Administrative Officer , Department of Chemistry

Job : 87518

Location: Main Campus-Berkeley

Position Type: Full Time

The Department of Chemistry is seeking a new Faculty Support Administrator to support our top-rated research. Our faculty address major scientific and technological challenges facing the world. Join us in our mission to advance society through education and research.

The Administrative Officer performs administrative services and manages the full general operations of one or more large, complex laboratories. This position carries out complex financial planning, management of contracts and grants, and research support functions. The Administrative Officer manages Professors' research funds with multi‑million dollar annual funding from a variety of federal, state, and private sources, supporting the UC Berkeley administrative and financial needs of a broad range of research.

The First Review Date for this job is:
July 28, 2026. For full consideration, please apply on or before the first review date.

• Liaison to the College of Chemistry and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) business services support units. Formulate annual operating budgets including spending projections. Audit and analyze financial reports and forecast expenses to ensure Principal Investigator (P.I.) meets financial obligations of the research group.
• Integrate UCB and LBNL reports to create current and accurate comprehensive financial picture to ensure fiscal integrity. Anticipate and resolve operational, fiscal or other discrepancies. Work with both UCB and LBNL relevant personnel at the facility and in the central support offices to provide overall support to this function.
• Oversee the post‑award administration of grants, contracts, and agreements. Ensure the terms and conditions of all awards are met and manage funds in compliance with university, LBNL, DOE, federal, and state policies and regulations. Confer with Sponsored Project Office (SPO), UCB and LBNL service units on terms and conditions of awards, budget augmentation, project period, and award extension.
• Ensure financial integrity of research funds by regularly reviewing expenditures and comparing to budget and ensuring funds are not in overdraft.
• Advise research unit and P.I. on how funds can be used optimally. Analyze expenses, develop cost projections, and provide financial tracking to fulfill reporting requirements to agencies. This includes reviewing of blanket purchase orders and comparing tracking worksheets to general ledger postings. Develop, implement, and maintain internal group operating policies and procedures for operation of research, and to comply with federal, state, private grant agency rules and regulations.
• Allocate resource levels according to project funding. Review all grant assignments of resources and equipment.

• Facilitate the pre‑proposal preparation process compliance with UCB, LBNL, and agency announcements, policies, restrictions, and deliverables. Interpret and analyze agency proposal format, content, budgetary components, and funding guidelines. Provides input into non‑technical portions of grant and contract proposals. Prepare documents for final submission. Coordinate submission with proposal coordinator and SPO.
• Liaison between PI, SPO, and LBL pre‑award units to oversee the establishment, negotiation and administration of grants, contracts and subcontracts and the implementation of consultant agreements in coordination with the Financial Services Office.
• Resolve any problems or discrepancies that may include providing technical reports, research summaries, annual and final reports, additional financial reports, and invoice back‑up.
• Maintain schedule of agency submission and reporting deadlines. Provide assistance to pre‑doctoral and post‑doctoral researchers with fellowship applications. Review applications for accuracy. Coordinate submissions through proposal coordinator, SPO and LBNL pre‑award units.

• Oversee the human resource activities (hiring, termination, change…