Contract Manager, Research Administration at Colorado School of Mines

Job description

Engineering a world of possibilities The Research & Sponsored Contracts Manager (Manager) will represent The Office of Research Administration in a wide range of activities, committees, and meetings. They will collaborate and interact with many internal and external constituencies including campus administration and academic departments, other higher education institutions, governmental agencies (e.g. Office of Navel Research, Department of Defense, and The Department of Energy), and industry partners. They must be able to maintain high customer service levels while meeting strict deadlines. In this leadership role, the Manager must engage in effective collaboration, become a trusted partner with the university community, and engage campus as appropriate. This position requires critical thinking in various analysis to apply regulatory interpretation to research and sponsored activity. They will be responsible for independently compiling, analyzing, and presenting contract data. In addition, they will be required to work with campus constituents, including faculty and staff to manage research and sponsored activity and must have the ability to provide effective communication of regulatory information for a broad audience. This is a managerial position responsible for the management of research, other sponsored, and intellectual property agreements through ORA and provides leadership to the Research & Sponsored Contracts team. This position is a key member of the Research Administration team and serves as a resource to faculty and a liaison for Mines and sponsoring research organizations. Each Contract Administrator, including the Manager, is assigned its own academic portfolio and works directly with those faculty to complete all sponsored research requirements. The Manager will serve as a lead resource to faculty and administrators in the administration of all sponsored research, specifically in interpreting and negotiating sponsored projects and intellectual property agreements. This position requires critical thinking skills to review and interpret terms and conditions, policies and procedures, sponsor expectations and is responsible for determining that agreements are ready for execution. This position may be hybrid, and requires a majority of their time (3 day per week minimum) with on-campus presence in Golden, Colorado. 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. PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES Leadership and Development Provide leadership the Research & Sponsored Contract unit, 4-8 Full Time Employees, with the authority to hire, evaluate performance, and resolve personnel concerns Develop and maintain a highly skilled and engaged team through managing the organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities of the team Develop and maintain an inclusive and respectful work environment with a team capable of working through new challenges, responsive to ad hoc requests, able to meet important deadlines, and is highly accountable for accuracy in their work product Ensure high quality, elite customer advising services to the campus community and implement service metrics and feedback reporting. Ensure performance plans include role-based professional development goals to drive exceptional quality work products Develop performance-based metrics and ensure robust feedback loops between manager and employees are regularly utilized and documented Foster a culture of professional development and continuous improvement within the staff. Shift the department’s perception from a "bottleneck" to a "solution provider" by streamlining support and user-facing resources Determine work prioritization by evaluating workloads, deadlines, complexity of the work load, School policy and staff resources. To facilitate these functions, this position w