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Contracts & Grants Research Administration Manager

University of California - San Francisco

United States, California, San Francisco

2233 Post Street (Show on map)

Apr 10, 2026

The Contracts & Grants Research Administration Manager position is in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery. Using skills as a seasoned, experienced research financial administrator, the individual will lead a team of financial post-award analysts for the department.

The Contracts & Grants Research Administration Manager will supervise a team of post-award staff working on grants and contracts according to established policies, practices, and defined internal controls. They will monitor the fiscal budget of contracts and grants and develop a continuous learning program, as well as define departmental policies, procedures, and templates to standardize financial portfolio management for each principal investigator across the department. The role will serve as a subject matter expert in all aspects of financial portfolio management, including federal, state, and private contracts and grants, as well as gift and discretionary funds.

In addition, the Contracts & Grants Research Administration Manager is responsible for financial oversight and analysis of a post-award portfolio of complex grants and awards for principal investigators supported by the department. They will develop and analyze budget plans and create monthly projections of expenses and balances to support decision-making that is consistent with award terms and allows efficient administration to minimize audit risk.

The individual must be able to coordinate between multiple sites, institutions, and investigators and navigate complex funding agency guidelines. They will exercise judgment within defined procedures and policies to determine appropriate actions, identify risks, and respond accordingly. They will provide priority setting and workflow analysis and use advanced contracts and grants concepts to manage high-volume, high-complexity transactions.

The Contracts & Grants Research Administration Manager will work onsite three days per week for the first three months, then one day per week thereafter.

Department Description

The UCSF Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS) at the University of California, San Francisco, is a recognized leader in clinical care, research, and education. The Department of OHNS consists of 9 clinical divisions performing approximately 83,000 procedures, including General Otolaryngology; Pediatric Otolaryngology; Head & Neck Oncologic Surgery & Endocrine Surgery; Laryngology; Otology, Neurotology, & Skull Base Surgery; Rhinology & Sinus Surgery; Facial Plastics & Reconstructive Surgery; Sleep Surgery; and Audiology.

Outpatient and inpatient clinical activities are performed across 7 sites in the San Francisco Bay Area: Mt. Zion, Mission Bay, Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, Zuckerberg San Francisco General, San Francisco VA, Redwood Shores, and Berkeley Outpatient Clinic.

The Department of OHNS also consists of 5 research laboratories, with approximately $11M in sponsored research revenue in FY24/FY25: Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Speech Neuroscience Laboratory, Epstein Laboratories, Head & Neck Cancer Research, and Skull Base and Cerebrovascular Lab.

The department consists of approximately 50 faculty members and 105 non-faculty academic and staff employees, including postdocs, visiting scholars, clinical volunteers, emeritus faculty and staff volunteers, 25 residents, and 4 fellows, with a total expenditure budget of approximately $44 million. The department has experienced rapid growth, increasing faculty by more than 20% over the last 4 years. Additional recruitment and lab expansions are planned over the next three years.

% of time	Essential Function (Yes/No)	Key Responsibilities (To be completed by Supervisor)
50		Otolaryngology Contracts & Grants Research Financial Administration Supervison: Under the general oversight of the Chief Administrative Officer, oversees daily operations of post award activities for the department to ensure compliance, consistency, and effective collaborations. Independently resolves administrative, operational, compliance issues within the latitude of established guidelines and policies. Leads the research unit on planning, establishment and monitoring of fiscal budget control of contracts and grants administration, close-out submissions, budgets, support documents, gifts, endowments, faculty discretionary and privately funded projects for faculty research programs. Provides guidance and counsel on wide variety of highly complex research administration matters, such as clinical trials projects and training grants, to principal investigators, and less experienced department staff. Reviews award terms and conditions. Meet with post award analysts monthly to review grant spending and projections for future expenses. Reviews and approves all cost transfer journals and personnel funding distributions on research funds. Serve as a subject matter expert in all aspects of financial portfolio management, including federal, state, and private contracts and grants, as well as gift and discretionary funds. Participates in the development and monitoring of policies and procedures for department or department operations. Suggests ways to improve research operations: (techniques to improve performance, processes, etc.) Evalulates and recommend improvements for business practices for post award research administration to ensure fiscal responsibility, maximizing efficiency and eliminiating redundancy and outdated business procedures. Develops continuous learning program for the department's post award team. Develops departmental policies, procedures, and templates to standardize financial portfolio management across the department. Provides training and professional development, either formally or on-the-job for staff to ensure subject matter knowledge in appropriate areas (e.g., sponsored project administration, post-award administration, etc.). Delivers specialized training and / or develops content for education workshops in the area of research administration, and other activities to enhance funding opportunities for the organization. Recommends hiring of new employees, salary actions, terminations, and performance ratings. Evaluates performance and competency and defines development goals. Serves as a role model for assigned staff of technical expertise, professionalism, and excellent communication Run fund balance status report on monthly basis to identify actual or potential overdrafts and analysis/ recommendation of needed actions for team. Independently gathers information as needed to perform financial analysis. Prepares journal entries; maintains and reconciles ledger accounts. Serves as the Bear buy back-up Approver for purchase orders over $5k on sponsored funding and eProposal Applications.
30		Post-Award/Finance Management: Maintain a post award portfolio as assigned. Independently responsible for the financial management and analysis of complex grants and contract budgets and awards. Develop and analyze budget plans, create monthly projections of expenses and balances to support decision making and that are consistent with the award terms and that allow efficient administration to minimize audit risk. Analyze all budgets and expenditures for any variances to ensure that spending is in accordance with the sponsor's terms and conditions and UCSF policies. Maintains timely and effective communication with all relevant parties throughout the entire post-award process (e.g., agencies investigators, department administrators, Contracts and Grants, other campus units, etc.) Prepare award close out reports to ensure all award activity is captured and reported to sponsors in a timely fashion to maximize available funding.
20		Communicates regularly with management on unit activities and on pertinent operational or human resources issues. Acts as advisor to management on complex contract proposals and awards. Reviews grant or contract proposals, budgets and awards; obtains / verifies appropriate approvals from applicable compliance committees. Applies professional knowledge / experience to prepare, review and / or approve financial transactions. Assist in conduct of ad hoc research analysis and preparation of related materials as directed by the Post Award Manager. Serve as departmental representative on campus-wide committees and workgroups as requested. Develops and monitors operational and budget processes, staff FTE, finance, human resources, and space planning. Apprise the CAO of any issues between post-award staff & RMS. Suggest improvements and alternatives in pre/post award workflow process. Monitor and identify training needs in the department related to progress reporting, faculty other support reporting and application budget review as it relates to post-award implementation. Other projects as assigned by the Chief Administrative Officer.
100%		(To update total %, enter the amount of time in whole numbers (without the % symbol - e.g., 15, 20) then highlight the total sum (e.g., 1%) at the bottom of the column and press F9. The total sum should add up to 100%.)

Required Qualifications

*Bachelor's degree in related area.

*A minimum of 5 years of related experience/ or equivalent experience / training.

*Working knowledge of contracts and grants transactions and applicable financial systems, as well as related policy, accounting and regulatory compliance requirements.

*Thorough knowledge of Federal Acquisition Regulation, Code of Federal Regulations, sponsor-specific policies, intellectual property policies, conflict of interest requirements, publication rights, application of indirect cost rates and other complex concepts in research administration.

*Thorough knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply sponsor policies. Knowledge of current compliance regulations in all areas of research administration.

*Ability to manage high volume and complex transactions.

*Ability to perform highly complex financial analysis and customized reporting.

*Thorough knowledge of policy and its interpretations.

*Demonstrated advanced knowledge of generally accepted accounting, fiscal and reporting principles. Demonstrated advanced competence in the use of spreadsheet and database software in financial analysis, fiscal management and financial reports.

*Proficiency in use of common desktop / web applications.

*Strong interpersonal skills, service orientation, ability to multi-task effectively in a varied, high volume environment, judgment and decision-making, reasoning, ability to develop original ideas to solve problems, and effective verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

*Thorough knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply institutional and departmental policies.

*Certified Research Administrator (CRA).