Grant & Project Support Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Special Information

• This position is a hybrid position which allows the incumbent to complete their work at both an NAU site, campus, or facility and at a non-centralized site with or without accommodation.
• This position is subject to the availability of funding. 

About the Department/College

NAU’s Radiant Center for Remote Sensing coalesces existing expertise in remote sensing and applications across the university to answer pressing scientific questions in multiple disciplines including planetary surfaces, atmospheres, ecology, forestry, wildfire science, environmental science, urban planning/geography, geoscience/volcanology, and anthropology/archeology. The Radiant Center is housed under the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) which promotes research, scholarship, and creative activity across Northern Arizona University.

About the Position

The Radiant Center is seeking an experienced Grant and Project Support Manager to support project management for recently activated US Army Corps of Engineers programs. Beyond these programs, this position provides broader grant and project management support for sponsored activities across Radiant, including proposal development, budget preparation and oversight, post-award activities (schedule management, procurement support, reporting, etc.), and other PI support duties. All responsibilities are geared toward supporting project integrity and completion that meet legal, auditing, and foundation requirements, and ensuring compliance with university, state, and federal best practices and regulations.

Grant administration duties will include serving as the primary liaison between investigators, granting agencies, and NAU’s Office of Sponsored Projects in the budgeting and preparation of grant proposals; recording and tracking grant proposals, awards, funding agency requirements and forms; managing reference documentation, investigator profiles and curriculum vitae, abstracts, reference literature, internal/external reporting, and other pertinent material. Financial tasks will include tracking expenditures, providing financial forecasting, facilitating procurement of research equipment and materials, initiating fund transfers as directed, helping to track and invoice subaward contracts, reporting to sponsors, and providing custom invoicing & backup documentation for subrecipient invoicing.

This position serves as an important member of the Radiant administrative team and may direct students, part-time employees or full-time employees in carrying out their duties of Grant and Project Management.

Responsibilities Include

45% - Project Management Support

• Monitor spending on grants.
• Maintain and track progress on projects and stay in communication with the engineering team.
• Maintain the program schedule and milestones with engineering team and PI, including weekly updates and status meetings.
• Collect information needed for funding agency reports, and support report submissions; support PIs with quarterly, annual, final, or other reporting.
• Facilitate purchasing of research equipment, materials, supplies, and software, and provide travel support for grant-related travel.
• Interface with NAU Facility Services, ITS, NAU Purchasing, Finance and HR Service Teams as needed.
• Ensure that all personnel FTEs are correct and that personnel are removed from grant funds at the time of close out, or when scheduled by the needs of the grant.
• Ensure that faculty salaries are split across projects appropriately, as relevant.
• Initiation of fund transfers (IDT, IPT) and funding changes with Radiant’s Financial Oversight Analysts.
• Provide research support to Pls including grant cost share tracking, IDC tracking, and general Pl financial support in coordination with the Radiant admin team.
• Assist with hiring of staff and student workers on research grants.
• Assist with funded research project management, including budget, travel, personnel, purchasing.

40% - Proposal Development Support

• Lead proposal and budget preparation.
• Coordinate and support development and writing of grant proposals including large interdisciplinary proposals involving faculty in different departments, colleges, and units at the university as well as partners outside the university.
• Work with faculty and staff to develop grant proposal budgets and ensure that project budgets are in line with project needs and are within NAU and funding agency guidelines
• Identify relevant funding opportunities for state, federal and private opportunities and support the initiation of submissions to these programs by Center members.
• Thoroughly research sponsor guidelines for each proposal submission.
• Assist with identifying and gathering needed documents (e.g., letters of support, biosketches, sub recipient documents) and assist in formatting proposals to meet agency requirements and guidelines.
• Maintain updated PI documentation (e.g., biosketches, current and pending, etc.) in a centralized location.

10% - Interface with Sponsored Projects

• Act as liaison with Office of Sponsored Projects (both pre- and post-award teams).

5% - Other

• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or related field.
• 1 year of management experience.
• 2 years of relevant experience.

*A combination of related education, experience, and training may be used as an equivalent to the above Minimum Qualifications.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in finance and grant/sponsored project management in an institution of higher education.
• Experience with Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel,
• Experience with NAU Financial Systems - Peoplesoft, Anaplan budget software, and Enterprise Reporting
• Experience supporting federal space agency or aerospace/engineering research programs, including familiarity with program requirements, reporting structures, and compliance frameworks.
• Experience with integrated master schedules and milestone tracking for complex hardware development programs using tools such as MS Project, Smartsheet, or equivalent scheduling software
• Experience with project management and collaboration platforms such as Jira, Confluence, or equivalent tools for tracking tasks, issues, and team coordination.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Knowledge

• Knowledge of grant funding policies and procedures and applicable local, state, federal, and university regulations.
• Knowledge of federal, state, and/or community funding sources and mechanisms.
• Knowledge of cloud-based grant management systems.
• Knowledge of appropriate and allowable costs related to various funding sources.
• Knowledge of technical review processes, and associated documentation practices.
• Knowledge of project scheduling methodologies and cost/schedule performance tracking in complex technical programs.

Skills

• Budget development and fiscal management skills.
• Program development and execution.
• Customer service skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Proficiency with project management and collaboration platforms (e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, Jira, Confluence, or equivalent)
• Integrated master schedule development and milestone tracking.

Abilities

• Sustains complex, multi-project teams across technical and administrative domains.
• Possesses strong leadership practices.
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships.
• Communicates effectively across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Possesses strong problem solving, organizational, and analytical capabilities.

Compensation

Salary range begins at $70,000. Annual salary commensurate with candidate's qualifications and related experience.

Pre-Employment Check

Northern Arizona University requires satisfactory results for the following: a criminal background investigation, an employment history verification and a degree verification (in some cases) prior to employment. You may also be required to complete a fingerprint background check. Also, as an employer in the state of Arizona, NAU is required to participate in the federal E-Verify program that assists employers with verifying new employees' right to work in the United States.

This position has been identified as a safety/security sensitive position. Therefore, per AZ Revised Statute, Northern Arizona University requires satisfactory results for the following: a criminal background investigation, employment history investigation, degree verification (in some cases) and fingerprinting. If you are applying for a job that requires a CDL, you will be required to register with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse and adhere to the clearinghouse requirements.

Notice of Availability of the Annual Fire and Security Report

Each year Northern Arizona University releases an Annual Security Report. The report is a result of a federal law known as the Clery Act. The report includes Clery reportable crime statistics for the three most recent completed calendar years and discloses procedures, practices and programs NAU uses to keep students and employees safe including how to report crimes or other emergencies occurring on campus. In addition, the Fire Safety Report is combined with the Annual Security Report for the NAU Flagstaff Mountain Campus as this campus has on-campus student housing. This report discloses fire safety policies and procedures related to on-campus student housing and statistics for fires that occurred in those facilities. If you would like a free paper copy of the report, please contact the NAUPD Records Department at View phone number on ziprecruiter.com or by visiting the department at 525 E. Pine Knoll Drive in Flagstaff.

Immigration Support/Sponsorship

Northern Arizona University will not provide any U.S. immigration support or sponsorship for this position.

Submit your Application

To apply for this position, please click on the "Apply" button on this page. You must submit your application by midnight of the application deadline.

If you are an individual with a disability and need reasonable accommodation to participate in the hiring process, please contact the Disability Resources Office at View phone number on ziprecruiter.com, View email address on ziprecruiter.com, or PO Box 5633, Flagstaff AZ 86011.