[Remote] Director Pre-Award Administration

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Northeastern University is seeking a Director of Pre-Award Administration to lead a team focused on service excellence and compliance in research administration. The Director will oversee the pre-award process, ensure operational effectiveness, and provide guidance on regulations and policies while fostering collaboration among faculty and research teams. Responsibilities • Direct and establish priorities for day-to-day operations, conduct strategic planning to align with our research mission • Successfully manage dynamic workload, meet changing stakeholder and customer demands • Establish and ensure ongoing application of processes and best practices for all services provided by the team. Standardize workflow, communications flow, status tracking, and documentation processes for all tasks, such as new application, progress report, and JIT requests, and new funding type determinations • Represent the Pre-Award Team for the College, interacting with faculty, Finance & HR, leaders of NU-RES offices, and others. Promote success of the Pre-Award team by working closely and collaboratively with all constituents including Associate Dean of Research and Director of Development. Maintain positive relationships with faculty, address escalated issues and concerns, especially complex matters related to large, multi-PI grants • Facilitate portfolio model and ensure cross-coverage and seamless support during personnel leaves and transitions • Foster a compliant environment by staying abreast of changes in agency regulations, requirements, and policies and disseminating agency information. Keep informed of emerging federal issues that will impact sponsored programs • Provide problem resolution to Pre-Award team and (where relevant) include escalation, work delegation, retention, training, performance management, feedback, and alignment to achieve college goals • Lead efforts to review and improve business practices, provide action oriented and expert support to principal investigators • Serves as a technical resource to Pre-Award staff in interpreting sponsor rules and regulations during the proposal development stage • Hire, supervise, and train Pre-Award team members. Provide mentorship and support the ongoing development of the team • Develop and set team metrics addressing and ensuring internal operational efficiencies, maximum productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee proficiency. Ensure monitoring of key performance indicators and reporting to research leadership • Manage assignment coordination and workload distribution of three professional Pre-Award research administrators • Manage annual performance evaluation, mentor current staff in career development, knowledge improvement, and establishments of best practices • Conduct interviews for new hires and onboarding/ training of new hires • Work with Pre-Award staff and other stakeholders to develop and maintain an administrative manual for Pre-Award administration • Advice the Senior Associate Dean, Associate Dean for Research and Director of Research Development on the development and implementation of policies in the college to establish an effective and efficient college level grant administration office • Work closely with the Post-Award Team to ensure the teams provide coordinated and seamless support to departments; Works collaboratively and cooperatively with faculty and the research development and Pre-Award teams, and all aspects of grant administration Skills • Demonstrated leadership, as a leader and manager, in a research administration setting; proven record of staff supervision, personnel management, and staff development experience, which includes performance evaluations and ability to mentor and coach staff for change • Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail • Experience working with senior leadership and all relevant external and internal constituencies such as sponsor agencies, diverse faculty, research and administrators • Experience in institutional process, policy and procedure development • Demonstrated ability to work independently, as well as part of a team under tight deadlines • Comprehensive knowledge of federal regulations and experience in managing compliance and interpreting and applying university and sponsor policies and procedures • Experience with ePaws, Coeus, electronic grants administration and submission systems such as grans.gov, ASSIST, eRA commons, FastLane - Research.gov, and similar systems • Advanced use of computer applications (i.e. Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Access) • Experience with ‘Project Management' and ‘Lean process' principles • Master's Degree in Business Administration or related field preferred and significant related experience (7 to 10 years) managing departments, faculty and researchers in federal and non-federal research administration at a non-profit organization • Designation of Certified Research Administrator preferred Benefits • Medical • Vision • Dental • Paid time off • Tuition assistance • Wellness & life • Retirement • Commuting & transportation Company Overview • Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university with a distinctive, experience-driven approach to education and discovery. It was founded in 1898, and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, with a workforce of 5001-10000 employees. Its website is Company H1B Sponsorship • Northeastern University has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships, with 105 in 2025, 117 in 2024, 106 in 2023, 100 in 2022, 85 in 2021, 111 in 2020. Please note that this does not guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Apply tot his job