Research Development Manager

UNC-Chapel Hill•Chapel Hill, NC

About The Position

UNC Chapel Hill’s (UNC CH) research expenditures exceeded $1.6B in 2025, ranking seventh among the nation’s public universities. Research efforts at UNC CH span a vast array of disciplines and continue to increase in scale and quality through collaboration across academic boundaries and by partnerships with diverse groups across the US and around the world. This approach reflects UNC CH’s longstanding emphasis on a culture of interdisciplinary scholarship between and among the arts and humanities, the basic and applied physical sciences, and health science research. The Office of Research Development, an office within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR), seeks a dynamic and highly motivated individual for the position of Research Development Manager to support UNC CH’s growing research enterprise. The Research Development Manager advances ORD’s efforts to help UNC Chapel Hill compete for large and complex external funding opportunities. The position works across schools, departments, centers, and institutes to understand UNC’s research strengths, identify strategic funding opportunities, and connect faculty investigators with the collaborators, sponsor information, and proposal development resources needed to pursue major awards. This role guides proposal efforts from early concept development through submission, coordinating multidisciplinary teams and working with departmental pre-award personnel, ORD colleagues, and sponsor contacts to shape competitive applications. The position contributes to proposal strategy, technical writing and editing, alignment of internal Strategic Research Areas with external funding priorities, and development of proposal resources that help research teams respond effectively to sponsor expectations. The position also contributes to ORD’s broader research development work by engaging with external partners, guiding internally funded teams and early-career researchers as they pursue extramural funding, and communicating timely funding intelligence to campus stakeholders through targeted opportunity notices, agency updates, newsletters, and related materials.

Requirements

Ability to communicate effectively in both writing and orally, inside and outside the University.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in research development and / or research administration.
The ideal candidate will be a scientist that has supported grant submissions and/or has obtained his/her own grant funding.
Able to develop strong scientific understanding of different types of research being conducted at UNC -Chapel Hill.
Welcomes new responsibilities.
Organized and detail oriented.
A publication record is expected but not required.

Responsibilities

Advance ORD’s efforts to help UNC Chapel Hill compete for large and complex external funding opportunities.
Work across schools, departments, centers, and institutes to understand UNC’s research strengths and identify strategic funding opportunities.
Connect faculty investigators with collaborators, sponsor information, and proposal development resources needed to pursue major awards.
Guide proposal efforts from early concept development through submission, coordinating multidisciplinary teams.
Work with departmental pre-award personnel, ORD colleagues, and sponsor contacts to shape competitive applications.
Contribute to proposal strategy, technical writing and editing, and alignment of internal Strategic Research Areas with external funding priorities.
Develop proposal resources that help research teams respond effectively to sponsor expectations.
Engage with external partners.
Guide internally funded teams and early-career researchers as they pursue extramural funding.
Communicate timely funding intelligence to campus stakeholders through targeted opportunity notices, agency updates, newsletters, and related materials.