Contracts & Grants Manger

The mission of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work is to improve the well-being of vulnerable individuals and communities, advance social and economic justice, and eradicate pressing societal problems in complex and culturally diverse urban environments throughout Southern California, the nation, and the world.   Innovative and impactful research is central to the school’s mission and is supported through grants and contracts from federal and other sources.  Our school’s current portfolio of grants and contracts exceeds $40 million in total costs; the majority of these are federally funded.  

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Office of Research Administration, is seeking a Manager of Contracts and Grants who is dependable, motivated, and has a strong work ethic and excellent organizational and customer service skills to join the team and to continue to grow our research enterprise. 

This position is housed at the USC UPC campus. The person in this position will work with faculty, PhD students, center directors, deans, the advancement direct and staff, and the USC Department of Contracts and Grants and will supervise research administrative support staff.      

The Contracts and Grants Manager manages the staff and administrative operations of a contracts and grants office for a school including development and implementation of policies and procedures, strategic planning, and personnel administration. Serves as an advisor to the dean (s) of the school regarding sponsored projects administration.

• Manages the staff and administrative operations of a contracts and grants office for a school. Plans and develops department objectives and goals of the school’s contract and grant office. Researches and identifies trends and needs and establishes office directions accordingly. Determines organizational structure, reporting relationships and short and long-range staffing needs. Serves as an advisor to the dean(s) of the school regarding sponsored projects administration.
• Supervises all assigned subordinate staff. Recruits, screens, hires, orients and trains staff. Schedules, assigns and prioritizes workloads. Sets appropriate deadlines. Ensures timely completion of units’ work. Evaluates employee performance and provides guidance and feedback. Counsels or disciplines, as needed.
• Facilitates and assumes a leadership role in the resolution of problems referred by internal contracts and grants staff and departmental research administrators.
• Develops and implements operational and administrative policies for the school.  Interprets policies and procedures. Resolves policies and procedural issues and makes exceptions as appropriate.
• Designs and implements procedures, services and systems for the office and school to enhance research administration.
• Oversees preparation of proposals for submission to sponsoring agencies including proposal approval process, electronic proposal system, proposal and award files, advance funding process, document preparation, budget and compliance review, funding opportunity database content, proposal development, cost share approval, routine and ad-hoc reporting, etc. Ensures compliance with all policies, procedures and regulations.
• Provides strategic planning for project space and indirect support for research.
• Develops short and long-term plans and implementation processes to train staff in the office and school in all aspects of pre-award research administration.
• Creates individual faculty, development and management reports on sponsored projects in the school as needed.
• Interacts with deans, faculty, senior administrators and sponsor representatives to facilitate research administration activities and for clarification of procedures and regulations during the proposal preparation stage.
• Reports directly to and works closely with the Associate Dean for Research in promoting and managing the school’s research enterprise.
• Interacts with other internal administrative units in the school and on campus such as Faculty Affairs , Sponsored Projects Accounting, Equipment Management, Purchasing Services and the Contracts and Grants Office for information exchange, problem resolution and clarification of policies and procedures.
• Provides on-going updates and information regarding the status of research activities for the Associate Dean for Research. Oversees the dissemination of information through the use of communication vehicles such as website updates, email notifications and workshop sessions
• Participates in classes, programs, professional associations and conferences, which benefit the management and administration of sponsored projects. Makes presentations on grants management as requested.

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree

Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education

Minimum Experience:

5 years

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree

Preferred Experience:

7 years

Minimum Field of Expertise:

Pre-award and post-award preparation and management for federal (e.g. HHS, NIH, HRSA), state, and local research grants and contracts.  Familiarity with regulatory compliance reporting and policies as pertinent to research grants and contracts.

Preferred Field of Expertise:

Knowledge of USC Contracts and Grants policies, operations, procedures, and interface/software. 

A strong candidate will have required experience in pre-award and post-award preparation and management, strong customer service skills, team coordination and management skills, be dependable, a self-starter, able to work both independently and with a team, in a fast paced and high-volume work environment, with deadline pressures.

We look forward to reviewing your application!

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree, Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education

Minimum Experience:
5 years

Minimum Field of Expertise:
Contract and Grant Administration