Senior Grant Administrator, Mass General Brigham AI Center

Mass General Brigham•Boston, MA

1d•$85,800 - $115,721•Onsite

About The Position

Mass General Brigham AI is the bridge between academic research and product development—a center composed of clinicians, data scientists, product managers, technical project managers, and software engineers that translates research and innovation into clinical practice. The center houses end-to-end product development infrastructure, including world-class compute capabilities, and its portfolio spans AI/ML-enabled solutions across diagnostics, hospital operations, and specialty services. Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. This center sits at an unusual intersection. It carries the sponsored-research obligations of an academic institution—federal grants, foundation awards, and subawards across MGH, BWH, and external collaborators—alongside the commercial-facing dynamics of a product organization, including industry co-development agreements, licensing relationships through MGB Innovation, milestone-based contracts, and AI/ML compute cost structures. The finance and grants function for this center therefore requires someone who can operate fluently in both worlds. The Senior Grants Administrator is a combined leadership role responsible for the full financial lifecycle of the AI Center—operating budget management, multi-year forecasting, and financial reporting—together with end-to-end administration of the center’s sponsored research portfolio across both pre-award and post-award phases. This individual serves as the senior financial and grants authority within the center, the primary liaison to MGB central Research Management, Finance, and Innovation, and a trusted advisor to the center’s leadership, principal investigators, and program managers. The role blends two distinct skill sets that are typically split across separate positions at peer institutions. Combining them is deliberate: a center of this scale and complexity benefits from a single accountable owner who understands how a grant budget, a department operating budget, an industry contract, and a compute-cost line all interact. The position is intended to function with significant autonomy and is expected to achieve and maintain Institutional Signing Authority.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree
At least 5-7 years of progressively responsible experience spanning both research grants administration and financial management, in an academic medical center, university, research institute, or comparable environment.
Demonstrated mastery of both pre-award and post-award grant administration, including budget development, sponsor compliance, and financial reporting.
Working knowledge of federal and non-federal sponsor regulations, including Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), and federal sponsor systems.
Strong operating-budget, forecasting, and financial-modeling experience; advanced proficiency in Excel and comfort with large, complex financial datasets.
Proven ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, resolve problems, and produce consistent, high-quality work with minimal supervision.
Excellent written and verbal communication and the interpersonal skills to advise faculty, PIs, and senior leadership.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience working within the Mass General Brigham system is highly desirable.
Master’s degree (MBA, MPH, or related) and/or professional certification such as CRA (Certified Research Administrator) or CPA.
Eligibility for, or prior attainment of, Institutional Signing Authority.
Experience administering industry-sponsored research agreements, subawards, and milestone-based contracts.
Familiarity with MGB systems (Insight, Workday/PeopleSoft financials) or equivalent enterprise research and financial platforms.
Exposure to AI/ML, technology, or data-science cost structures (compute, cloud, data licensing).
Experience supporting technology transfer, commercialization, or innovation-adjacent research environments.

Responsibilities

Full financial lifecycle of the AI Center—operating budget management, multi-year forecasting, and financial reporting
End-to-end administration of the center’s sponsored research portfolio across both pre-award and post-award phases
Serve as the senior financial and grants authority within the center
Primary liaison to MGB central Research Management, Finance, and Innovation
Trusted advisor to the center’s leadership, principal investigators, and program managers