Pre-Award Coordinator

The College of Science & Engineering (CSE) Pre-Award team operates as a cluster-based shared service supporting multiplecohort departments across the College of Science & Engineering. The team partners with faculty, departmental research administration staff, accounting teams, Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA), and external collaborators to coordinate and support proposal development for federal, state, foundation, industry, and other external sponsors.

The CSE Pre-Award team focuses on core pre-award functions including:

• proposal intake and triage,
• proposal coordination,
• non-technical proposal development,
• sponsor and compliance guidance,
• submission management,
• and operational support for complex and strategically significantfunding opportunities.

CSE Pre-Award staff are assigned portfolio responsibilities across designated cohort departments and participate in cross-cohortsupport and coverage to maintain continuity of service duringworkload spikes, leave coverage, and staffing transitions. The teamuses a centralized Airtable-based intake and proposal tracking system to support this work. The CSE Pre-Award team is designed to preserve departmental relationships and faculty autonomy while expanding shared operational capacity, standardizing core workflows, improvingproposal coordination, and strengthening support for high-value andhigh-complexity funding opportunities.

Twin Cities Campus, University of Minnesota

Hybrid

• Monday-Friday, totaling 40 hours per week, with exact schedule to be determined with the supervisor.
• Minimum of 3 days per week in the office, with exact schedule to be determined with the supervisor.
• Up to 2 days per week remote, consistent with department and University policies and staffing needs

Please note, this position is not eligible for H-1B or Green Card sponsorship. This position does not offer aSTEM OPT training program.

Manage and oversee proposal activities across assigned cohortdepartments by providing guidance, interpretation, and administrative coordination during pre-award processes for federal,state, foundation, corporate, and internal funding opportunities.

Responsibilities include:

• Review sponsor guidelines, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance and provide administrative guidance to Principal Investigators (PIs) and departmental research administration staff;use knowledge of sponsor requirements and University policy to identify proposal compliance concerns, documentation gaps, and administrative risks during the submission process; preparesummaries of requirements and timelines for submission for PIs and departmental staff.
• Prepare and/or review proposal budgets in collaboration with departmental accounting staff; understand and communicate sponsor and University requirements and/or restrictions regarding budget limitations, effort commitments, cost sharing, indirect cost rates,etc.
• Complete administrative portions of the proposal; review proposalcomponents for compliance with sponsor and University requirements
• Prepare and route Funding Proposals (FPs) in MN-GEMS (Minnesota Grants Electronic Management System)
• Coordinate standard subaward proposal documentation and routingactivities with collaborating institutions and SPA.
• Prepare, submit, and track proposals using sponsor electronic submission systems including:

● Serve as the primary liaison with SPA for routine proposalrouting, submission coordination, and standard administrativecommunication activities.

● Advise PIs on standard pre-award compliance issues, includingconflicts of…