DESCRIPTION

The Research Grant Program Officer uses advanced contracts and grants concepts to develop large, multi-investigator, multi-year research proposals and manages large, complex research grant programs and initiatives to support research development activities and research priorities within the School of Engineering and on campus.

The incumbent is independently responsible for managing, writing, and preparing all aspects of proposal development to increase the competitiveness of the proposal and the likelihood of success. The incumbent must be knowledgeable about requirements from a variety of agencies including DOD, DOE, DHS, NSF, NIH, and NASA. Serves as a project manager, assigning tasks and timelines to multiple PIs, often from outside academic and industry partners. In addition to expert management skills and knowledge of complex funding source requirements, the incumbent must be knowledgeable about the technical areas encompassed by the research activities proposed. Such knowledge is necessary to ensure the establishment of realistic project goals and timelines and the appropriate allocation of resources to meet those timelines. The incumbent participates in detailed technical discussions, and must be able to attend to the subject matter with sufficient understanding to move a proposal to successful completion.

The incumbent also provides advice and communications assistance to the Dean on a wide variety of issues and special projects. This requires excellent verbal and written communication skills, "people" skills, organizational skills, and the ability to work creatively, independently, and confidentially to reach specific goals without a well-defined pathway. Activities include generation of white papers and short proposals, memoranda of understanding or agreement, presentations, and letters of recommendation, nomination and support for a wide range of areas.

Fulfills responsibility for large, complex research grant programs / initiatives. Participates in short- and long-term strategic planning for grant-making, program evaluation, and research strategies. The incumbent performs other infrastructural activities in support of research development, including the facilitation and consultation on short- and long-term proposal-development projects. Works independently to assess complex grant, contract and subcontract programs where analysis requires an in-depth evaluation of variable factors. Serves as a consultant in a particular area, such as federal contracts, state contracts, subcontracts or information systems to ensure successful proposal development and approval.

Cover letter required for a complete application.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Advanced/Masters degree in related area and/or equivalent experience/training. Ph.D. in a STEM field preferred.

• In-depth academic background and experience in selected area of research including record of publications in related field(s) required. Extensive experience working in a scientific discipline. Experience working with faculty and researchers, preferably in the preparation of proposals. Extensive experience successfully preparing large and complex research proposals.

• Strong technical background including an advanced degree in science or engineering plus related experience typically received by five years working experience, or the equivalent

• Advanced oral and written communication skills. Advanced skills analyzing information, problems, situations, policies or procedures to define the problem, need or objective. Excellent writing, editing, and proofreading skills to write and prepare a variety of correspondence, reports and informational documents for target audiences.

• Effective oral and written communication skills to translate complex concepts from multi-disciplinary proposals into a common vocabulary understandable by academic and non-academic readers. Extensive experience editing and writing technical documents comprised of contributions from multiple authors, especially those involving scientific and medical terminology.

• Proven ability to formulate solutions, new program development, alternative choices and implications for implementation. Proven advanced analytical skills to research, compile, analyze, organize, and summarize information from reports and other sources to prepare technical reports and summarize project data. Advanced analytical skills to understand and evaluate comprehensive and technical material in various scientific subject areas and comprehend the flow of logic in manuscripts. Strong analytical, inductive and deductive reasoning skills. Ability to define problems clearly and extrapolate solutions and future consequences often under the constant pressure of deadlines. Ability to formulate and retain sight of long range plans and goals while dealing with a myriad of day-to-day challenges. Creativity to analyze and solve unusual and new problems in ways which establish effective and efficient precedents.

• Advanced interpersonal skills and ability to work with diverse groups to achieve results. Highly effective interpersonal written and verbal communications skills to interact with diverse groups of individuals at various organizational levels. Advanced knowledge of strategies to integrate diverse perspectives, support community-engaged research, and/or advance the diversity of the research workforce.

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with internal and external peers, managers and teams. Highly effective interpersonal written and verbal communications skills to interact with diverse groups of individuals at various organizational levels. Extensive experience serving internal and external customers. Effective customer service skills. Demonstrated ability to cultivate sustained partnerships with a broad range of institutional and community stakeholders.

• Advanced program planning and management of projects.

• Advanced degree and eight (8) years of relevant experience or equivalent.

• Proven track record in the development of grant proposals, especially large science grants, for a range of sponsor agencies. Advanced research-development experience with content and structure of standard calls for proposals; interpretation of complex sponsor requirements; proposal preparation and review, interpretation of sponsor merit review criteria, and submission requirements for public and private funding agencies. Extensive knowledge of program administration guidelines of Federal and non-Federal sponsors supporting research and educational activities, preferably in a university environment.

• In-depth knowledge of and experience with competitive-intelligence practices.

• Knowledge of team-science principles and effective practices.

• Detailed knowledge and understanding of basic science, translational research methodologies and requirements.

• Demonstrated experience in strategic planning, and advising and collaborating with senior leadership.

• Experience using systems and tools for identification of funding opportunities (e.g., Grants.gov) and discovery of award information (e.g., NIH RePORTER, NSF Awards Database).

• Maintains knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply sponsor, institutional and departmental policies. Knowledge of current compliance regulations in all areas of research administration.

• Knowledge of complex funding sources for various projects, including DOD, DOE, DHS, NSF, NIH, and NASA and other federal and state agencies, UCSD Foundation, campus funds, and others. Ability to analyze which differences and similarities are important.

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Cover letter required for a complete application.

• Job offer is contingent upon satisfactory clearance based on Background Check results.

• Occasional evenings and weekends may be required.