Research Administration Associate

Division: Pediatrics


Work Arrangement: Hybrid


Location: Hybrid within Greater Houston, TX


Salary Range: $70,618 - $83,080


FLSA Status: Exempt


Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.


Summary


The Research Administration Associate will manage pre- and post-award grant administration in the department of Pediatrics - Tropical Medicine, supporting the National School of Tropical Medicine and the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital. The position will provide advance level support to the division faculty in the pre-award areas of grants preparation, submissions requirements (Baylor and the funding institution such as the NIH, CDC and others), and budget creation. The role will provide knowledge and expertise in post-award management including the key areas of account creation, sub-award management, account reconciliation and reporting, resource allocation, internal and external reporting requirements such at NIH progress reporting, compliance with federal statues such as A133 audits, and other sponsor requirements. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working and navigating federal (NIH, CDC HRSA, US Department of Defense) application process and compliance systems.


The Division of Tropical Medicine is dedicated to the research of neglected tropical diseases, emerging infectious diseases, and diseases of unmet needs. The division organization includes laboratories and Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital that does basic, clinical, and translational research to complement the educational, clinical, and policy-related activities of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Some of the research disease areas include the creation and production of a low cost COVID vaccine, Chagas Disease, dengue fever, West Nile Virus, and Schistosomiasis. Supports 19 Tropical Medicine research faculty and employees, and 6 research post-doctoral students. Pre-award management for the Division of Tropical Medicine. There were (141) grant submissions in FY23. Post-award management for awards totaling $28M over the last 5 years. Recent applications range from $100K to $6M. Most applications are multi-site applications averaging 3-partnering institutions/sub-awards. Partnering Institutions are frequently international, which are very complex due to different IRB and government compliance requirements. Currently the division is managing 48 active grant awards. Will be working with BCM's Biomedical Research and Assurance Information Network (BRAIN), IRB, RCOI and other BCM compliance requirements.


Employees with CRA certification are eligible for certification pay.

Job Duties

• Responsible for the pre-award and post-award financial management activities of grants, managing the full award life cycle, from application to award closeout.
• Prepares budget justifications, creates budget spreadsheets, and completes other budget forms for submission and reporting.
• Provides budget guidance and input to principal investigators.
• Provides guidance to research faculty, employees, and learners for proposal development and submissions by interpreting granting agency guidelines and instructions.
• Leads administrative contact with BCM Grants and Contract and Sponsored Programs Office to create new fund center accounts, process no cost exceptions request (NCE), continuation requests, and grants award closeout process.
• Communicates with BCM Accounting, Sponsored Programs, Grants & Contracts Office, and collaborating institutions to ensure sub-awards and independent consultant agreements are established and executed in a timely manner.
• Maintains Cost/Effort allocations in the BCM Effort Reporting System/PEPT/SAP for research faculty, employees, and learners.
• Submits Payroll Cost Transfer requests for research faculty, employees, and learners.
• Maintains Data of active, pending, and closed grants for Pediatrics Tropical Medicine: number of submissions, number of awards, faculty effort and other statistics related to grant reporting.
• Assists with leading the development and continuous improvement of the pre- and post-award grants management process for the Division of Tropical Medicine.
• Prepares financial reporting and provides feedback to Tropical Medicine leadership and Investigators as directed. -Reviews account expenditures and allocations.
• Assists Tropical Medicine Investigators and laboratory managers to ensure procurement requests are reconciled, paid, and closed out in timely manner.
• Ensures compliance with federal, sponsor, and institutional policies and guidelines and serves as a liaison between faculty, employees, learners, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, and Sponsors.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree. Certified Research Administrator certification through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) may substitute for the degree requirement.
• Two years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• At least two years of relevant experience, in grant application development, budgeting, and/or grant financial management.
• Strong attention to detail, project management skills, and time management.
• Must be able to work independently and multi-task.
• Prior experience working in an academic research setting strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of sponsor application submission systems such as ASSIST, Workspace, and Proposal, Compliance systems.
• Ability to understand and manage the complexities of research grants, including issues related to informed consent, access to data, and conflict of interest.

Work Authorization Requirement:

This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of application and throughout the duration of employment.


Baylor College of Medicine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Equal Access Employer.

Requisition ID: 25581