Post Award Administrator

Overview

This role provides professional support for post-award activities related to grant and contract proposals and funding within a department or unit. Work includes allocating and managing sponsored award expenses, maintaining and reconciling accounts, supporting compliance and regulatory requirements, and serving as a primary point of contact for faculty and funding-related inquiries.

The position supports the Department of Pathology and involves financial management in a customer service environment.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary account administrator for faculty, including sponsored awards, gifts, and internal funding.
• Allocate, authorize, monitor, and control expenses.
• Maintain, oversee, reconcile, and correct errors in accounts.
• Collaborate with other administrators on procurement processes, including purchasing, internal requisitioning, and personal and travel reimbursements.
• Partner with central office teams to manage financial and non-financial aspects of post-award grant management.
• Advise and assist with most communications and relationships with funding agencies, subcontractors, and others.
• Identify and resolve problems according to proper policy and procedure.
• Compare actual spending to the original budget and identify variances, with attention to faculty salary.
• Maintain working knowledge of University policies and procedures and working knowledge of policies and procedures of various funding agencies.
• Work closely with the department to manage faculty accounts and ensure appropriate spending.
• Handle straightforward post-award activities including:
  • account creation
  • regulatory and compliance monitoring
  • salary allocations
  • effort reporting
  • grant projections
  • cost allocations and cost center charges
  • equipment inventory
  • invoice preparation
  • grant closing and account closing
• Prepare summaries of grants and effort allocations for Principal Investigators; meet with them and respond to questions.
• Coordinate with other departments/units/divisions regarding multi-investigator grants.
• Serve as the department contact for annual audits and agency site visits.
• Perform other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: College or university degree in a related field.
• Work Experience: Knowledge and skills developed through 2–5 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in accounting, business administration, or science.
• Experience:
  • Administrative, accounting, or grant and contract administration experience
  • Budgeting, ledgers, invoices, and fiscal reporting
  • One or more aspects of sponsored program administration in a research environment
  • Accounting systems

Preferred Competencies

• Strong analytical and organizational skills
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills
• Ability to work closely with senior University officials
• Ability to independently complete projects on time and accurately with minimal supervision

Location

Chicago, IL

Compensation & Benefits

• Pay Range: $75,000.00 - $100,000.00
• Pay Type: Salary
• FLSA Status: Exempt
• Benefits Eligible: Yes (health, retirement, and paid time off for eligible employees)

Work Schedule

• Scheduled weekly hours: 40
• Work non-traditional hours

Other Information

• Drug test required: No
• Health screen required: No
• Motor vehicle record inquiry required: No
• Job family: Financial Management
• Role impact: Individual Contributor

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover Letter (required)

Equal Opportunity

The employer is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on protected characteristics under the law.

Background Checks

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude employment; information is assessed on a case-by-case basis.