Grants Manager

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The NSF SECURE Center has an outstanding opportunity for a Grants Manager to join their team. The Grants Manager acts as an administrative and collaborative grants manager for the NSF-funded Safeguarding the Entire Community in the U.S. Research Ecosystem (SECURE) Center, a unit within the College of Engineering (CoE) Collaboration Core (CCore). This role encompasses a broad range of complex business, administrative, research, financial, and operational responsibilities. The Grants Manager will provide comprehensive research administration support to the NSF SECURE Center, including a wide array of pre- and post-award grant, finance and administrative tasks, subaward management, consulting on agreements and contracts, and other essential research administration functions. The SECURE Center operates as a dynamic, evolving center with long-term self-sustaining goals, embedded within a complex and highly regulated ecosystem of sponsors; University of Washington (UW), federal, state, and industry. This position requires the ability to design and implement systems, workflows, and processes while balancing multiple priorities, navigating ambiguity, and meeting tight deadlines. It involves prioritizing essential tasks with short lead times and ensuring the successful submission of proposals, modifications, and other award actions by applying independent judgment in interpreting and adhering to all sponsor, University of Washington (UW), federal, state, and industry policies, rules, and regulations. The role demands a deep understanding of and the ability to interpret complex requirements, as well as the capability to prioritize and manage updates from sponsors effectively. Additionally, it requires the management and administration of multiple research awards, including the development of budgets and budget justifications based on project needs, research methodologies, and funding parameters. This role also involves handling budget revisions and securing continued funding across various complex budgets, including state, federal, university/industry cooperative agreements, contracts, subcontracts, and university sub-budgets. The Collaboration Core holds significant visibility within the College, UW, academia, and the local and global high-tech business community. Ensuring the smooth and high-level functioning of its administrative operations is crucial to the success of the Collaboration Core and the SECURE Center. The SECURE Center will stand as a highly visible NSF center and national leader in research security.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Science, Social Science or other related academic discipline, or any equivalent combination of education/professional experience.
Four years of experience in administration and/or fiscal management
High level of professionalism, organization, scrupulous attention to detail, and the ability to manage workload, manage deadlines, prioritize effectively, and work as part of a team.
Ability to exercise independent judgment and work independently to resolve problems.
Flexibility and willingness to work under pressure of frequent deadlines and changing priorities in a high-volume academic setting.
Experience establishing new processes and/or independently managing administrative or financial processes.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Ability to work collaboratively and independently with a high degree of reliability, accuracy, and productivity
Demonstrated experience mentoring and/or training employees
Demonstrated ability to form productive working relationships with students, staff and faculty from diverse backgrounds
Strong organizational and problem-solving skills; administrative creativity and strong initiative.
Experience managing a team, working in an academic institution, working with faculty across departments or in an interdisciplinary unit.
Knowledge of UW systems, processes, and procedures (particularly Workday)

Responsibilities

Provide pre-award support for sponsored awards, including eGC1 preparation, sponsor platform submissions (Research.gov, Grants.gov, etc.), and preparation of supporting materials (Biosketches, Current & Pending, Collaborations, and Other Affiliations, etc.).
Establish timelines to meet sponsor and UW due dates, instruct researchers on specific proposal requirements, and coordinate the preparation of documentation.
Provide advice and interpretation of funding agency regulations and UW policies to Principal Investigators and project personnel.
Ensure compliance with federal, state, and UW policies, procedures, and regulations, including human subject and animal research requirements.
Provide post-award support for sponsored award; including monitoring faculty and staff effort and payroll distributions, coordinating the purchasing equipment, supplies and services, budget creation and close-out.
Create award set up requests (ASRs) and modifications (MODs) in the System to Administer Grants Electronically (SAGE).
Respond to OSP generated ASRs and create corresponding SAGE budget.
Prepare accounting journal requests and reverse expenditures documents to be sent to the Engineering Shared Environment (ESE).
Facilitate timely adherence to sponsor deadlines for proposals, progress reports, and other requests.
Facilitate the review and processing of non-award agreements related to research awards and purchases.
Manage and administer multiple, complex budgets and subawards, including state, federal, university/industry cooperatives, industry contracts, and subcontracts.
Interface with UW units, funding agencies, and subcontractors to handle invoices, supplements, extensions, and fiscal reports.
Use Employee Compensation Compliance (ECC) to monitor faculty and staff effort on grants and contracts.
Submit payroll accounting adjustments (PAA) as needed.
Adjust and advise during ECC reporting period.
Oversee, review, and advise on all effort and cost sharing reporting ensuring sponsor and UW compliance.
Provide high-level operations management for the NSF SECURE Center leadership, spearheading special projects and enhancing processes, communications, and materials.
Oversee financial reporting, including budget conception, planning, coordination, implementation, and financial forecasting.
Serve as a liaison between the NSF SECURE Center and the Engineering Shared Environment (ESE) for Workday Finance related requests.
Submit request forms, tickets, and correspondence through UW Connect Finance.
Monitor, approve, track, and reconcile expenditures on budgets.
Make and approve requisitions, applying financial management and cost accounting standards.
Hold a UW Procurement Card (ProCard).
Serve as the fiscal contact for gifts, events, matching, sponsorships, and new budgets.
Monitor commitments and progress toward milestones, prepare regular reports, and make recommendations.
Ensure all activities comply with state, federal, and University policies and procedures.
Attend related UW meetings such as MRAM and GCA Forum, and other workshops or symposia related to research administration.
Attend Collaboration Core grants management and finance team meetings.
Attend College of Engineering Grant Administration Network in Engineering (GANE) meetings.
Serve on ad hoc event teams to support sponsor site visits, annual meetings, and/or related events.
Other duties as assigned.
Provide dynamic grant and program management for the NSF SECURE Center.