Senior Research Administrative Associate

University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Paid time off

Retirement plan

Tuition assistance

Job summary

University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering is seeking a Senior Administrative Associate for Research at the Texas Materials Institute (TMI) on UT's Main Campus in Austin. This role provides comprehensive research administration, financial, and business operations support for sponsored projects.

The position involves proposal submissions, award administration, financial monitoring, purchasing, travel management, and compliance, collaborating with PIs, departmental staff, OSP,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree with at least three years of experience in administrative support, business operations, financial administration, research administration, accounting, or a related area.
• High School Diploma or GED with at least seven years of experience.
• Experience performing complex administrative and financial functions including budget monitoring, financial transactions, purchasing, payments, reimbursements, or account reconciliation.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and detailed administrative processes with a high level of accuracy.
• Strong organizational, analytical, problem-solving, and follow-through skills.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with faculty, staff, students, vendors, and University offices.
• Ability to interpret and apply policies, procedures, guidelines, and financial information.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Outlook, and Word.
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, take initiative, and appropriately prioritize competing responsibilities.
• Ability to work collaboratively with others and provide dependable administrative support in a fast-paced research environment.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and appropriately handle sensitive personnel, financial, and research information.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with TMI core faculty members to coordinate and support sponsored research proposal submissions.
• Assist with proposal preparation, administrative documentation, budgets and supporting materials; coordinate institutional routing and approvals; and communicate with faculty, departmental administrators, central research administration offices (OSP or DTI), sponsors, and collaborating institutions as necessary.
• Support grant extensions, amendments, grant agreements, and other award-related administrative actions while ensuring required documentation and deadlines are met.
• Provide ongoing administrative management of sponsored research awards throughout the grant lifecycle.
• Monitor award periods, account activity, balances, expenditures, funding availability, and administrative deadlines.
• Identify account-management issues and work with faculty and OSP / DTI to facilitate timely resolution.
• Assist faculty with grant extensions, funding changes, account transitions, and award closeout activities.
• Prepare and distribute monthly grant financial reports for TMI core faculty members via emails and Box folders.
• Review grant balances, expenditures, commitments, personnel (GRA/Postdoc/URA) and tuition costs, project periods, and other relevant financial information.
• Provide faculty with clear and timely information regarding the financial status of their research accounts and assist with follow-up actions or corrections when discrepancies or funding concerns are identified.
• Provide purchasing and payment support for TMI core faculty research groups.
• Process and coordinate purchase requests, vendor payments, invoices, reimbursements, and related documentation in accordance with university policies and funding requirements.
• Communicate with faculty, research personnel, vendors, procurement staff, and accounting offices to resolve purchasing and payment issues.
• Process GRA Tuition TRB at the beginning of each semester.
• Manage ProCard transactions and supporting documentation for assigned research groups, including transaction review, receipt collection, reconciliation, and follow-up.
• Maintain organized administrative and financial records and provide additional research administration and operational support as needed to ensure timely and effective service to TMI faculty and research programs.
• Coordinate research-related travel for TMI core faculty members and research-group personnel.
• Process travel authorizations, reservations, reimbursements, and supporting documentation; review requests for compliance with university and applicable funding requirements; and assist travelers with resolving travel-related administrative issues.

Skills

Budget monitoring

Multitasking

Excel

Office software

Education

Bachelor's degree + 3 years experience

High School Diploma + 7 years experience

Tools

UT Austin systems

Job description

University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering is seeking a Senior Administrative Associate for Research at the Texas Materials Institute (TMI) on UT's Main Campus in Austin. This role provides comprehensive research administration, financial, and business operations support for sponsored projects.

The position involves proposal submissions, award administration, financial monitoring, purchasing, travel management, and compliance, collaborating with PIs, departmental staff, OSP,