. Maintain the department's proposal calendar, tracking systems, and documentation for multi-PI, center-level, training grant, and initiative-related proposals, with submission deadlines and pipeline management overseen by the Grants & Contracts Specialist.
• Research development administration. Conduct proactive, department-wide identification, tracking, and organization of funding opportunities aligned with departmental research priorities and disseminate opportunities to faculty through funding announcements and other routine research communications. Coordinate administrative elements of proposals, assist with research development meetings and events, planning materials, and follow-up communications.
• Research metrics, reporting, and information management. Collect, organize, and maintain research metrics, proposal information, initiative activity, reporting materials, and data needed for department, research initiative, COLA, and OVPR requests. Prepare spreadsheets, reports, correspondence, and presentation materials related to research development activity.
• Training program and accreditation support. Provide administrative support for T32 training grant submissions and administration, including annual progress reports, trainee appointment documentation, data collection, and timeline management. Support APA and PCSAS accreditation documentation, data collection, reporting, and compliance records.
• Faculty and internal stakeholder coordination. Coordinate with faculty, research staff, departmental leadership, the Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist, COLA, OVPR, and other campus partners to support timely, organized, and compliant research development activities. Provide support during peak proposal and reporting periods, including assistance with funded and non-funded agreements (e.g., DUAs), Just-In-Time documentation, and other sponsor-required materials, as needed.
• Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, higher education administration, research administration, communications, social sciences, or a related field.
• At least 3 years of experience coordinating or administering a program.
• Experience coordinating projects, programs, research initiatives, grants administration activities, academic operations, or other complex administrative functions.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple competing priorities, tracking deadlines, maintaining accurate records, and coordinating activities across multiple stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience preparing professional correspondence, reports, presentations, spreadsheets, and other administrative or project documentation.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively and build effective working relationships with faculty, staff, students, and external partners.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a research-intensive academic department, center, institute, or university setting.
• Familiarity with pre-award research administration processes, including proposal preparation, sponsor guidelines, budget development, internal review, and submission coordination.
• Experience supporting institutional training grants, fellowship programs, accreditation activities, or research reporting requirements.
• Working knowledge of sponsored research regulations, sponsor requirements, and research compliance practices, including federal funding agencies such as NIH and NSF.
• Experience using electronic research administration systems and proposal submission platforms, such as UTRMS, Cayuse, Grants.gov, or Research.gov.

Salary Range

$50,000

Working Conditions

• Typical office environment.
• Work is performed primarily at a computer and may involve extended periods of sitting, keyboarding, and reviewing detailed written or electronic materials.
• Occasional extended work hours may be required to support proposal deadlines, reporting timelines, training grant deadlines, or high-priority departmental research initiatives.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Employment Eligibility

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

Retirement Plan Eligibility

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

Background Checks

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Pay Transparency

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

Employment Eligibility Verification

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

E-Verify

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

Compliance

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) and other regulations. If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.