Assistant Director of Post-Award Research Administration Operations

Rice University • Houston, TX

6h • $97,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Post-Award Research Administration Operations provides school-level leadership, supervision, and high-level technical expertise for post-award research administration operations across the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing. Housed in the Dean’s Office and reporting to the Director of Research Administration, this position serves as a centralized post-award expert and directly supervises Research Administrators embedded within SOEC departments. This role designs, implements, and monitors workflows that promote consistency, accuracy, compliance, and faculty-centered service across the school’s sponsored research portfolio. While departments retain responsibility for local research administration operations, the Assistant Director strengthens coordination, clarifies expectations, supports the escalation of complex post-award issues, and helps remove administrative barriers for faculty and departments. The Assistant Director supervises, mentors, trains, and evaluates post-award staff; strengthens internal competencies; and cultivates a collaborative, high-performing research administration team. The position also evaluates post-award fiscal practices, identifies opportunities for workflow optimization and operational improvement, and supports strong internal controls related to financial monitoring, expenditure review, projections, cost sharing, reporting, and closeout coordination. Working closely with departmental leadership, faculty, central research administration, finance, payroll, and other institutional offices, this role serves as a liaison and escalation resource for complex post-award matters. The ideal candidate will be a self-directed and highly credible post-award professional who can build trust across departments, exercise sound judgment and discretion, and lead through both formal supervisory authority and collaborative influence.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience, above and beyond what is required, may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.)
• 4+ years of significant post-award research administration experience in a higher education, academic research, or similarly complex sponsored-project environment.
• Superior knowledge of research administration guidelines, regulations, and policies.
• Exceptional business management, leadership, coaching, and supervisory skills.
• Exceptional analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust and credibility across departments, faculty, staff, and central administrative offices.
• Demonstrated ability to develop workflows, document procedures, support training, and improve administrative processes.

Nice To Haves

• 6+ years of significant post-award research administration experience in a higher education, academic research, or similarly complex sponsored-project environment.
• Demonstrated experience supervising, coaching, mentoring, and evaluating research administration staff, with a focus on strengthening performance through training, constructive guidance, and clear expectations.
• Experience working across distributed teams or departments, with a demonstrated ability to build credibility, exercise sound judgment, and support consistent practices in a collaborative environment.
• Experience serving as a resource to faculty, administrators, and research administration staff on complex post-award and sponsored project administration matters.
• Experience developing or improving workflows, procedures, training materials, internal controls, or operational practices that support process standardization and service improvement across decentralized administrative units.

Responsibilities

• Provides school-level leadership, supervision, and high-level technical expertise for post-award research administration operations across SOEC.
• Directly supervises Research Administrators embedded within SOEC departments, including coaching, mentoring, training, performance feedback, workload awareness, and evaluation.
• Serves as a resource to faculty, departmental leadership, Research Administrators, and school leadership on complex post-award and sponsored project administration matters.
• Supports the development, implementation, and monitoring of school-level post-award workflows, procedures, tools, and expectations to promote consistency, accuracy, compliance, and faculty-centered service.
• Provides training and technical guidance to research administration staff on post-award activities, sponsor requirements, institutional procedures, financial monitoring, documentation standards, and compliance expectations.
• Interprets award documents, sponsor requirements, and institutional policies to support compliant and effective post-award administration.
• Advises faculty, staff, administrators, and school leadership on post-award matters, including allowable costs, budget management, financial projections, cost sharing, effort-related processes, reporting needs, and award closeout.
• Reviews, monitors, and provides guidance on sponsored project expenditures, including high-value or high-risk transactions, cost transfers, over- and underspending, cost-sharing commitments, and allocation of charges.
• Supports account setup coordination, award management, financial monitoring, projections, reporting, and closeout activities in partnership with departmental staff and central offices.
• Identifies operational gaps, compliance risks, training needs, and opportunities for workflow optimization, service improvement, and stronger internal controls.
• Serves as a liaison and escalation resource among faculty, departmental leadership, central research administration, finance, payroll, and other institutional offices to resolve complex post-award issues.
• Coordinates with central offices to support audit inquiries, closeout analysis, sponsor reporting needs, and resolution of complex financial or administrative matters.
• Promotes a collaborative, inclusive, high-performing research administration team and a service culture grounded in integrity, accuracy, responsiveness, and compliance.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• 401k
• Paid holidays
• Professional development

What This Job Offers

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