Grants and Contracts Manager (7510)

About the Department/Unit

AU’s School of Communication (SOC) welcomes applicants to join its creative and dynamic team of professionals.  We know that teams perform best when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. Our community is committed to the mission of engaging the most pressing issues of our time through teaching, scholarship, and professional experiences in communication and media in Washington and beyond. Faculty are leaders in their fields, contributing scholarly, creative and professional work in communication studies, film and media arts, journalism, and public communication.

We're looking for an early career research administrator looking to grow their skills and portfolio working in partnership with SOC's dynamic faculty and academic centers. Find out more about the innovative and exciting things happening, and the changemakers who make SOC a great place to be, at https://www.american.edu/soc/.

Summary/Objective

The Grants & Contracts Manager manages the School’s externally-funded portfolio of grants and contracts. In consultation with the Assistant Dean, SOC center and program staff, and faculty Principle Investigators (PIs), assists with the pre-award preparation of externally-funded grant proposals, contracts and budgets, as well as the post-award administration of grant and contract agreements. Post award responsibilities include providing technical assistance with budget analysis and expenditures for centers and PIs, providing authorization for SOC grants and contracts expenditures, ensuring compliance with sponsor’s agreements and reporting deadlines. The manager provides reports and analyzes external funding trends and projections for the School’s Dean’s Office and communicates best practices and funding opportunities to the SOC community. The manager organizes necessary internal trainings for constituents and creates and refines tools, forms and workflow for pre- and post-award processes within the School. Often serves as SOC representative at university research funding roundtables. The manager assists the Assistant Dean and Dean with post-contractual administration of select externally funded strategic opportunities. This position is the liaison with AU Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Grants & Contracts Accounting (GCA), SOC center staff, SOC faculty researchers, university central units (e.g., Accounts Payable, Procurement & Contracts, Human Resources, General Counsel), and counterparts in other academic units to process proposals, contracts and awards and to help resolve external funding-related issues

Essential Functions

1. Post-award grants and contracts management: Administer complex grants and contracts to ensure adherence to terms and conditions and budget. Approval grant and contract expenditures with input from appropriate stakeholders. Periodically reviews financial reports with PIs and/or appropriate staff to ensure expenditure accuracy and identify budget modifications or discrepancies.  Assists with preparation of contracts and subcontract documents. Seeks agreement amendments and changes when necessary with the PIs, external sponsors and the Office of Sponsored (OSP). Assists Assistant Dean and faculty with interpretation of policies, procedures and contractual instruments. Assures compliance with all relevant University rules, regulations, policies and procedures, in conjunction with OSP, GCA, Development, PCD, etc. Provides information and justification response to audit and budget questions from Controller’s Office, with input from stakeholders.
2. Pre-award grants and contracts review: Provides technical assistance in review of external proposals and internal grant budget creation and translation, checking for accuracy and making sure appropriate resources being committed and that all. Advise the SOC Dean’s Office, Sr. Associate Deans and Assistant Dean, Budget, PIs and program staff on budget and resource management issues, as related to restricted & gift funding.
3. Training & Communication: Organizes internal trainings on topics relevant to external funding and award administration for SOC constituents. Coordinates relevant trainings for PIs and program staff, as needed. Communicates external funding policy changes, funding tips and opportunities to SOC faculty and staff. Serves as SOC representative at university external funding roundtables and convenings.
4. Reporting & award tracking: Tracks School’s proposals, awards, and SOC cost share and time and effort commitments. Generates necessary reports and projections and provides analysis of data and trends for the Dean’s Office.
5. Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to support the strategic goals of the unit.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• Full Time 
• Coordinator/Analyst A
• Exempt
• This is a union-eligible position.

Salary Range

• $55,000-$65,000/year

Required Education and Experience

• The position requires a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of grant, program and/or budget administration experience.
• Experience with Microsoft Suite (Excel, Word, etc), database, and familiarity with accounting software is required.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Experience with Microsoft Suite (Excel, Word, etc), database, and familiarity with Colleague and BI systems experience is a plus.
• Datatel and BI systems experience is a plus.
• Grant writing experience is highly desirable.
• Grantwriting experience is highly desirable.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Successful candidates must be comfortable with reading budgets and basic accounting principles.
• Must be able to work independently to problem solve complex issues. 
• Attention to detail and ability to multitask and meet deadlines are required.
• Excellent verbal, written, analytical, and interpersonal skills are required.
• Professionalism and discretion in dealing with confidential information is necessary. 
• Hiring offers for this position are contingent on successful completion of a background check.
• To ensure the health and safety of our community AU requires COVID-19 vaccinations for faculty and staff. Click here to learn more about our health and safety directive.