Title:  Research Administration Associate (Pre/Post Award)

Summary

The Research Administration Associate will manage pre- and post-award grant administration in the division of Tropical Medicine, supporting the National School of Tropical Medicine and the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital. The position will provide advance level support to the division faculty in the pre-award areas of grants preparation, submissions requirements (BCM and the funding institution such as the NIH, CDC and others), and budget creation. The role will provide knowledge and expertise in post-award management including the key areas of account creation, sub-award management, account reconciliation and reporting, resource allocation, internal and external reporting requirements such at NIH progress reporting, compliance with federal statues such as A133 audits, and other sponsor requirements. Candidates should be comfortable working and navigating federal (NIH, CDC HRSA, US Department of Defense) application process and compliance systems.  This role reports to the Senior Manager, Research Operations.

The Division of Tropical Medicine is dedicated to the research of neglected tropical diseases, emerging infectious diseases, and diseases of unmet needs. The division organization includes laboratories and Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital that does basic, clinical, and translational research to complement the educational, clinical, and policy-related activities of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Some of the research disease areas include the creation and production of a low cost COVID vaccine, Chagas Disease, dengue fever, West Nile Virus, and Schistosomiasis.  The Research Administration Associate will support 19 Tropical Medicine research faculty and employees, and 6 research post-doctoral students. Pre-award management for the Division of Tropical Medicine, there were (141) grant submissions in FY23. Post-award management for awards totaling $28M over the last 5 years. Recent applications range from $100K to $6M. Most applications are multi-site applications averaging 3-partnering institutions/sub-awards. Partnering Institutions are frequently international, which are very complex due to different IRB and government compliance requirements.  Currently the division is managing 48 active grant awards. Will be working with BCM’s Biomedical Research and Assurance Information Network (BRAIN), IRB, RCOI and other BCM compliance requirements. 

This role has the potential for future hybrid work schedule.

Employees with CRA certification are eligible for certification pay.

Job Duties

• Responsible for the pre-award and post-award financial management activities of grants, managing the full award life cycle, from application to award closeout.
• Prepare budget justifications, creates budget spreadsheets, and completes other budget forms for submission and reporting. Provides budget guidance and input to principal investigators.
• Provide guidance to research faculty, employees, and learners for proposal development and submissions by interpreting granting agency guidelines and instructions. 
• Lead administrative contact with BCM Grants and Contract and Sponsored Programs Office to create new fund center accounts, process no cost extension requests (NCE), continuation requests, and grants award closeout process.  This will include preparing grant submissions.
• Communicate with BCM Accounting, Sponsored Programs, Grants & Contracts Office, and collaborating institutions to ensure sub-awards and independent consultant agreements are established and executed in a timely manner.
• Maintain Cost/Effort allocations in the BCM Effort Reporting System/PEPT/SAP for research faculty, employees, and learners.
• Submit Payroll Cost Transfer requests for research faculty, employees, and learners.
• Maintain Data of active, pending, and closed grants for Pediatrics Tropical Medicine: number of submissions, number of awards, faculty effort and other statistics related to grant reporting.
• Assist with leading the development and continuous improvement of the pre- and post-award grants management process for the Division of Tropical Medicine.
• Prepare financial reporting and provides feedback to Tropical Medicine leadership and Investigators as directed.
• Review account expenditures and allocations.
• Assist Tropical Medicine Investigators and laboratory managers to ensure procurement requests are reconciled, paid, and closed out in timely manner.
• Ensure compliance with federal, sponsor, and institutional policies and guidelines and serves as a liaison between faculty, employees, learners, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Sponsors.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.  Certified Research Administrator certification through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) may substitute for the degree requirement.
• Two years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with grant application development, budgeting, and/or grant financial management.
• Prior experience working in an academic research setting.
• Working knowledge of sponsor application submission systems such as ASSIST, Workspace, and Proposal, Compliance systems.
• Must have strong attention to detail, project management skills, and time management. The candidate must be able to work independently and multi-task.
• Must have the ability to understand and manage the complexities of research grants, including issues related to informed consent, access to data, and conflict of interest.