Pre-Award Grants Specialist II

Iowa State University•Ames, IA
•Onsite

About The Position

Thrive in a dynamic environment where you can manage a variety of projects while playing a key role in advancing impactful research in renewable resources, food, energy, bioproducts, and associated services? Are you looking for a role that offers variety, challenge, and the opportunity to contribute to the success of cutting-edge research? If so, the Bioeconomy Institute (BEI) at Iowa State University is hiring a Pre-Award Grants Specialist II position! This position will manage all outgoing proposal activity for the institute, coordinating many simultaneous submissions with a variety of internal/external faculty, staff, departments, collaborators, & agencies. Proposals may vary significantly in size and complexity, ranging from small, single-PI submissions to multi-million-dollar transdisciplinary research efforts. This position will be classified as a Grants Specialist II.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree and 2 years of related experience
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to work independently and manage competing priorities while meeting deadlines
  • Strong attention to detail
  • Effective time management
  • Adaptability
  • Ability to perform successfully in both high-volume and low-volume work environments
  • Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship. Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.

Nice To Haves

  • Experience supporting proposal development activities, including preparation, coordination, review, and submission of grant or sponsored project proposals.
  • Experience developing, reviewing, or managing budgets related to grants, contracts, sponsored projects, or other complex funding sources.
  • Experience working directly with faculty, researchers, principal investigators, industry contacts, or research support staff in a higher education, government, or research setting.
  • Certified Research Administrator (CRA), Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA), or related professional certification; or active progress toward obtaining certification.
  • Knowledge of Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), federal sponsor regulations, and/or policies and procedures related to sponsored funding administration.

Responsibilities

  • Represent the Bioeconomy Institute as a first point of contact for all new proposal efforts, liaising between ISU Principal Investigators (PIs) & collaborators and other ISU departments.
  • Provide services tailored to each proposal team, based on PI experience, communication style and preferences.
  • Prepare and revise budgets and budget justifications for large, complex research proposals.
  • Proposal routing in coordination with the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration.
  • Develop action-item focused timelines and checklists of required documentation.
  • Collect, draft, and distribute templates; prepare forms and attachments for submission.
  • Pre-submission, financial and administrative (non-technical) review of application package for completeness.
  • Proposal file uploads and final submission to a variety of federal and non-federal web portals.
  • Work with BEI administration to market pre-award services to new and existing internal customers.
  • Contribute to process improvement and assist institute administration and post-award counterpart during annual reviews and as needed, providing proposal statistics and trends.
  • Locate and/or review funding opportunities aligned with institute priorities, disseminate to institute affiliates.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health and work-life benefits, including medical and dental
  • Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
  • Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
  • Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
  • Life insurance and long-term disability
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Various voluntary benefits and discounts
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Wellbeing program
  • WorkFlex options for some positions
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