Operations Coordinator Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Experience in research operations, project management, finance, or a related administrative field.
• A foundation in financial monitoring, reconciliation, procurement, and personnel funding or payroll costing.
• Organizational and analytical skills, including the ability to prioritize multiple workflows, recognize dependencies, and carry work through to completion independently and collaboratively.
• Ability to communicate effectively in writing and conversation, translate complex requirements into practical guidance, and navigate competing priorities with diplomacy, discretion, and emotional intelligence.
• Ability to collaborate with stakeholders who may have different or competing priorities.
• Position must be performed fully on-site in Charlottesville, Virginia.
• Candidates must not require immigration sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in an academic research environment.
• Familiarity with federal and private or foundation research funding.
• Experience with Workday or a comparable enterprise financial system.
• Familiarity with laboratory operations.

Responsibilities

• Maintain an understanding of research portfolio timelines, funding commitments, personnel needs, milestones, and operational dependencies.
• Coordinate departmental operations across the grant lifecycle with research administration staff, including project kickoff, implementation, funding changes, approvals, renewals, and closeout.
• Anticipate the effects of grants and renewals on staffing, teaching commitments, budgets, effort allocation, and departmental resources.
• Track deadlines and handoffs across UVA offices, resolve gaps and delays, and elevate matters requiring specialized expertise or leadership decisions, including compliance concerns.
• Work with post-award administrators to review grant expenditures, reconciliations, balances, and spending rates, support grant fund spend-down, and anticipate project commitments.
• Coordinate personnel funding, including summer salary, graduate student support, payroll costing, and funding-source changes.
• Support effort allocation and certification by coordinating information and resolving questions with appropriate partners.
• Manage or coordinate financial research transactions, including equipment purchasing and fabrication, service purchase orders, consulting agreements, invoices, and fixed-asset tracking, in accordance with applicable UVA and sponsor policies.
• Coordinate departmental approvals for subaward matters, including invoice review and approval, in collaboration with the research administration team.
• Serve as a departmental contact for research operations and liaison with the A&S research administration team on operational questions and research-related issues throughout the grant lifecycle.
• Translate financial information, requirements, and institutional processes into clear guidance and actionable next steps.
• Facilitate solutions across faculty, staff, and administrative offices, communicating proactively about deadlines, risks, and decisions.
• Manage a substantial volume of work accurately, responsively, and with consistent follow-through.
• Improve workflows, tracking tools, and documentation in collaboration with College partners to strengthen coordination and make research operations easier to navigate.

Benefits

• Benefits are offered; specific benefits are not detailed in the posting.