Research Project Manager

Position Title

Research Project Manager

Professional & Scientific

Bachelor’s degree

Summary of

Duties and Responsibilities:

Do you love bringing big ideas to life? Are you energized by variety, collaboration, and helping teams turn research into real-world impact? If so, the Office of the Vice President for Research is seeking candidates for a Research Project Manager to join Research POST, a small team of centralized project managers who serve all university units. As part of Research POST, this individual will manage a portfolio of research projects, each with a term of three months or longer.

Partner with principal investigators and research teams to support the planning, coordination, and execution of sponsored research projects. Coordinate and monitor project timelines, milestones, deliverables, budgets, and resources to support successful project outcomes. Maintain project management tools, reports, and documentation to monitor progress and support compliance requirements. Coordinate communications, meetings, and activities among faculty, staff, sponsors, collaborators, and other stakeholders. Support post-award administration activities, including budget monitoring, financial reporting, forecasting, and sponsored project management.

Maintain project records, documentation, and reporting materials related to project deliverables and compliance requirements. Build and maintain collaborative relationships with internal and external partners to support successful project outcomes. Assist with workshops, training opportunities, outreach efforts, and communication initiatives that advance research programs and partnerships. Provide general administrative and operational support for research projects and initiatives.

The ideal candidate will have interest in supporting a broad range of projects, some of which will be interdisciplinary and/or multi-institutional. This individual will also bring strong organizational and relationship-building skills to the role. This is a one-year fixed-term position, with the opportunity for renewal. We are hiring for two positions at this time and anticipate hiring one candidate as a Research Administrator I and one candidate as a Research Administrator II.

The Research Administrator I position requires a Bachelor’s degree and is classified at pay grade PS807. The Research Administrator II position requires a Bachelor’s degree and three years of related experience and is classified at pay grade PS808. Both levels perform similar research administration and project management functions; however, the Research Administrator I typically supports projects with less complexity, lower-level financial administration responsibilities, and a narrower scope of project activities.

The Research Administrator I is an individual contributor position with developing professional and/or technical skills working under immediate to general supervision. The Research Administrator II independently manages more complex project portfolios, including projects with greater budgetary, financial, and administrative requirements. The Research Administrator II is an intermediate-level position with solid professional and/or technical skills working under general supervision to achieve goals.

Background in conducting or supporting research projects.

Previous experience working in a university environment.

Experience with Federal regulations and agency policies and guidelines for sponsored research.

Demonstrated experience implementing project management in accordance with industry-standard principles and best practices.

Experience developing and managing strategic partnerships.

Experience with financial administration, such as budget monitoring, reporting, etc.

Research projects at Iowa State University often involve multiple stakeholders, strict deadlines, and complex coordination. The Research Project Operations and Strategy Team (Research POST), supported by the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), provides experienced project managers to guide scientific, scholarly,…