Associate Director of Research Administration

Associate Director of Research Administration

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, research administration, public administration, finance, or a related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of research administration experience, with pre- and post-award management expertise.
• Familiarity with federal funding agency policies (e.g., NIH, NSF, DoE, DOD grants & contracts).
• Experience in supervising and training research administrators.
• Strong knowledge of Workday Grants (or similar ERP), federal grant compliance, and university-sponsored programs administration.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams and manage process improvements.

Responsibilities

• Directly supervises CRAs and departmental research administrators, ensuring consistent and effective research administration support.
• Works closely with Deans, Associate Deans, and PIs to monitor and enhance grant support services.
• Develop standardized departmental processes for pre- and post-award administration to be implemented university-wide.
• Oversees the integration of existing departmental research administrators into the new centralized structure.
• Develops and implements an onboarding program for newly hired and transitioning research administrators.
• Ensures that all research administrators complete 12 hours of required training annually, covering proposal development & sponsor guidelines, budgeting & financial management, Workday grants system workflows, and federal compliance & university policies.
• Leads monthly 3-hour research administration meetings, providing updates, training, and addressing concerns raised by administrators and faculty.
• Works with Associate Deans to evaluate CRA and departmental research administrator performance.
• Develops and implements performance metrics for tracking research administration effectiveness across colleges.
• Addresses faculty concerns regarding research administration support and identifies opportunities for process improvement.
• Serves as the primary liaison between CRAs, departmental administrators, Associate Deans, Sponsored Programs Office (SPO), and Research Operations.
• Identifies and resolves issues related to grant setup, payments, budgeting, and compliance.
• Works with HR and Procurement to streamline grant-related hiring and financial workflows.
• Ensures research administrators stay current with federal, state, and institutional policies affecting sponsored programs.
• Provides updates and guidance on changes in grant regulations (e.g., NIH, NSF, DoE, 2 CFR 200).
• Monitors research administration practices to ensure adherence to university and federal compliance requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) or Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA) certification.
• Experience working in an R1 university or large research-intensive institution.