The Senior Research Administration Associate will provide grants administration support for the Center for Research Advancement in the Department of Pediatrics. Primary responsibilities will include the financial management activities of grants in pre-award areas: submissions requirements (BCM and the funding institution such as the NIH, CDC and others), budget creation, cost assessment, account creation, financial set-up, sub-award management, resource allocation, internal and external reporting requirements, and managing all pre-award related activities. Reports through the Pediatrics Center for Research Advancement and Division leadership for key deliverables.

Position is eligible for hybrid work schedule after initial training period.

Employees with CRA certification are eligible for certification pay.

Job Duties

• Responsible for the pre-award financial management activities of grants, managing the full award life cycle, from application to award closeout.
• Prepares budget justifications, creates budget spreadsheets, and completes other budget forms for submission and reporting. Provides budget guidance and input to principal investigators.
• Provides guidance to research faculty, employees, and learners for proposal development and submissions by interpreting granting agency guidelines and instructions.
• Negotiates industry-sponsored contracts, including clinical trial agreements, sponsored research agreements, and material transfer agreements.
• Leads with BCM Grants and Contract and Sponsored Programs Office for pre-award processes.
• Communicates with BCM Accounting, Sponsored Programs, Grants & Contracts Office, and collaborating institutions to ensure awards and independent consultant agreements are established and executed in a timely manner.
• Maintains Data of active, pending, and closed grants: number of submissions, number of awards, faculty effort and other statistics related to grant reporting.
• May assist with maintaining Cost/Effort allocations in the BCM Effort Reporting System/PEPT for research faculty, employees, and learners.
• May submit Payroll Cost Transfer requests for research faculty, employees, and learners.
• Assists with leading the development and continuous improvement of the grants management process for the Division of Infectious Diseases.
• Prepares financial reporting and provides feedback to Infectious Diseases leadership and Investigators as directed.
• Ensures compliance with federal, sponsor, and institutional policies and guidelines and serves as a liaison between faculty, employees, learners, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Sponsors.
• Responsible for assisting and completing the BCM annual budget for their assigned division’s research activities and programs. Includes budget entries related to research personnel PI’s and staff, distribution (PEPT), F&A budget calculations, IDC, and other related budget entries and calculation.
• Supports Researchers in Pediatric Renal, Rheumatology, Academic Gereral Medicine, and other Pediatrics divisions as assigned.
• Manages complex awards and sub-awards from multiple sponsors and outside institutions: industry, clinical, federal, and foundation - including, but not limited to CDC & NIH. Applications may involve multi-site collaborations with multiple partnering institutions or sub-awardees. Partner organizations may be international, adding complexity due to varying IRB, regulatory, and government compliance requirements.
• Coordinates with BCM’s Biomedical Research and Assurance Information Network (BRAIN), Institutional Review Board (IRB), Research Conflict of Interest (RCOI), PEPT, and other BCM compliance and research administration systems.
• Performs other job related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree. Certified Research Administrator certification through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) may substitute for the degree requirement.
• Four years of relevant experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in Business, Finance, Accounting or related field.
• At least four years of relevant experience, in grant application development, budgeting, and/or grant financial management.
• Working knowledge of sponsor application submission systems such as ASSIST, Workspace, and Proposal.
• Prior experience working in healthcare and/or academic research setting strongly preferred.
• Ability to understand and manage the complexities of research grants, including issues related to informed consent, access to data, and conflict of interest.
• Strong attention to detail and data quality.
• Able to effectively communicate and share ideas, concerns, details with PI, managers, and coworkers.
• Must have wide-depth of knowledge with relevant experience of contracts, subcontracts, and be highly comfortable managing multiple projects at one time.