Job Opportunity: Awards Manager (Lead Award Administrator)

Awards Manager (Lead Award Administrator)

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Job Summary
The Lead Award Administrator (Award Manager) is responsible for managing the award administration process for RPI's central research administration office, including maintaining a portfolio of active awards, from receipt, acceptance and execution to financial account establishment, as well as issuance, monitoring, and management of all outgoing subawards.

»The Lead Award Administrator ensures accurate setup of awards in RPI's eRA and ERP systems (Cayuse and Banner respectively).

»The Lead Award Administrator also serves as primary point of contact to all RPI stakeholders (internal and external) related to requests for prior sponsor approval (such as re-budgets, change of key persons, transfers, and subaward issuance) or other award management matters.

»The Lead Award Administrator identifies and leads process improvement efforts related to award administration and prepares and delivers communication and training on sponsored award administration topics at RPI for faculty and campus stakeholders.

»The Lead Award Administrator manages and monitors overall volume and assignment of award-related requests or tickets and actively ensures requests received from internal and external stakeholders are responded to in a timely and complete fashion.

»The Lead supervises the day-to-day operations of the awards team at RPI, providing guidance and support for the Sr. Awards Administrator and Awards Administrator on various transactions as needed, interpreting various sponsor award terms and conditions as well as applying RPI rules and policies to transactions as required.


Minimum Qualifications

»Bachelor's Degree in related field

»Five (5) years of significant professional practice in sponsored award administration, research administration, contract administration in a higher education environment. Previous practice with managing sponsored awards from a central office, including practice establishing sponsored project financial accounts, reviewing financial terms and conditions and determining appropriate account attributes, and managing an active portfolio of sponsored projects.

» practice issuing and managing a portfolio of active subawards, including practice with subrecipient monitoring.

» practice using Banner Finance or similar ERP system.
significant combinations of education, training and practice may be considered.


Minimum expertise, expertise, and Abilities

» expertise of sponsored award receipt, negotiation, and financial account creation in a university/research institution setting.

» capability to interpret routine federal grant terms and conditions and draft and issue appropriate subagreement. types, as well as expertise of applicable subrecipient monitoring rules and regulations.

»Specialized expertise of federal regulations and policies governing educational institutions and/or non-profits, specifically 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) and rules related to Federal grants management in a Higher Education environment.

» capability to manage Federal grants and contracts, as well as pass through awards, from Federal sponsors such as NIH, NSF, DoD, DoE, and others.

» capability to maintain confidentiality of privileged documents and communication.

»Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite

» capability to analyze and interpret data

» capability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing

»Excellent interpersonal and organizational expertise

» capability to work effectively under pressure and meet established goals and objectives

» capability to work independently or as part of a team

» capability to work in fast paced, rapidly changing environment.

»Demonstrated problem solving and project management expertise.

»Demonstrated managery expertise

»Demonstrated capability to work independently with minimal supervision

»Excellent oral and written expertise

» capability to interact well with people either individually or in a group setting


income Range/Rate

Expected hiring range : $85,000-$92,000

Pay transparency disclosure: The selected candidate's income will be determined located on factors that include the available budget, internal equity, and the final candidate's qualifications, practice, education and other job-related credentials. This hiring range is provided as Rensselaer's good faith estimate of the expected hiring range at the time of posting.


Application instructions


Follow the on-screen prompts to create a brief online profile. Please be ready to upload your resume and cover letter.
If you need assistance with the online application process, Contact Us by Email address: [email protected]
Job Posted Date
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.


Culture of Safety at Rensselaer
Rensselaer is committed to providing a safe and healthy living, learning, and working environment for its faculty, staff, and students. As such, we strongly recommend that faculty, staff and students obtain a COVID-19 vaccination and remain current with available boosters to protect themselves, as well as to protect vulnerable members of the community.