"Assistant Director, Pre-Award"

Job Details

San Marcos, TX

Texas State University

Assistant Director, Pre-Award

Posting Number: 2026072

Location: San Marcos

Department: Sponsored Programs

Recruitment Type: Open Recruiting

Job Type: Full-Time

Monthly Salary: $6,700-$7,083.34

Job Category: Exempt

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or equivalent experience
• At least 4 years of pre-award research administration
• Knowledge of 2 CFR 200/Uniform Guidance; OMB; basic FAR, Interpret sponsor terms & conditions Sponsor-compliant budgets; complete proposal packages
• Manage concurrent deadlines, multi-project coordination
• eRA portals: Kuali, Cayuse, Grants.gov, Research.gov, ASSIST/eRA Commons
• ERP/finance workflows (SAP) for award setup Compliance routing: FCOI; IRB/IACUC/IBC; export controls
• Team lead/supervision; mentoring
• Advanced Excel; KPI tracking (volume, complexity, cost share, subawards)
• Clear writing and communication; service-oriented; highly organized

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree
• CRA/CPRA (or equivalent)
• 6+ years pre-award; 3+ years in lead/supervisory role
• Broad sponsor portfolio: NSF, NIH, DoD, DOE, USDA, PCORI, foundations
• Partner with Advancement; matching/TRIP coordination
• Staff and campus training; workshop design/delivery
• Process improvements: SOPs, workflow redesign, automation
• Award acceptance workflows; SAP data integrity (PI/Co-I, periods, budgets, codes)

Job Description:

Assistant Director will serve as the lead Senior Proposal Coordinator, assisting the Director in improving logistics, processes, and reporting. The AD will work collaboratively with Principal Investigators (PI), Senior Proposal Coordinators, Proposal Coordinators, and Research Coordinators to prepare grant applications, and serves as a dedicated central resource on university and sponsor policies for proposal development and submission as well as award acceptance. Activities are governed by applicable federal regulations (2 CFR 200), applicable state regulations and sponsor specifics requirements as well as institutional policies.

Job Duties:

• Proposal Coordination & Submission: Coordinates research proposal submissions to funding entities (local, state, federal, private, and collaborations with other institutions).
• Proposal Review & Development: Reviews and participates in the development and assembly of all proposal components, as specified in sponsor guidance, under the umbrella of federal regulations and institutional policy compliance. Interprets and enforces sponsor/institutional policies; ensures compliance.
• Strategic Planning Support: Assists the Director with strategic planning initiatives to enhance pre-award services and align with institutional goals.
• Pre-Award Administration: Leads and assists pre-award administrative functions, including proposal preparation, submission, award negotiation, and compliance with institutional and sponsor guidelines.
• Supervision & Workload Management: Plans, assigns, and helps supervise the workload of others to ensure efficient and equitable distribution of tasks.
• Training & Professional Development: Assists with training and professional development activities for staff. Coordinates training opportunities for research administration staff. Helps mentor junior staff.
• Performance Metrics & Reporting: Assists with tracking and reporting key performance indicators (including proposal counts, complexity of proposals, percentage of cost share, and subawards by department or college).
• Operational Support: Assists with day-to-day operations, proposal support, staff supervision, and ensuring compliance with institutional/sponsor rules. Implements improvements, trains staff on systems (e.g., Cayuse, Grants.gov).
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Additional Information to Applicants:

Job Open Date: 10/06/2025

Job Close Date: 10/27/2025

Open Until Filled: No

Normal Work Days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

Normal Work Hours Start: 8:00AM

Normal Work Hours End: 5:00PM