Grants and Contracts Manager/Specialist at UW in Seattle, WA

Job description

Job Description The Department of Mechanical Engineering has an outstanding opportunity for a Grants and Contracts Manager/Specialist to join their team. About this Opportunity Reporting to the Department Administrator, the Grants and Contracts Manager/Specialist oversees the Department of Mechanical Engineering's grants and contracts portfolio, including the financial management and reporting of grants, contracts, and subawards. Faculty in the department submit approximately 10 to 15 proposals each month, and the department currently manages more than 400 research budget worktags. This position provides comprehensive administrative oversight and day-to-day management of research activities, ensuring operational efficiency and compliance while supporting faculty, students, and staff. The Grants and Contracts Manager/Specialist serves as a key liaison with sponsor agencies, University of Washington investigators, and directors and researchers at domestic and international partner organizations. By facilitating effective research administration, this position supports the department's mission of advancing innovative research, enables the success of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and research staff, and contributes to discoveries that improve and benefit society. Key Responsibilities Pre-Award Management (30%) • Manage preparation and submission of all competitive and non-competitive grant proposals for submission to granting agencies, including multi-university and multi-department proposals. • Develop complex budgets and other administrative sections of grant and contract proposals and prepare non-engineering portions of grants and both incoming and outgoing research sub-awards, applying appropriate stewardship of available funding streams. • Monitor, review, communicate, integrate, and implement complex federal, state, foundation, and University regulations and policies into ME’s grants and contracts to ensure compliance. • Provide technical advice and interpretation of governmental and foundation regulations as well as University policies and procedures to Principal Investigators (PIs), researchers, chair, administrator, related support staff, and third parties. • Facilitate timely adherence to sponsor deadlines such as proposal deadlines, progress report deadlines, and requesting extensions, supplements, or revisions as needed. Deliver required components related to administration and operations aspects in a timely manner and ensure that other teams are informed of relevant deadlines and requirements. Interface with the University Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), Grants and Contracts Accounting (GCA), funding agencies (NIH, NSF, DOD, foundations, etc.) as well as academic offices. Prepare and route electronic and paper forms to resolve related questions. • Oversee and complete grant transfers from other institutions to ME as necessary. • Provide training and orientation to faculty and staff concerning pre-award and post-award management. • Facilitate the review and processing of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Intellectual Property (IP) agreements related to research awards and purchases. Post-Award Management (30%) • Independently manage multiple sponsored projects assuring that all transactions are allowable, allocable, and reasonable. • Assure compliance with non-IRB related policies and procedures at the UW and sponsors. • Authorize actions by central university offices and ME in matters concerning the establishment and continuation of grant, contract, and research sub-awards. • Ensure grant, contract and research sub-award agreements are executed in a timely manner, by regularly monitoring status and communicating with appropriate internal and external administrative offices. Implement, monitor, and manage budgets. • Work through the administrative details of research sub-awards with various institutions domestically and internationally. Facilitate sub-award set up within the UW to ensure timely invoi