Hub Research Administrator

About the Opportunity

About Research Enterprise Services (NU-RES) Hub Northeastern University’s Research Enterprise Services (NU-RES) Hub seeks to hire talented, experienced, agile research administrators dedicated to supporting investigators secure and manage their extramurally funded sponsored activities. NU-RES provides leadership and expertise to faculty, investigators, and administrators, supporting the research and sponsored programs portfolios of the University and its affiliated research institutes. The Hub, a shared administrative and business service unit operating within Northeastern’s central sponsored programs office (NU-RES), assists faculty and research investigators across the University’s global research network by providing department-level administrative support.

The Hub serves as a critical researcher-NU-RES interface and directly supports faculty throughout the proposal-award life cycle. Team members of the Hub provide direct assistance to faculty and research investigators; cross-function support to Hub and NU-RES team members; and work closely with all units reporting to the Senior Vice Provost for Research.

Reporting to the Associate Director, Research Finance, the Research Administrator position is a unique, central-level position providing college- and department-level research administration services to Principal Investigators while collaborating with the central research finance office. As such, the Research Administrator serves as a subject-matter expert, pivoting between multiple college and departmental units and liaising across multiple departments to maximize efficiencies and ensure holistic support to Principal Investigators.

This position collaborates significantly with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including faculty, college administrators, internal and external research administrators, and finance personnel. Exceptional service-mindedness and the ability to perform with tact, diplomacy, and discretion are essential. Northeastern University, a dynamic, innovative, and entrepreneurial university with a diverse, complex, and growing award portfolio, is hiring and developing personnel who enjoy working in a high-performing culture that rewards excellence.

In addition, Northeastern is a global university, and NU-RES supports its team working remotely. Remote locations and work schedules are determined based on operational needs and consultation with NU-RES team members, consistent with University policies and guidelines.

• Pre-Award Administration (20%)
  • Identify proposal opportunities and work with faculty to develop proposal budgets.
  • Coordinate subaward proposals and prepare applications.
  • Review proposals to federal, state, and local government agencies, private foundations, and industry/corporate organizations to ensure compliance with applicable regulations, University policies, and program solicitations, including specific terms and conditions related to cooperative agreements, Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements, and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contracts.
• Award Management (30%)
  • Provide overall financial management of a complex and growing portfolio comprised of grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements from a variety of federal and non-federal sponsor types.
  • Monitor account balances, term dates, and activities.
  • Collaborate with central NU-RES offices to prepare and submit requests for prior approvals, scope-of-work or PI/key personnel changes, award extensions, post-award budget revisions and child/related funds.
  • Schedule and attend quarterly, or more frequent as needed, meetings with PIs to review accounts including balances, activity, projections, and terminations/closeouts.
  • Coordinate with the subaward team on subrecipient setup, monitoring, and invoicing.
  • Assist with submission of progress reports.
• Transactional (30%)
  • Monitor and approve transactions, including reviewing for appropriate backup and business purpose documentation in Concur, Workday, email, or other platforms.
  • Review and approve subrecipient invoices within the Workday financial system.
  • Prepare and submit cost transfer forms or other required documentation to support transactional activities.
  • Collaborate with PIs and colleges to identify extra compensation availability and planning needs.
  • Prepare, submit, and track extra compensation requests.
• Reporting & Analysis (10%)
  • Run and distribute monthly account activity reports to PIs.
  • Perform financial…