Assistant Director of Research Development Support

Department

Provost Office of Research Development

About the Department

The Office of Research Development (ORD) within the Office of Research is a key strategic partner for faculty across the university in their pursuit of funding for visionary, large-scale interdisciplinary research. This central office supports development of research initiatives and proposals across many ?elds, manages internal competition for federal limited submission funding opportunities, and provides seed funding and strategic support for early-stage research projects at the University.

Job Summary

The Assistant Director will lead research proposal development and professional support for strategic interdisciplinary research activities relating to grant and contract proposals and funding. Reporting to the Executive Director of ORD, the Assistant Director will have scientific aptitude to work collaboratively with faculty in the development of complex research proposals and will serve as a strategic funding consultant across the institution to increase UChicago research funding.

Responsibilities

• Provides guidance to faculty and other personnel during the scientific brainstorming, planning, and decision-making for the application that requires significant knowledge of active and emerging federal research programs, scientific trends, and science team management.
  
• Uses scientific expertise to critically edit technical sections of proposals and draft proposal components such as introductions, summaries, and figures or schemes. Prepares and edits supporting technical documents of proposals for numerous federal agencies including NSF, NIH, DOE, and DOD.
  
• Independently provides comprehensive proposal development support through project management of setting timelines, assigning responsibilities, coordinating writing production, and ensuring efficient document sharing and quality control. Liaises with research administrators and URA for proposal internal review and submission.
  
• Develops and maintains detailed knowledge of faculty research interests and strengths across Divisions with a concentration on identifying potential for interdisciplinary research.
  
• Works with multi-investigator faculty teams to develop funding and research growth strategies by analyzing funding opportunities and/or funding agency priorities to identify and facilitate large proposals.
  
• Develops content and resources for ORD website and intranet, facilitates dissemination of resources, and maintains knowledge of the competitive research funding landscape to promote effective proposal development.
  
• Manages central-level scientific review for federal limited submission opportunities and provides back-up support for managing the administrative processes. Provides scientific guidance when coordinating with the Foundation and Corporate Relations office on internal applications for research funding from non-federal sources.
  
• Leads coordination of the ORD team science activities in support of the Big Ideas Generator (BIG) seed funding program, including program reporting and metrics.
  
• Ensures quality service and communication to faculty and research teams, develops best practices, maintains compliant standardized templates, and communicates policies/requirements for pre- and post-award issues from all federal funding agencies.
  
• Handles straightforward post-award activities including account creations, regulatory and compliance monitoring, salary allocations, effort reporting, grant projections, cost allocations, cost center charges, equipment inventory, invoice preparation, grant closing process, and account closing.
  
• Prepares summaries of grants and effort allocations for Principal Investigators, meets with them, and responds to their questions. Coordinates with other departments/units/divisions regarding multi-investigator grants. Serves as department contact for annual audits and agency site visits.
  
• Performs other related work as needed.
  

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 2-5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

Preferred Quali?cations

Education:

• Master's degree.
  
• Ph.D. in the physical, biological, engineering, or medical sciences.
  

Experience:

• Experience in academia in project management, research administration, or proposal development. Experience in a research environment with knowledge of relevant federal agencies, policies, and procedures.
  

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Proven ability with software and databases.
  
• Demonstrated experience with scienti?c grant writing and proposal development.
  
• High level of ?uency in word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet software (e.g. MS Of?ce, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).
  
• Comfort with technical platforms and databases.
  

Preferred Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to work across groups, coordinate multidisciplinary teams, and intra and interinstitutional partnerships.
  
• Demonstrated experience working in complex environments where collaboration and in?uence management are critical to success.
  
• Proven ability to work effectively and diplomatically with fellow staff members and students, as well as faculty and agency contacts.
  
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, organizational skills, and attention to detail.
  
• Independence, initiative, and strong organizational skills. Multitask, prioritize, and manage multiple simultaneous projects. Work on multiple tasks within strict deadlines.
  
• Strategic and analytical thinking skills with an ability to solve problems and make effective decisions. Professionalism, discretion, tact, and an ability to maintain con?dentiality.
  
• Negotiate on behalf of the unit and build consensus among a large number of diverse stakeholders.
  

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
  
• Cover Letter (required)
  

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Financial Management

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

FLSA Status

Exempt

Pay Frequency

Monthly

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Benefits Eligible

Yes

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

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