Job Details

Posting Number: PG194732EP

Internal Recruitment: Yes

Working Title: Sponsored Research Administrator

Anticipated Hiring Range: $65,000 - $73,525 (Commensurate with education and experience)

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm; position may be eligible for a flexible work schedule. Adjustments to the schedule are occasionally required to accommodate rigid sponsor proposal deadlines.

Job Location: Raleigh, NC

Department: Engineering Research Administration

About the Department

The College of Engineering (COE) Office of Research Administration (ORA) operates under a college-managed, departmentally embedded operating model designed to deliver standardized, high-quality administrative infrastructure and regulatory safeguarding for the College’s extensive, multi-million dollar sponsored research portfolio. Under this unified organizational structure, research administration professionals are centrally employed, trained, and evaluated by the College’s ORA, but are strategically deployed and embedded directly within individual academic departments and units.

This matrixed model merges the benefits of centralized institutional oversight—such as equitable workload balancing, continuous professional development, and uniform compliance tracking—with the agile, relationship-driven advantages of local integration. Embedded staff act as direct, day-to-day strategic partners to principal investigators (PIs), faculty, and departmental leadership, providing seamless cradle-to-grave support tailored to the unique research nuances of their assigned units.

Collectively, this distributed network manages an exceptional volume of activity across all departments and units in the College, processing over 1,100 research proposals and administering more than 800 new awards, continuations, and supplements annually.

Essential Job Duties

The College of Engineering is looking to hire multiple Sponsored Research Administrators (SRA) within the newly established college-managed operating model, responsible for orchestrating both pre-award and post-award lifecycles for an assigned departmental faculty portfolio. While the incumbent is physically co-located within a department to provide high-touch, localized customer service, the position is an integral part of the centralized College ORA team.

The primary purpose of this role is to apply advanced accounting principles, federal/state regulations, and university guidelines to ensure the fiscal and administrative integrity of all sponsored projects.

Pre-Award Portfolio Management & Proposal Development

• Localized Faculty Consultation: Partner directly with PIs in the embedded unit to develop accurate, compliant proposal budgets and detailed justifications from initial concept through final submission.
• Standardized Regulatory Screening: Analyze complex agency Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) to ensure strict alignment with F&A rules, cost-sharing restrictions, budget caps, and direct cost allowability, reducing front-end submission errors.
• Institutional System Management: Fully execute and route records within institutional software suites, including RED Proposal Development, ensuring data integrity is validated at the departmental level before final central routing.
• Electronic Research Administration (eRA): Build, format, and package proposal submissions within varied sponsor portals (Research.gov, GRANTS.gov, eRA Commons, ASSIST), acting as the localized technical expert for the department’s faculty.

Post-Award Financial Management, Forecasting & Closeout

• Award Onboarding & Budget Translation: Review select incoming award notices alongside the PI to establish accurate internal ledger setups, ensuring F&A is calculated correctly based on MTDC or TDC parameters.
• Compliance Monitoring & Risk Mitigation: Perform continuous financial analysis of active grant ledgers. Monitor expenditures for accuracy, allowability, and strict compliance with Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), Uniform Guidance, state rules, and university policies.
• Projections & Planning Models: Build multi-year spending projections and variance analysis models for faculty to optimize fund utilization, prevent over-expenditures, and manage labor distributions/personnel charges.
• Reconciliations & Cost-Share Tracking: Audit human resource expenditures, travel vouchers, and procurement charges against grant terms. Track, document, and report mandatory or voluntary committed cost-sharing obligations.
• Lifecycle Closeouts: Execute comprehensive closeouts for expiring grant segments. Prepare and process Project Modification Requests (PMRs) for budget modifications, no-cost extensions, or residual balance distributions, ensuring audit-ready documentation is permanently archived.

Model Alignment, Cross-Coverage & Leadership

• Matrixed Team Collaboration: Actively participate in the broader College ORA network to ensure alignment with university-wide research administration standards. Navigate the dual priorities of central College compliance policy and local departmental workflow.
• Cross-College Workload Balancing: Participate in the new model’s agile resource framework, willingly stepping in to provide temporary pre- or post-award coverage for other COE departments during peak submission cycles or staff absences to maintain college-wide continuity.
• Faculty Onboarding & Training: Develop and deliver targeted resources, onboarding guides, or info-sessions for new faculty and departmental business officers regarding centralized ORA standard operating procedures and financial management tools.

This position is open for current NC State Employees only, permanent or temporary.

Minimum Education and Experience

Bachelor’s degree; or an equivalent combination of training and experience. All degrees must be received from appropriately accredited institutions.

Other Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in university research administration encompassing both pre-award proposal development and post-award financial management.
• Proven ability to work successfully and adapt within a matrixed, shared-services, or centrally managed/departmentally embedded operational model.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including experience building financial spreadsheets, tracking formulas, and data analysis.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to navigate stakeholder relationships with consultative diplomacy.
• Strong organizational skills and the capacity to balance localized faculty needs with central compliance frameworks under rigid deadlines.

Preferred Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in university research administration within an R1 research institution.
• Deep working knowledge of Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), Cost Accounting Standards, and rules governing major federal sponsors (NSF, NIH, DOD, NASA, DOE).
• Direct experience utilizing NC State systems or equivalent institutional frameworks: RED PT, PD and PAM, PeopleSoft Financials, and Wolf Reports.
• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) or Certified Professional Pre-Award/Post-Award Research Administrator (CPRA/CFRA) credential.