Contracts and Grants Manager

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

Updated: 5 days ago
Location: Chapel Hill, NORTH CAROLINA
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 26 Apr 2024

Posting Information
Posting Information


Department Arts and Sciences Deans Office-300100
Career Area Accounting/Finance/Auditing
Posting Open Date 04/12/2024
Application Deadline 04/26/2024
Open Until Filled No
Position Type Permanent Staff (EHRA NF)
Working Title Contracts and Grants Manager
Appointment Type EHRA Non-Faculty
Position Number 20062007, 20062008
Vacancy ID NF0008049
Full Time/Part Time Full-Time Permanent
FTE 1
Hours per week 40
Position Location North Carolina, US
Hiring Range Dependent upon qualifications and experience
Proposed Start Date 06/03/2024

Position Information


Be a Tar Heel!
A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation’s top public universities . Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.
One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.
University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package , paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.
Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit
The College of Arts & Sciences is the largest academic unit within the University and consists of about 71 units, including centers, programs, institutional support and 42 academic departments and interdisciplinary curricula, which offer both undergraduate bachelor’s degrees and graduate-level masters and PhD degrees. The College is divided into four academic divisions: Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education oversees all academic student support units, including but not limited to Academic Advising, Honors, and the Academic Success Center. The Senior Associate Dean for Research & Innovation drives strategic planning and provides guidance across the academic divisions and research programs, fostering new models of innovation, new initiatives and new collaborations. The Office of the Dean is responsible for all of the academic, academic student support, financial and administrative operations in the College of Arts & Sciences.
The College of Arts & Sciences Business Operations Office is housed in the Office of the Dean and supports the fiscal and human resources operations of the departments, curricula, and programs by consolidating their business operations into one center. The Business Operations Office enables transparency of operations and information, creating a more responsive organization that utilizes online systems and automation to streamline processes. It consistently applies policies, ensuring compliance to UNC, State, and Federal regulations and laws.
Within the Business Operations’ Accounting Department, grant and research administration support is provided for the non- Big 5 Departments (Biology, Chemistry, Math, English and Psychology). The Big 5 Departments have their own grant and research administration units, which are given autonomy from the Business Operations Office due to the specificity of field, the number and value amounts of grants and other third-party funding handled by their faculty.
For the smaller departments and centers, each may or may not have their own grant and research staff based upon the complexity and loss impact of the grants. These departments with their own field representatives will be handling their own research administration, however unlike the Big 5 Departments, any system financial transactions must be approved by Business Operations.
The Business Operations’ Accounting Division is ultimately accountable for any consequence of error with process and monies with the smaller departments and centers. Also, the group is recognized as the College’s principal grant and research administration experts, thereby providing a wide breadth of general and specific research funding information, UNC computer system, process, and policy counsel to ALL grant and research administrators (even Big 5 staff if they need assistance) throughout the College. At this time, the Accounting Division primarily provides post-award administration support. These services include faculty/staff consulting, sponsors/OSR coordination, purchasing, account reconciliation, and reporting.
Recently, trends reflect that more grant and research administration work is being transferred to the Accounting Division from the smaller departments and centers in order to keep operational costs down and retain a more efficient process and controls with less compliance liability. Overall grant and research administration work is expected to have exponential growth as a result of the Chancellor’s Research initiative.
Position Summary
This position may be eligible for a hybrid work arrangement that may include a partially remote work location, consistent with System Office policy. UNC Chapel Hill employees are generally required to reside within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned duty station.
The Contracts and Grants Manager has responsibility for providing team leadership, direction, guidance, and leadership for the day-to-day fiscal management and research administration activities of assigned Departments, Centers and Institutes within the College of Arts & Sciences. This position will lead a financial support team comprised of at least (2) full-time equivalents. This team must be highly responsive to the assigned units that they serve, but also a variety of other units within the College of Arts & Sciences. The Contracts and Grants Manager is the hub of a complex network that must be highly flexible and respond rapidly, and without error, in fulfilling opportunities for research funding, in providing accurate and timely financial reports and projections, and in completing the financial obligations for sponsored projects.
The Contracts and Grants Manager will be the primary source of training and instruction to various levels of team members, in addition to participating units for the research proposals, projects, and other non-sponsored financial aspects. The Contracts and Grants Manager will be the subject matter expert for pre-award and post-award business processes and will be familiar with a variety of funding sources and mechanisms. The position must be able to advise sub-recipients on policies and procedures for developing and administering contracts and grants. The Contracts and Grants Manager will also assist with conducting training and instructions for this group of participating sites to ensure compliance with the new sub-recipient monitoring guidance from the Office of Budget and Management.
The Contracts and Grants Manager will participate in financial protocol development, policies and procedures, pre-audit procedures and protocol adherence as it relates directly to the obligations of the units. The Contracts and Grants Manager will assist with providing technical assistance to collaborating institutions; participate in strategic decision-making and constituency communications activities. This involves analyses of staffing, equipment implications, and time/cost allocations. This will also require the Contracts and Grants Manager to be aware of research issues and schedules, particularly primary data collection efforts nationally and internationally, data management and analysis techniques that have financial implications for the provision of support services to researchers. The Contracts and Grants Manager must ensure that all work has a high level of accuracy. Errors resulting in failure to exercise required accuracy would have a financial impact on the assigned units ability to make informed funding and budgeting decisions. As a result, the Business Officer will not only oversee the various pre-award, post-award, and financial activities, they will also play an active role in these functions to provide support to the staff and the units within the College of Arts & Sciences Research Support Team.
Minimum Education and Experience Requirements
Mid- to late-career with Masters and 2- 4 yrs experience; Bachelors and 3-5 yrs experience
Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience
It is necessary for the candidate to demonstrate the following:
1. Knowledge and experience working with pre-award and post-award financial management.
2. Extensive experience with calculating payroll and forecasting.
3. Thorough understanding of how to interpret regulations and guidelines from a wide variety of funding agencies and ability to use the funding mechanism required by those agencies.
4. Extensive experience with creating spreadsheets and developing formulas in Excel.
5. Excellent interpersonal, supervision and communication skills.
6. Proficient using Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access.
7. Must be highly organized and be able to complete tasks in a timely manner.
8. Must be able to function independently with a high degree of autonomy, accuracy, efficiency, and timeliness.
9. Multi-tasking while maintaining accuracy required.
Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience
1. Extensive experience with financial management of Proposals, Grants, State, F&A, Trust, and other Sponsored fund types at an academic organization.
2. Extensive experience with UNC-CH Systems: CAYUSE, RAMSeS, Connect Carolina/PeopleSoft, and Infoporte.
3. Certified Research Administrator (CRA), Certified Financial Research Administrator (CFRA), and/or Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator (CPRA) credentials.
4. Bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration, or related business area; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
5. Experience with State, F&A, Trust, Sponsored, and other fund types.
6. Experience with financial and pre-/post-award management workflow tools.
7. Experience managing funds and awards for multiple principal investigators across multiple units.
8. Experience with shadow accounting.
9. Experience with electronic personnel salary source management.
10. Experience managing or providing work direction to peers and clients/customers.
11. Experience developing and presenting research administration to audiences internally and externally such as at professional conferences.
12. Experience with editing web-based tools and other software.
Special Physical/Mental Requirements
Campus Security Authority Responsibilities

Not Applicable.
Special Instructions
Quick Link https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/278270

Posting Contact Information


Department Contact Name and Title Andrea Walens, Director of Research Administration
Department Contact Telephone or Email [email protected]
Office of Human Resources Contact Information

If you experience any problems accessing the system or have questions about the application process, please contact the Office of Human Resources at (919) 843-2300 or send an email to [email protected]
Please note: The Office of Human Resources will not be able to provide specific updates regarding position or application status.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran.

Similar Positions