Assistant Director, Pre-Award - Office of Sponsored Programs

The Office of Sponsored Programs at West Virginia University is currently accepting applications for a Pre-Award Assistant Director.

About the Opportunity

The Assistant Director of OSP, Pre-Award, position is within the West Virginia University Office of Sponsored Programs, Pre-Award sub-department. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is the central administrative unit charged with providing support to the WVU community in the solicitation, acquisition, and administration of externally funded projects for research, teaching, and service. This position is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Pre-Award sub-department. This position has remote capabilities.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays (staff holiday calendar)
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year (employee leave)
• 18 sick days per year (for when you're ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family's, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ's.
• Wellness programs

What You'll Do

• Manage personnel matters for the pre-award sub-department, including but not limited to, work assignments, professional development, leave approvals, development and delivery of performance evaluations, and progressive discipline for department employees.
• Manage the day-to-day operations of the pre-award sub-department within OSP. Manage and develop staff by providing day-to-day work planning, direction, monitoring and ensuring accuracy and completeness of work products and opportunities for development, coaching and mentoring, and implementation of a comprehensive staff development process.
• Coordinate with the Director of OSP to identify candidates, conduct interviews, document results and make thoughtful and justifiable hiring decisions in accordance with WVU policies and procedures and leadership best practices, as needed.
• Motivate staff to achieve positive results by professionally and firmly redirecting negative and unproductive behavior and encouraging positive behavior
• Assist with the routine management and development of ad hoc proposal reports from the KC Proposal Database on a regular basis.
• Manage and direct training processes for new employees.
• Participate in cross-training employees in the core functions of OSP.
• Provide training for WVU faculty and staff in proposal preparation, sponsor requirements, and University requirements.
• Use WVU OSP systems and tools (e.g., WVU Research Administration Portal (WRAP), Microsoft Teams) to complete work assignments to staff in consideration of workload and experience. Monitor accuracy and completeness of work products.
• Monitor daily proposal queue for upcoming submission deadlines. Follow up with pre-award staff to ensure all proposal submissions are completed prior to sponsor-established deadlines.
• Assign rotating tasks to pre-award personnel on a monthly basis in consideration of previous rotating task experience and assignments.
• Maintain expert knowledge of sponsor guidelines and procedures by reviewing and submitting proposals on behalf of WVU while serving as a role model for all pre-award employees. Evaluate proposals for consistency with sponsor policy and regulations. Interpret regulations for faculty and staff including Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), FAR, NIH Grants Policy Statement, NSF PAPPG, etc.
• Act as a proposal and budget review liaison to faculty and staff, coordinate revisions related to OSP review of proposals and budgets, and complete final proposal validation and submission in consideration of sponsor and University requirements.
• Provide budget development support, to include advising faculty and administrative staff on compliant budget development, coordination of complex budgets with multiple entities (internal and external), and validating budgets as entered in various sponsor proposal submission systems such as NSF Fastlane, NIH eRA Commons, Grants.gov Workspace, etc. Verify accuracy of budgets, including calculation of person months, percent of effort, indirect costs, and cost share.
• Identify unique proposal circumstances which may impact WVU or WVURC's commitment to a project, such as a waiver or reduction in indirect costs, specific cost sharing requirements, etc., and escalate to the Director of OSP for consideration. Identify solicitation and proposal content that contains contracts and agreement language, and forward terms and conditions to the Award Negotiation sub-department for review prior to proposal submission.
• Document institutional research compliance requirements related to human subjects, animal welfare, biohazards, etc. Prepare institutional certifications/assurances such as institutional representations and certifications, pre-award risk assessment forms, etc.
• Facilitate the progression of the proposal lifecycle from Pre-Award to the Award Negotiation and Award Initiation stages by providing clear, substantive documentation highlighting unique post-award management requirements, and provide information sufficient to issue sub-awards, as necessary.
• Complete non-competing continuation management support, including progress reports and budget submissions for continuing projects
• Maintain pre-award personnel access to sponsor systems for the purposes of proposal review processes.
• Oversee electronic processes, system registrations, and complete and maintain electronic institutional certifications for submission of proposals.
• Coordinate with pre-award personnel to confirm proposals are prepared in accordance with sponsor guidelines and are ready for institutional endorsement by the Authorized Organizational Representatives (AORs), Director, Associate Directors, or Assistant Directors of OSP.
• Perform Electronic Research Administration (eRA) system activities such as user account creation, account modification, updating institutional and sponsor information, and other eRA duties as assigned.
• Participate in WRAP Funding Proposal module testing and improvement recommendations.
• Build and maintain positive business relationships with internal and external customers, including college, department, and center leaders.
• Ensure proper follow-up to agency requests pertaining to the submission of proposals for sponsored projects. Advise faculty on necessary follow-up such as revisions to the budget or proposal documents, sponsor requests for Just-in-Time information, etc.
• Respond to faculty inquiries regarding proposal procedures, budget development, and use of University systems for proposal routing.
• Develop and maintain pre-award subrecipient monitoring materials, including subrecipient commitment forms and other resources for vetting subaward institutions at the pre-award stage.
• Create and maintain OSP website content, including developing training resources for faculty/staff, Standard Operating Procedures, and OSP guidelines for proposal content.
• Complete other duties as assigned by the Director of OSP and Associate Director of OSP, Pre-Award.

• Bachelor's degree
  
• A minimum of three (3) year of experience in the following:
  
  
  
  
  • Electronic Research Administration
    
  • Expert knowledge of 2 CFR 200
    
  • Staff Supervision
    
  • Training and Development of Staff
    
  
  
  
  
• Any equivalent combination of related education and/or experience will be considered.
  
• All qualifications must be met by the time of employment.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Excellent communication and listening skills
  
• Excellent time management skills
  
• Excellent interpersonal skills to interact with various customers throughout WVU
  
• Requires independent judgement, strong organizational skills, and the ability to address customer service concerns
  
• Knowledge and ability to transfer attention among tasks within short periods of time
  
• Demonstrated ability to organize and manage workload to meet deadlines
  
• Demonstrated commitment to customer and team-oriented management
  
• Demonstrated ability to apply judgement, discretion, and initiative in coordination of many different and complex tasks
  
• Demonstrated ability to motivate, empower, and lead employees
  
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement training activities
  
• Demonstrated ability to supervise others and provide constructive feedback
  
• Demonstrated ability to lead a team and delegate
  
• Demonstrated problem solving skills
  
• Demonstrated knowledge of research administration
  
• Demonstrated ability to understand and appropriately apply Federal, State, and University policies and procedures, and interpret cost principles
  
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with senior administrators regarding technical issues.
  
• Must be enterprising, judicious, entrepreneurial, and diplomatic

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Research Administrator

West Virginia University is a place of purpose and community. We take pride in our profound impact on the state of West Virginia and are committed to the personal and professional growth of our employees.

From the groundbreaking R1 research at our flagship campus in Morgantown to the career-oriented programs at WVU Potomac State in Keyser, and the technology-intensive programs at WVU Tech in Beckley, the contributions of WVU employees resonate across the state, touching lives and shaping futures.

At WVU, you will discover a supportive community that champions work-life balance and fosters a collaborative atmosphere. Our core values - service, curiosity, respect, accountability and appreciation - unite us as Mountaineers.

Join us at West Virginia University, where your work will make a lasting impact. To learn more about WVU, visit wvu.edu.

West Virginia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We invite all qualified applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, or Veteran status.