Pre and Post Award Research Grants Administrator

Vitalief • New Brunswick, NJ

2d • $80,000 - $110,000 • Remote

About The Position

Vitalief is seeking an experienced Pre- and Post-Award Research Grants Administrator to join their team as a full-time, fully benefited Vitalief employee. This position is 100% remote. The Grants Administrator will support a major statewide clinical research initiative for their client, a leading academic medical center in New Jersey. The Grants Administrator will manage and coordinate a portfolio of research, engineering, and education-related grants across the full pre- and post-award lifecycle. This role will work closely with Principal Investigators, institutional leadership, and cross-functional teams including Research Administration, Finance, Sponsored Programs, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, Data, Operations, and external collaborators.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in life sciences, public health, healthcare administration, business, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in grants administration, managing research, engineering, and/or education-related grants across the full pre and post-award lifecycle and coordinating effectively with Principal Investigators, institutional leadership, Finance, Sponsored Programs, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, Data, Operations, and external collaborators.
• Experience managing high-volume pre and post-award grants, preferably within an academic medical center, university, healthcare system, or research consortium.
• Strong understanding of the full research grant lifecycle, including proposal development, submission, award setup, budgeting, compliance, reporting, subawards, and closeout.
• Experience working with federal, state, nonprofit, and/or for-profit funding agencies, including NIH, DARPA, and other federal research sponsors.
• Experience with grant submission and research administration platforms such as Grants.gov, NIH eRA Commons/ASSIST, Research.gov, DARPA submission systems, NSPIRES (NASA), NJ SAGE, and/or ProposalCentral.
• Experience working closely with Principal Investigators and multidisciplinary research teams.
• Strong knowledge of grant budgeting, financial monitoring, forecasting, and sponsored research compliance.
• Experience coordinating multiple stakeholders, workstreams, deadlines, and deliverables in a matrixed environment.
• Excellent communication, organization, problem-solving, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to influence and drive accountability across teams without direct authority.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with multi-institutional research, subrecipients, or external collaborators is preferred.
• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) certification is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Review and coordinate grant and contract proposals for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements.
• Assist Principal Investigators and research teams with proposal development, budgets, justifications, required forms, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate multi-investigator and multi-institutional proposals and ensure submissions meet internal and sponsor deadlines.
• Submit proposals through institutional systems and sponsor portals and maintain accurate submission records.
• Serve as a liaison between sponsors and Principal Investigators regarding questions and requirements before award issuance.
• Coordinate award setup, budget management, financial monitoring, reporting, subawards, and closeout activities.
• Monitor budgets and expenditures, assist with forecasting, and identify and resolve financial or compliance issues.
• Prepare and submit Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) and other required progress reports.
• Coordinate sponsor prior-approval requests, including no-cost extensions, budget changes, changes in scope or PI, and carryforward requests.
• Ensure compliance with sponsor terms, institutional policies, and applicable federal and state requirements.
• Serve as a central point of contact for assigned grant portfolios and coordinate activities across faculty, research administration, Finance, Contracts, Regulatory/IRB, Data, Operations, and external collaborators.
• Track project deliverables, milestones, deadlines, dependencies, and sponsor requirements.
• Identify and proactively address risks, gaps, issues, and potential delays.
• Coordinate meetings, action items, communications, and follow-up across multiple workstreams.
• Provide regular project and portfolio status updates to leadership.
• Maintain comprehensive and organized project documentation to support continuity and knowledge transfer.
• Maintain accurate grant, award, personnel, budget, and milestone information within institutional research administration systems.
• Support system enhancements, user acceptance testing, and process improvement initiatives.

Benefits

• 20 PTO days
• 9 paid holidays
• company-paid life insurance
• short- and long-term disability coverage
• a 401(k) retirement plan
• comprehensive healthcare benefits

What This Job Offers

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