Team Lead, Grants and Contracts (Shared Services

The Manager, Grants and Contracts (Shared Services) leads a team of Grants and Contracts Specialists within the Office of Sponsored Research and Accounting (OSRA), providing comprehensive lifecycle support for sponsored projects. This role is responsible for overseeing pre-award, post-award, data management, and compliance functions while ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery across a shared services model. The Manager partners with faculty, departments, and central administrative units to drive operational excellence, ensure regulatory compliance, and promote efficient, standardized processes.

This position plays a critical leadership role in advancing the institution’s research enterprise through team development, process improvement, and strong stakeholder engagement.

Supervise, mentor, and develop a team of Grants and Contracts Specialists. Manage team workload distribution across a shared services model to ensure timely and high-quality service delivery. Establish performance expectations, monitor outcomes, and conduct regular performance evaluations. Foster a customer-service-oriented culture focused on responsiveness, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Identify training needs and support professional development, including compliance and sponsor knowledge.

Oversee proposal development support, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements. Provide guidance on complex proposals, including multi-investigator, multi-site, and high-risk submissions. Ensure appropriate review processes are followed prior to submission to OSRA for institutional approval. Monitor proposal volume, deadlines, and submission success rates across the team. Ensure data integrity for proposal records and current/pending support documentation.

Oversee award setup and maintenance in Info Ed and integration into Workday Financials. Provide guidance on complex award terms and conditions, including contract negotiations and subawards. Ensure appropriate monitoring of budgets, expenditures, and compliance across assigned portfolios. Oversee subaward processes, including agreement execution, risk assessment, and subrecipient monitoring. Ensure timely completion of prior approvals, financial activities, and award closeout processes.

Ensure accuracy and completeness of proposal and award data across Info Ed, Workday Financials, and sponsor systems. Oversee data quality initiatives and establish standards for data entry and maintenance. Monitor and analyze reporting outputs to support institutional leadership, compliance, and operational decisions. Collaborate on system enhancements, implementations, and process standardization within the shared services unit.

Ensure adherence to federal regulations (e.g., Uniform Guidance), sponsor requirements, and institutional policies. Oversee compliance review processes for proposals and awards, ensuring consistent application of policies. Identify, assess, and mitigate compliance risks; elevate complex or high-risk issues as appropriate. Support audit readiness and coordinate responses to internal and external audits. Oversee monitoring of effort reporting, cost sharing, and other compliance activities.

Serve as a senior point of contact for faculty and departments, particularly for complex or escalated issues. Build strong partnerships with OSRA leadership, RICES (FCOI, IRB/IACUC), and OSA finance teams. Promote clear communication and consistent service delivery across supported units. Lead outreach, training, and education efforts to improve faculty and staff understanding of research administration processes.

Lead initiatives to improve efficiency, consistency, and scalability within the shared services model. Develop and document standard operating procedures (SOPs) and best practices. Use metrics and data to assess performance, identify gaps, and implement…