About the Department:

The Chief Business Officer team within the CEC Office of the Dean facilitates the planning and implementation of the unit’s financial and operational vision as it relates to the full range of business functions and activities for the college to include finance, research administration, human resources, operations, and information technology. The CBO is accountable for and provides overall leadership, supervision, management, and coordination of these functions, as well as provides oversight for the development of implementation of policies and procedures to achieve desired outcomes. The CBO team maintains relationships with central administration and other university departments, as well as other units’ CBO teams, to facilitate these outcomes.

The Research Administration team, within the CBO team, supports faculty with proposal submissions as well as financial management and compliance of their research grants and contracts in an efficient manner, provided with a customer-service focus. The college recently added pre-award responsibilities, as part of a university effort to enhance the research administration infrastructure across the campus. As part of this new initiative, applicants will have the opportunity to help develop and influence the pre-award process at the college level.

The College of Engineering and Computing has experienced rapid growth in its research portfolio over the past five years with expenditures totaling over $65M in 2023 and has projects with over $120 million in current awards with almost 300 active awards. Our proposal activity is approaching 400 submissions annually. The CEC research portfolio presents a fantastic opportunity for applicants to provide research administration in a growth environment.

George Mason University provides outstanding benefits to employees, including, but not limited to, a generous number of holidays and tuition remission. More information is available at https://hr.gmu.edu/benefits/

About the Position:

The Manager, Pre-Award Research Administration leads and supervises all staff performing pre-award activities for the sponsored research portfolio for the College of Engineering and Computing. The Manager is expected to provide high-quality customer service to faculty members conducting sponsored research, and ensure adherence to quality standards and all policies and award regulations. The Manager is expected to perform some pre-award activities in support of the unit, as well as provide management for the Pre-Award team.

Responsibilities:

Management and Oversight of Pre-Award Staff Oversees, Evaluates, and Reviews Staff Performing Pre-Award Activities to include:

• Supervises the day-to-day operations of a team of Pre-Award Administrators;
• Monitors workload distribution and redistributes tasks, as appropriate;
• Provides guidance to team members, as appropriate;
• Assists with establishing and deploying training for the CEC Pre-Award team;
• Ensures quality in all staff activities;
• Ensures strong levels of customer service to faculty, departments, and centers being served; and
• Completes required performance evaluations, addresses performance issues in a timely manner, and escalates to supervisor as necessary.

Management and Oversight of Pre-Award Process for the College:

• Monitors and facilitates proposal process through the routing process in compliance with University procedures and institutional signatures;
• Completes departmental review of CEC proposals and works with Pre-Award Administrators to resolve any issues prior to submission to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP);
• Develops, implements, and maintains pre-award policies and procedures for the college ensuring compliance with overall University policies;
• Serves as backup to Pre-Award Administrators when necessary to ensure CEC is able to meet proposal workload and timely submissions;
• Assists Pre-Award Administrators with complex issues or proposals as necessary; and
• Provides reporting on pre-award performance as necessary.

CEC Liaison with University and External Research Administration Teams and Organizations to include:

• Works in partnership with the Office of Sponsored Programs to ensure all pre-award activities are completed in accordance with University policies and procedures, as well as resolves any issues with proposal submissions;
• Partners with the Office of Research Integrity and Assurance (ORIA);
• Works with Post-Award team lead to coordinate inter-team meetings to facilitate collaboration between the Pre-Award and Post-Award teams, as necessary and appropriate;
• Confers with PI and Pre-Award support staff at collaborating institutions to secure necessary subaward documents for proposals; and
• Serves on university committees as necessary such as the OSP Advisory Group.

Performs other duties as necessary in support of the CEC Sponsored Research portfolio including supporting the needs of the Director of Research Administration, Chief Business Officer, and Associate Dean for Research.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field, or the equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Experience in Sponsored Programs Administration;
• Experience with creation and submission of research proposals and working with stakeholders on revisions as needed;
• Experience with supervision of a team;
• Knowledge of federal rules and regulations relating to research grant and/or contract activity;
• Fundamental interpersonal skills in a professional environment;
• Proficient in the use of computers with a solid working knowledge of MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint);
• Skill in providing effective customer service;
• Demonstrated ability to analyze data and sponsor guidelines and formulate conclusions; and learn changing technologies related to grants and contracts management; and
• Demonstrated ability to proactively resolve issues in a timely manner; and to work effectively under pressure and meet deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in related field;
• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) certification or Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA) certification;
• Extensive experience in Sponsored Programs Administration;
• Previous management experience of research administration teams; and
• Knowledge of University and College policies and procedures relating to grant and contracts activity; and University and College processes, systems, and offices related to and/or involved in grant and contract submission and management.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for the Manager, Pre-Award Research Administration at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a cover letter and resume for review.

Posting Open Date:  December 18, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  January 31, 2025

Open Until Filled?:  Yes