Grants Manager

This position is based on Stanford’s main campus, with consideration given to the option for a hybrid work schedule (partially onsite and offsite), subject to operational need.

The Geballe Lab for Advanced Materials (GLAM) is a transdisciplinary Independent Laboratory within the Office of the Vice Provost & Dean of Research, which spearheads innovative and high-impact research in bio-inspired materials, sustainable energy, quantum science, and electronic systems. With 32 faculty and ~250 students, postdocs, and scientific staff across six departments – primarily Physics, Applied Physics, and Materials Science & Engineering – GLAM’s research portfolio is large, complex, and highly-heterogeneous, producing and reproducing strong relationships with many Stanford departments and administrative units, SLAC, and federal and non-federal sponsors. As GLAM gradually expands its community-led programming for interdisciplinary and social collaboration, it relies upon 17 high-performing administrative staff to comprehensively support its researchers, trainees, visitors, and campus partners.

POSITION SUMMARY

GLAM seeks an ambitious, communicative, and detail-oriented Grants Manager (Research Administrator 2) to spearhead pre-award and post-award financial and compliance efforts for a complex and highly-active research portfolio. Reporting to the Assistant Director of Research Administration, and with a dotted-line reporting line to the Managing Director, the Grants Manager will join an interdependent and highly-collaborative team of four other research administrators, who altogether forge a robust administrative structure that fosters high-risk, high-reward research initiatives. The incumbent will work independently alongside GLAM faculty and trainees and will collaborate transparently and meaningfully with senior and junior staff from across many university units on budget development, financial management, proposal submission, award management and reconciliation, reporting, and policy communication.

A successful candidate should possess prior experience in grant development, financial accounting, and/or budget management. Further, a successful candidate must have a growth mindset, commitment to optimism and flexibility, and strong emotional intelligence; they must demonstrate an eagerness to flexibly collaborate with academic and administrative personnel in order to contribute to GLAM’s mission of inclusive research excellence.

To foster the strongest possible administrative learning community, GLAM is eager to train employees who enter the position without all of the qualifications or requisite prior experiences; a candidate’s motivation to learn, grow, and self-reflect counts for a lot. Therefore, GLAM may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, attitude, education, and experience to meet the minimum qualifications detailed below. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set, how you can actively grow and learn to become a stellar research administrator, and how you can contribute to GLAM’s success.

CORE DUTIES

Pre-Award (40%)

• Support 5-7 senior faculty in preparing administrative components of grant proposals within the parameters of governing federal and institutional guidelines. Oversee and communicate submission processes; review documents for completeness and compliance, and regularly communicate timelines and needs to faculty and administrative colleagues.

• Draft financial budgets, budget justifications, and other narrative documents required for the proposal submission. Review budgets for GLAM faculty participating in proposals submitted by other Stanford academic and administrative units, and verify compliance with all applicable requirements.

• Understand, apply, and advise on university and government policies. In order to maintain mastery of sponsor policies and expectations, continuously seek opportunities for training and skills development offered by Stanford and external institutions.

• Perform initial compliance review for proposals, often within abbreviated time frames. Ensure proposals are fully compliant with and responsive to extramural sponsor requirements and guidelines; communicate clear, concise feedback regarding necessary revisions. Verify that compliance requirements are met, and that necessary internal forms are provided prior to proposal submission.

• Review responses to pre-award information requests from agencies, including budget revisions, compliance documentation, updated Current & Pending Support statements, and other revisions and clarifications as required by sponsors.

• During proposal review, at the time of award, and as otherwise determined by business needs, review Current & Pending support documents and work with researchers to reconcile discrepancies.

Post-Award (40%)

• Review and approve expenditures on existing awards, advise on post-award spending and commitment activities, and provide accurate and routine projections and forecasts on accounts to ensure that faculty are knowledgeable about their financial resources and future options.

• With the Office of Research Administration, ensure that awards are set-up properly and cost-sharing requirements are tracked and fulfilled; initiate cost transfers, and facilitate inbound and outbound subaward processes.

• Participate in contract closeout processes; submit final reports and certificates. Compile information and documents for audit inquiries.

• Support regular reporting requests, perform quality assurance review of data records, and collaboratively build and evaluate GLAM systems to maintain such records and utilize data in response to a wide variety of reporting needs.

• Track deliverables and interpret award conditions for the PI and administrators.

• Log and file submitted progress reports and notify researchers of overdue progress reports.

Facilities Finance & Special Projects (20%)

• Collaborating closely with one other Grants Manager, the Facilities Manager, and Managing Director, support the billing, financial accounting, and faculty communications for GLAM’s in-house gaseous and liquid nitrogen system. Translate vendor expenses into monthly billing statements, process charges to faculty-owned accounts, pull reports and conduct exacting analyses of historic trends, troubleshoot issues as they arise, and strategize system, financial, and communications efforts that best support interdisciplinary research and save faculty time. Undertake additional special nitrogen-facing projects as directed by the Managing Director.

• Manage GLAM’s participation in the Stanford Science Fellows program, involving account and labor schedule set-ups, quarterly account projections and analyses, and year-end forecasting, reforecasting, and reimbursements.

• Stay abreast of frequently-changing sponsor guidelines and application systems, including Research.gov, PIMS, and Workspace, and maintain working knowledge of ever-changing and emerging resources available for proposal preparation and financial tracking.

• Participate in and contribute to process improvements aimed at increased organizational efficiency and optimized support for GLAM investigators, potentially including designing new systems and procedures, authoring internal communications, serving on Stanford committees, and brainstorming new programs.

• Serve as an as-needed back-up to other research administrators during vacations, leaves, and other periods of time away from the office, in order to ensure continuous and reliable support to GLAM researchers.

• Other strategic initiatives and special projects as assigned by GLAM’s Faculty Director, Managing Director, and Assistant Director, and by assigned faculty.