Post Award Administrator

University of Chicago • Hyde Park, IL

8d

About The Position

The Post Award Administrator provides professional support for post-award activities relating to grants and contracts within a department or unit, with moderate guidance and an understanding of University and business drivers. The role provides financial management in an intensive customer service environment for the Department of Pathology and serves as a primary account administrator for faculty portfolios that may include sponsored awards, gifts, and internal funding.

The Biological Sciences Division Research Administration Office (RAO), established in January 2024, centralizes research administrators to provide collaborative, high-quality pre- and post-award support to faculty in participating departments. RAO administrators specialize in either pre-award or post-award work and collaborate to support faculty portfolios throughout the life cycle of proposals and awards.

Requirements

• College or university degree in a related field.
• Two to five years of work experience in a related job discipline.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Ability to work closely with senior University officials.
• Ability to complete projects independently, accurately, and on time with minimal supervision.
• Ability to work non-traditional hours.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, business administration, or science.
• Administrative, accounting, or grant and contract administration experience.
• Experience with budgets, ledgers, invoices, and fiscal reporting.
• Experience with one or more aspects of sponsored program administration in a research environment.
• Experience with accounting systems.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary account administrator for faculty portfolios, which may include sponsored awards, gifts, and internal funding.
• Allocate, authorize, monitor, and control expenses; maintain, oversee, reconcile, and correct account errors.
• Collaborate with other administrators on procurement, including purchasing, internal requisitioning, and personal and travel reimbursements.
• Work with central offices to manage financial and non-financial aspects of post-award grants management.
• Advise and assist with relations and communications involving funding agencies, subcontractors, and others.
• Identify problems, propose solutions, and make corrections in accordance with applicable policies and procedures.
• Compare actual spending with original budgets, identify variances, and pay particular attention to faculty salary.
• Develop working knowledge of University policies and procedures and the policies and procedures of funding agencies.
• Work with the department to manage faculty accounts effectively and ensure appropriate spending.
• Handle straightforward post-award activities, including account creation, regulatory and compliance monitoring, salary allocations, effort reporting, grant projections, cost allocations, cost center charges, equipment inventory, invoice preparation, grant closeout, and account closeout.
• Prepare grant and effort-allocation summaries for Principal Investigators, meet with them, and respond to their questions.
• Coordinate with other departments, units, and divisions on multi-investigator grants.
• Serve as the department contact for annual audits and agency site visits.
• Perform other related work as needed.

Benefits

• The University offers benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off.

What This Job Offers

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