Assistant Director, Office of Research and Projects

About Saint Mary’s College

Founded in 1863, Saint Mary’s College of California is a residential institution in the Moraga Valley, 20 miles east of San Francisco, rooted in the Catholic, Lasallian, and Liberal Arts traditions. Enrolling more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students, the College integrates liberal and professional education within a mission shaped by the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Known for academic excellence, innovation, and responsiveness, Saint Mary’s fosters shared inquiry, meaningful student engagement, and a strong commitment to diversity, leadership, and service.

At Saint Mary’s, your work has visible impact. As a close-knit residential college, employees work collaboratively across departments—your ideas, leadership, and contributions directly shape the student experience and the future direction of the institution. Colleagues partner across divisions, decisions are grounded in mission, and innovation is encouraged. If you are seeking a workplace where purpose, community, and professional growth intersect—and where your work truly matters—Saint Mary’s offers that opportunity.

Assistant Director, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects

Reporting to the Director, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP), the Assistant Director is responsible to carry out activities that contribute to the growth of research funding and the research enterprise as a whole at Saint Mary’s College. Responsibilities fall into three areas: research development; research administration; and research compliance.

• Contribute to strategies and activities designed to increase the capacity of Saint Mary’s College and its faculty to compete effectively for research funding.
• Support Saint Mary’s investigators in developing and articulating their scholarly projects and identifying funding opportunities for those projects.
• Participate in the development and implementation of workshops and other training activities designed to support faculty in seeking extramural research funding.
• Collaborate with the director to support pre-tenured faculty in particular in seeking external research funding through activities that may include targeted email outreach; recurring meetings; and regular follow-up.
• Contribute to ORSP communications through channels such as:
• Writing copy and developing graphics for websites;
• Writing updated boilerplate to be used in sponsored grant proposals;
• Creating and sharing out videos, slide decks, one-pagers, and other tutorials
• Collaborate with the director and other campus partners to prepare annual reports and institutional eligibility applications.

• Provide one-on-one services for single-investigator proposals, including:
• Guide faculty in pre-proposal activities and the Intent to Apply process;
• Support proposal planning to align with sponsor priorities;
• Develop submission checklists and timelines;
• Assist with the development of budgets and supplemental materials;
• Guide investigators in working within electronic grant submission portals;
• Ensure all proposal documents conform to agency specifications;
• Coordinate institutional approvals and support the timely submission of the application by Saint Mary’s Authorized Organizational Representative; and
• Provide support through the award negotiation phase and transition to post-award.
• Engage in general research administration activities, including:
• Serve on the proposal development team for large institutional grant applications;
• Maintain records in ORSP systems and databases;
• Maintain profiles in agency portals and electronic research administration systems; and
• Contribute to the development of ORSP policies and procedures.
• Serve…