Post Award Administrator

Department

BSD ADM - Post Award - Team B

About the Department

The Biological Sciences Division Research Administration Office (RAO) was established in January 2024. The goal of RAO is to provide a centralized team of research administrators from the BSD who can work together collaboratively, access shared resources, and provide high quality pre- and post-award support to faculty from the participating departments. The RAO leadership team also provides general research administrative support across the division including hosting monthly meetings to disseminate institutional and agency updates, providing regular reports, and hosting drop in hours for questions and discussion of pre- and post-award activities. To ensure pre- and post-award activity of faculty is fully supported, RAO is built on a model of having separate administrators who specialize in pre- and post-award administration. The teams work in synergy to support each faculty member’s portfolio throughout the life cycle of each proposal and award.

Job Summary

The job provides professional support for pre-award and/or post-award activities relating to grant and contract proposals and funding within a department or unit. Pre-award activities include research, preparing applications, and editing proposals. Post-award activities include compliance monitoring, payment processing, and salary allocations. Performs work with moderate guidance and utilizes knowledge of University and business drivers.
The Post-Award Administrator provides professional support for post-award activities relating to grant and contract proposals and funding within a department or unit. Pre-award activities include research, preparing applications, and editing proposals. Post-award activities include compliance monitoring, payment processing, and salary allocations. Performs work with moderate guidance and utilizes knowledge of University and business drivers. The Post-Award Administrator provides financial management in an intensive customer service environment for the Department of Pathology.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a primary account administrator for faculty.  Portfolio may include sponsored awards, gifts, internal funding.
• Allocates, authorizes, monitors, and controls expenses.
• Maintains, oversees, reconciles, and corrects errors in accounts.
• Works with other administrators on the procurement process including purchasing, internal requisitioning, and personal and travel reimbursements.
• Works with central office to manage financial and non-financial aspects of post-award grants management.
• Advises and assists in most relations and communications with funding agencies, subcontractors, and others.
• Proposes solutions to discovered problems and fixes according to proper policy and procedure.
• Compares actual spending to original budget and identifies any variances with particular attention being paid to faculty salary.
• Develops a working knowledge of University policies and procedures as well as a working knowledge of policies and procedures of various funding agencies.
• Works closely with the department to effectively manage faculty accounts and ensure proper spending.
• Handles straightforward post-award activities including account creations, regulatory and compliance monitoring, salary allocations, effort reporting, grant projections, cost allocations, cost center charges, equipment inventory, invoice preparation, grant closing process, and account closing.
• Prepares summaries of grants and effort allocations for Principal Investigators, meets with them and responds to their questions. Coordinates with other departments/units/divisions regarding multi investigator grants. Serves as department contact for annual audits and agency site visits.
• Performs other related work as needed. 

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, business administration, or science.

Experience:

• Administrative, accounting, or grant and contract administration experience.
• Budgets, ledgers, invoices, and fiscal reporting.

• One or more aspects of sponsored program administration in a research environment.

• Accounting systems.

Preferred Competencies

• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Work closely with senior University officials.
• Independently complete projects on time and accurately with minimal supervision.

Working Conditions

• Work non-traditional hours.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)

• Cover Letter (required)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.
When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Financial Management

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

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FLSA Status

Exempt

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Pay Range

$75,000.00 - $100,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

 

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All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history.  A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment.  Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

 

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