Senior Post Award Administrator

Senior Post Award Administrator

About Northeastern:
Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and the recognized leader in experience-driven lifelong learning. Our world-renowned experiential approach empowers our students, faculty, alumni, and partners to create impact far beyond the confines of discipline, degree, and campus.

Our locations—in Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; London; Portland, Maine; San Francisco; Seattle; Silicon Valley; Toronto; Vancouver; and the Massachusetts communities of Burlington and Nahant—are nodes in our growing global university system. Through this network, we expand opportunities for flexible, student-centered learning and collaborative, solutions-focused research.

Northeastern's comprehensive array of undergraduate and graduate programs— in a variety of on-campus and online formats—lead to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Among these, we offer more than 195 multi-discipline majors and degrees designed to prepare students for purposeful lives and careers.

About the Opportunity:
Northeastern University's Research Enterprise Services (NU-RES) Hub seeks to hire talented, experienced, agile research administrators dedicated to supporting investigators secure and manage their extramurally-funded sponsored activities. NU-RES provides leadership and expertise to faculty, investigators, and administrators, supporting the research and sponsored programs portfolios of the University and its affiliated research institutes.

The Hub, a shared administrative and business service unit operating within Northeastern's central sponsored programs office (NU-RES), assists faculty and research investigators across the University's global research network by providing department-level administrative support. The Hub serves as a critical researcher-NU-RES interface and directly supports faculty throughout the proposal-award life cycle. Team members of the Hub provide direct assistance to faculty and research investigators; cross-function support to Hub and NU-RES team members; and work closely with all units reporting to the Senior Vice Provost for Research.

Responsibilities:
Reporting to the Associate Director, Research Finance, the Senior Post Award Administrator position is a unique, central-level position providing college and department-level financial research administration services to Principal Investigators while collaborating with the central research finance office. As such, the Senior Post Award Administrator serves as a subject-matter expert, pivoting between multiple college and departmental units and liaising across multiple departments to maximize efficiencies and ensure holistic support to Principal Investigators. This position collaborates significantly with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including, but not limited to, faculty, college administrators, internal and external research administrators, and finance personnel. Exceptional service-mindedness and the ability to perform with tact, diplomacy, and discretion are essential.

Northeastern University, a dynamic, innovative, and entrepreneurial University with a diverse, complex, and growing award portfolio, is committed to inclusion and diversity; and hiring and developing personnel who enjoy working in a high-performing culture that rewards excellence. In addition, Northeastern is a global university, and NU-RES supports its team working remotely. Remote locations and work schedules are determined based on operational needs and consultation with NU-RES team members, consistent with University policies and guidelines.

To learn more about Northeastern's unique academic environment and generous benefits, please see http://www.northeastern.edu/hrm/.

Core responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• scheduling and attending routine meetings with PIs to review account activities and projections
  
• processing financial and effort-related transactions; reviewing expenditures for compliance
  
• monitoring account balances; providing monthly or ad hoc financial reports to PIs and departments
  
• coordinating cost-share; requesting award extensions; supporting financial reporting and award closeout activities
  
• liaising with various internal and external constituents and college or department administrators to maximize efficiencies, address areas of overlap between research and non-research activity to prevent gaps or duplications, and ensure coverage of all aspects of post-award financial research administration responsibilities
  
• participating in and providing training to faculty, staff, or others on best practices related to post-award financial research administration
  
• serving as a key contributor in meetings, process improvement working groups, and other committees as needed to establish best practices, understand and improve operational efficiencies related to post-award research administration
  
  Qualifications:
  Essential skills for the Sr. Post Award Administrator position include interpersonal, communication, organizational, time management, problem-solving, decision making, collaboration, presentation, and customer service. This position requires flexibility and agility, often pivoting between central and non-central roles or between multiple projects and tasks rapidly to meet deadlines. Additionally, the Sr. Post Award Administrator must be resourceful and learn various systems and applications with a willingness to support organizational and operational changes as a part of ongoing process improvement initiatives. Tolerance for and the ability to work with varying levels of ambiguity is essential.
  
  A Culture of Service:
  The Sr. Post Award Administrator works with a broad range of constituents, providing direct support to Principal Investigators, and coordinating or liaising with internal and external colleagues to include the NU-RES Hub, Research Finance, colleges, departments, and others. The Sr. Post Award Administrator must keep abreast of federal and sponsor regulations and be willing and able to train others on applying these regulations. The ability to create and maintain a culture of service, accountability, and timeliness is essential.
  
  Compliance and Stewardship:
  This role must treat effective compliance as an equal priority, stay abreast of sponsor rules, regulations, and policy changes, as well as institutional best practices in research administration and finance. The Sr. Post Award Administrator will participate in sponsored research initiatives and projects as assigned and lead the adoption of best practices to promote continuous improvement, ensuring the highest quality standards in performance individually and as part of a team.
  
  Qualifications:
  
• Bachelor's degree or 4-6 years relevant work experience required
  
• Research administration experience required, CRA or CFRA highly desired
  
• Financial analysis experience, with familiarity with GAAP, Uniform Guidance, or other regulations
  
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with exceptional attention to detail
  
• Advanced Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) skills
  
• Able to independently learn and utilize a variety of systems, applications, and resources
  
• Service-mindedness with proven customer service skills
  
• Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills
  
• Demonstrated ability to interact with tact and diplomacy with constituents at all levels of an organization
  
• Able to create and deliver presentations and training to a diverse audience via virtual platforms
  
• Must be able to work effectively both independently and in a team-oriented environment
  This position requires the candidate to have high-speed internet and other utilities to facilitate connectivity as a fully remote position. Additionally, as this position supports personnel and processes for the Boston campus and within the eastern time zone (EDT/EST), this position may require flexibility in scheduling accordingly to meet deadlines, provide service, or attend meetings or training.
  
  Salary Grade:
  Salary commensurate with experience.
  
  Additional Information:
  Northeastern is a global university and NU-RES supports its team working remotely. Remote locations and work schedules are determined based on operational needs and in consultation with Team members, consistent with University policies and guidance.
  
  Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.
  
  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
  
  To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.
  
  
  To apply, visit https://careers.pageuppeople.com/879/cw/en-us/job/508701
  
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