Administrative Officer - Post Award Management, Workday and eRA Commons experience

Vanderbilt University Medical Center • Nashville, TN

6d • Onsite

About The Position

The Administrative Officer - Post Award Management is a member of the Office of Sponsored Programs-Financial Management Support and delivery team (OSP-FMS) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). This role provides essential customer service to the VUMC research community for frontline financial and selected award management activities. Working in a high-volume, deadline-driven, fast-paced, and dynamic team environment, the OSP-FMS is composed of professionals with expertise focused on achieving department and institutional goals. The position requires attention to detail, a strong work ethic, excellent social and communication skills as a team player, and the ability to work collaboratively in a central office environment. OSP-FMS is critical in maintaining the integrity of the research enterprise by ensuring research activities are conducted efficiently and in compliance with all relevant regulations and policies. The individual collaborates with various groups to provide consistent expertise, knowledge, and guidance, fostering continuous improvement and support to the research enterprise. Annually, the OSP-FMS unit supports approximately 1,000 Principal Investigators from over 40 VUMC Departments, Institutes, and Centers, submitting over 4,000 applications and achieving approximately $900M in sponsored awards from over 500 unique external sponsors. This results in the monitoring of an awards portfolio of over 4000 Workday AWDs and 6000 unique grant tags, supporting nearly $800M in grant and contract expenditures.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree
• 3 years of relevant work experience
• Proficient and excellent knowledge of commonly used software packages (i.e., Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe and email programs)
• Extensive knowledge of the federal regulations governing sponsored research (i.e. OMB Uniform Guidance)
• Organized and analytical
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work both as a member of a team and independently
• Demonstrated ability to work under the pressure of hard deadlines and competing priorities
• Commitment to providing professional, efficient, and timely service to the VUMC research community

Nice To Haves

• Advanced knowledge and experience utilizing VUMC and sponsor-specific electronic grants management systems (i.e. NIH eRA Commons, Coeus/PEER/Workday/Aries/Discover-E)
• Ability to identify resources, solve problems and take initiative

Responsibilities

• Act as a subject matter expert for PIs, program managers, research administration staff, and research lab staff.
• Collaborate with the Department of Finance on all post-award activities, ensuring proper oversight and submission of close-outs and other post-award requirements.
• Work with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) pre-award grant administration team to support and address issues related to grant and contract submissions.
• Ensure effective cost management to meet both current and future needs.
• Responsible for the daily fiscal management of research awards and sponsored funds for an assigned portfolio, as well as the operational oversight of post-award processes, including effort reporting, financial reporting, and project close-outs.
• Work in partnership with the Department of Finance team to conduct analyses of center deficit/surplus corrections, grant closeouts, year-end closings, invoices, and other financial activities.
• Review, create, and optimize Workday financial reports for dissemination.
• Authorize Workday transactions pertaining to grants, and core activities including effort changes, purchases, accounting adjustments, journal entries.
• Collaborate with the department on the annual research budget.
• In collaboration with team lead, establish and update financial controls and reporting systems in the research enterprise whenever possible.
• Monitor quarterly effort certification processes in partnership with faculty PI’s and the Effort Certification and Allocation team.
• Support faculty and staff by monitoring compliance including managing end dates and effort changes.
• Address and respond to inquiries from the department, Department of Finance (DOF), Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and external agencies.
• Ensure adherence to institutional policies and federal regulations (e.g., foreign travel, Export Control, subaward monitoring, IRB, IACUC, IT and procurement, etc.).
• Ensure accurate and timely documentation of research activities, funding, and compliance.
• Aid in prioritizing tasks to effectively fulfill research administration responsibilities.
• Provide mentoring and training to team and support to faculty and staff in managing awards and other research administration activities.
• Promote self-professional development opportunities.
• Facilitate achievement of research aims and objectives by supporting the PIs and their teams in all facets of their research projects/programs.
• Assist the research team, including faculty, postdocs, trainees, and research staff, by providing instruction, guidance, coordination, communication, and problem-solving support.
• Address issues and questions from faculty members and staff, continually enhancing research program operations alongside team lead.
• Cultivate collaborative relationships regarding research matters with internal and external stakeholders: faculty, staff, VU, VA, and sponsors.
• Maintain regular communication with principal investigators (PIs) regarding research portfolios and team effort distribution.
• Conduct meetings with faculty to review financial reports and effort distributions, trends, and projections.
• Optimize Workday and other research system processes and enhance reporting capabilities by addressing and resolving a wide range of issues, delays, and inquiries.
• Manage, respond, and complete reporting requests from internal and external customers regarding research programs.
• Produce reports and analyses to aid in decision-making and strategic planning.

Benefits

• health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level