Team Lead, Grants and Contracts (Shared Services)

Job Description

The Manager, Grants and Contracts (Shared Services) leads a team of Grants and Contracts Specialists within the Office of Sponsored Research and Accounting (OSRA), providing comprehensive lifecycle support for sponsored projects.

This role is responsible for overseeing pre-award, post-award, data management, and compliance functions while ensuring consistent, high-quality service delivery across a shared services model.

The Manager partners with faculty, departments, and central administrative units to drive operational excellence, ensure regulatory compliance, and promote efficient, standardized processes.

This position plays a critical leadership role in advancing the institution’s research enterprise through team development, process improvement, and strong stakeholder engagement.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Team Management


* Supervise, mentor, and develop a team of Grants and Contracts Specialists.


* Manage team workload distribution across a shared services model to ensure timely and high-quality service delivery.


* Establish performance expectations, monitor outcomes, and conduct regular performance evaluations.


* Foster a customer-service-oriented culture focused on responsiveness, collaboration, and continuous improvement.


* Identify training needs and support professional development, including compliance and sponsor knowledge.

Pre-Award Oversight


* Oversee proposal development support, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements.


* Provide guidance on complex proposals, including multi-investigator, multi-site, and high-risk submissions.


* Ensure appropriate review processes are followed prior to submission to OSRA for institutional approval.


* Monitor proposal volume, deadlines, and submission success rates across the team.


* Ensure data integrity for proposal records and current/pending support documentation.

Post-Award Oversight


* Oversee award setup and maintenance in InfoEd and integration into Workday Financials.


* Provide guidance on complex award terms and conditions, including contract negotiations and subawards.


* Ensure appropriate monitoring of budgets, expenditures, and compliance across assigned portfolios.


* Oversee subaward processes, including agreement execution, risk assessment, and subrecipient monitoring.


* Ensure timely completion of prior approvals, financial activities, and award closeout processes.

Data Management and Systems Oversight


* Ensure accuracy and completeness of proposal and award data across InfoEd, Workday Financials, and sponsor systems.


* Oversee data quality initiatives and establish standards for data entry and maintenance.


* Monitor and analyze reporting outputs to support institutional leadership, compliance, and operational decisions.


* Collaborate on system enhancements, implementations, and process standardization...