Associate Director of Research Administration - Proposal and Contracting Services at Colorado School of Mines

Job description

Engineering a world of possibilities The Colorado School of Mines is a public R1 research university focused on applied science and engineering, producing talent, knowledge and solutions to service industry and benefit society. Mines has a strong reputation and celebrates high rankings due to its STEM-focused education and research results. The Office of Finance, Administration and Operations (FA&O) provides critical support to the mission and forward-thinking strategic initiatives while managing $325 million in operating activity, stewarding $1 billion in assets, and supporting 1400 faculty and staff. Mines facilitates over $100 million annually in sponsored project awards and over $500 million in proposals. The Office of Research Administration (ORA) reports up through FA&O and is responsible for ensuring federal, state and university compliance and streamlined business processes for the campus research community. The Associate Director for Proposal and Contracting services (Assoc Director), reports directly to the Senior Director of Business Services & Research Administration and provides oversight for the proposal and contracting functions within ORA. The Associate Director is a key member of the research team and serves as a resource to faculty and administrators in the administration of sponsored research. This position is responsible for ensuring that business processes and practices are effectively and efficiently deployed to provide the highest level of service to the research community. The Associate Director will collaborate and interact with many internal and external constituencies including campus administration and academic departments, other higher education institutions, governmental agencies, and the public. The Associate Director will implement and maintain processes and systems and subsequent enhancements, along with maintaining data integrity of the University’s research information. They will provide training and outreach services, develop and maintain policies and procedures, and ensue elite customer service and communications for the research community. Colorado School of Mines provides dedicated professional development and training. Onboarding for this position includes training on policies and procedures, and technical training opportunities for systems and technology required for this role. This position may be hybrid in Colorado and requires a majority of the time (3 day per week minimum) with on-campus presence. PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES Leadership and Mentorship Management of the Pre-Award team; currently this includes the Proposal Analyst and Sponsored Project Contracts teams. This includes all supervisory functions such as hiring, conducting performance reviews; resolving personnel concerns. Determine work prioritization by evaluating deadlines, complexity of the work load, and available resources. To facilitate these functions, this position will build standard and ad hoc reports to provide performance metric data. Resolve complex questions or issues that arise independently of or in conjunction with the ORA Director. Develop and maintain a highly skilled and engaged ORA Pre-Award team, fostering a service-oriented team environment with measurable results. Hire and develop an agile team who can face new challenges, respond to ad hoc requests, meet deadlines, and produce high quality work. Ensure performance plans include role-based professional development goals for progression within the team and campus. Ensure the development and maintenance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all Pre-Award functions. Policy, Compliance, and Training Provide expertise and consultation related to regulatory and policy issues of research projects to ORA staff, department administrators and faculty. Remain knowledgeable about current federal regulations, pending changes, Federal Acquisition Regulations and basic Cost Accounting Standards. Develop policy and processes that comply with federal regulations,