Research Administration Specialist

The Commonwealth of Virginia is seeking a highly skilled Grants and Contracts Administrator to join our team in the College of Education and Human Development. As a member of the Dean's Office Research Administration team, this position will provide pre-award and post-award division level support to faculty and staff in an assigned portfolio of units.

• Assist with the preparation of materials for proposal packages and post-award management tasks, including processing of financial and human resources transactions, preparation of monthly billing reports, and reconciliation of grant funds.
• Support internal SEED grants and other duties as assigned by the supervisor, ensuring that all pre-award and post-award activities of the divisions, centers, institutes, and college adhere to all federal, state, university, and sponsor policies, procedures, guidelines, and regulations.
• Work proactively to ensure all grant-funded personnel transactions are handled in an accurate and timely manner, and work closely with the CEHD ORA & HR teammates to ensure all approvals and paperwork are on share drive to support all transactions processed.
• Prepare required documentation, coordinate the collection of required information, and process requests for grant-funded purchases, consultant agreements, hotel contracts, service agreements, travel requests, honorariums, participant support stipends, supplies and materials, catering/food & beverage, wire transfers, research subject payments, tuition waivers, fellowships, scholarships, journal vouchers, etc., for approval in systems such as eVA, Banner, and the Mason Finance Gateway.
• Ensure all grant-funded p-card transactions are reconciled and approved by university monthly deadline.
• Assist with maintaining electronic filing systems for awarded grants, including approved budgets, justifications, and fully executed subcontractor agreements.
• Reconcile monthly expenditures for assigned grants to ensure all personnel and direct expenditure charges are correct and that all required source documentation and approvals are on file.
• Work with supervisor to forecast expenditures for internal budget reports, budget amendments, and sponsor-required financial reporting requests.
• Assist supervisor with keeping CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration apprised of all correspondence, expenditures, budget balances, potential compliance issues, and all pre-award and post-award requests.
• Also assist with resolving a variety of grants issues and the preparation of other sponsor requests.
• Provide support for post-award management tasks, including preparing VADoE monthly detailed billing reports with required cost codes, rebudget justifications, and detailed expenditure descriptions in an accurate and timely manner for supervisor review/approval and submission to OSP Billing Specialist for OMEGA system billing to VADoE each month.
• Work closely with supervisor to ensure all requests that require sponsor approval are submitted to the CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration for review and final approval in an accurate and timely manner so final requests can be submitted to the sponsor for consideration by preferred/required due dates.
• Assist with additional sponsor-required financial reporting requests for student support, cost-share match, annual performance reports, and financial updates required by other universities when GMU is in a subaward role.
• Work closely with the supervisor to assist with the management of the subaward process for all awards, prepare subaward modifications, and provide CEHD ORA teammates with the information and supplementary documentation needed to coordinate requests with OSP Contracts team, subaward partners, and the prime agency when additional prior approvals are needed.
• Also assist supervisor with determining remaining expenditure commitments and funds available for Carryover and No Cost Extension requests and collect any other required documentation needed to process requests.
• Assist new and established Principal Investigators in understanding sponsored project requirements, university/agency fiscal policies and procedures, and work with Principal Investigators, supervisor, and teammates on the development of proposal budgets, collection of required proposal documentation, preparation of cost accounting exemption waiver documents, cost-share requests, and any other supplementary sponsor/agency-specific proposal documentation needed for the accurate and timely submission of proposals.
• Attend new award meetings and monthly/quarterly/biannual grant meetings with PIs and research support team, monthly CEHD ORA team meetings, Division/Center meetings, FSCN meetings, and any other meetings as requested by the supervisor or the CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration.
• Also attend training provided by Mason and external organizations and contribute to CEHD Office of Research Administration website, and CEHD Research Administration policy, procedure, and other resource development initiatives.
• Back up other teammates as needed and handle other duties as assigned by the supervisor and CEHD Senior Director of Research Administration in partnership with the assigned Divisions, Centers, Institutes, and units.

• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Demonstrated experience working in research or grants administration, accounting, finance, and/or business administration or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated ability to research, investigate, analyze, and interpret proposal, award, and fiscal compliance requirements.
• Applicable knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles and fiscal business practices, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 2 CFR 200 Uniform Guidance, grant proposal preparation, agency/sponsor-specific guidelines, and a basic understanding of the type of research, training, outreach, and science being performed within our unit.
• Excellent organizational skills, clear and effective communication skills (verbal and non-verbal), strong analytical skills, high attention to detail, diplomacy, process improvement, and desire to achieve high outcomes, problem-solving.
• Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, Internet skills, and search tools.
• Effectively manage multiple priorities, work calmly under pressure with a sustained level of accuracy and productivity.
• Demonstrated teamwork and initiative.
• Desire to learn and excel.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with peers and faculty and must be able to work independently and autonomously as well as collaboratively in a group or structured setting.
• Must be experienced and comfortable reviewing proposal and award guidelines, interpreting federal, state, university, and sponsor-specific guidelines, policies, and procedures, and working with multiple PIs.
• Must also possess effective time management skills and be a quick learner to a variety of electronic systems used in this position.
• A strong focus on customer service, time management, teamwork, professionalism, accuracy, and attention to detail is essential.

• Bachelor's degree in a related field, prefer a 4-year college degree, or equivalent combination of education and experience, with demonstrated experience working in a university setting to support externally funded research activities.
• Applicable knowledge of George Mason policies and procedures as it relates to fiscal services, purchasing, travel, human resources, sponsored programs, and research administration.
• GMU applications such as Banner, Patriot Web, Workflow, Microstrategy, etc.
• CEHD Summer salary system, proposal and award databases, and other systems as assigned.