West Virginia University Hiring for Remote/Hybrid Assistant Director of Award Negotiation – Office of Sponsored Prog at Morgantown, WV  Full Time

West Virginia University Office of Sponsored Programs is currently accepting applications for a Remote/Hybrid Assistant Director of Award Negotiation.

About the Opportunity

As an Assistant Director of Award Negotiation, you will work with leaders in a variety of compliance departments, including, but not limited to, the Export Control Office, the Office of Technology Transfer, the Office of Human Research Protection, the Office of Animal Welfare, and WVU General Counsel. Work effort has considerable impact on client services, program and project image, with potential legal liabilities.

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays ()
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year
• 18 sick days per year (for when you’re ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family’s, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of (this position is a benefits-eligible non-classified staff position)
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for ? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQs.
• Wellness programs

What you’ll do:

The Award Negotiation Assistant Director is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the award negotiation sub-department. The award negotiation Assistant Director will:

45%

• Manage personnel matters for the award negotiation sub-department, including but not limited to, work assignments, professional development, leave approvals, development and delivery of performance evaluations, and progressive discipline for sub-department employees.
• Manage the day-to-day operations of the award negotiation sub-department within OSP. Manage and develop staff by providing day-to-day work planning, direction, monitoring and ensuring accuracy and completeness of work products and opportunities for development, coaching and mentoring, and implementation of a comprehensive staff development process.
• Coordinate with the associate director of award negotiation to identify candidates, conduct interviews, document results, and make thoughtful and justifiable hiring decisions in accordance with WVU policies and procedures and leadership best practices, as needed.
• Motivate staff to achieve positive results by professionally and firmly redirecting negative and unproductive behavior and encouraging positive behavior.
• Assist with the routine management and development of ad hoc proposal reports from the KC Negotiations Database on a regular basis.
• Manage and direct training processes for new employees.
• Participate in cross-training employees in the core functions of OSP.
• Provide training for WVU faculty and staff in contract and agreement requirements, terms and conditions, etc.
• Use WVU OSP systems and tools (e.g., WVU+kc, Microsoft Teams, and Trello) to complete work assignments to staff in consideration of workload and experience. Monitor accuracy and completeness of work products.
• Monitor daily agreement queue for time-sensitive projects. Follow up with award negotiation staff to ensure all assigned agreement actions are completed.
• Assign rotating tasks to award negotiation personnel.

35%

• Participate in award negotiation Kuali Coeus (KC) or other era module testing and improvement recommendations.
• Manage award negotiation training opportunities for the WVU community.
• Engage in the award negotiation data transfer/data use agreement, and clinical trial agreement process.
• Review contractual documents (e.g., agreements, purchase orders, grant awards) ensuring that all terms and conditions are acceptable to the University, WVU Research Office, WVU Research Corporation, Board of Trustees, and Principal Investigator.
• Provide program, as well as direct internal and external client support services.
• Provide guidance to faculty and staff regarding sponsored programs as they may relate to compliance issues including, but not limited to, export control, data security and data use, and human subjects.
• Manage drafting and maintenance of award negotiation manuals and guidance to ensure consistency and compliance by the WVU community.
• Prepare letters of exception to describe any terms and conditions that are unacceptable.
• Correct or work with appropriate agency contacts to ensure that corrections and/or exceptions are incorporated into the terms and conditions, as directed.
• Negotiate terms with sponsor based on university policies and under the general supervision of the Director of OSP.
• Coordinate with the Award Initiation and Management sub-department to assist with the establishment of sponsored awards within ORACLE.
• Manage the preparation and negotiation of subcontract agreements that protect the interests of the University by ensuring that subcontract agreements are in compliance with the prime sponsor guidelines, contractual requirements, federal regulations, including Uniform Guidance and federal funding accountability and transparency act (FFATA) requirements, and University policy considerations in the areas of intellectual property, copyright, insurance, governing laws, indemnification, and payment schedules.
• Manage the assessment of sponsor type, activity, and statement of work to determine the appropriate flow-down clauses.
• Manage the assessment of subrecipient eligibility and risk.
• Direct the establishment of subcontract payment schedules, to create mandatory audit documentation and ensure efficient cashflow.
• Utilize the OSP platform, Kuali Coeus (KC), to create and locate reference documents, activity, and route logs.
• Ensure that proper approvals are obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the Protection of Human Subjects, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and the institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) for any proposal revisions upon completion of the review process.
• Provide internal and external customer service to include addressing sponsor and customer verbal and written inquiries.

10%

• Maintain award negotiation personnel access to sponsor systems.
• Manage and monitor electronic research administration (era) system activities.
• Participate in award negotiation KC module or other era module testing and improvement recommendations.
• Perform Electronic Research Administration (eRA) system activities such as user account creation, account modification, updating institutional and sponsor information, and other eRA duties as assigned.

10%

• Build and maintain positive business relationships with internal and external customers, including college, department, and center leaders.
• Ensure proper follow-up to agency requests pertaining to the negotiation of agreements. Advise faculty on necessary follow-up such as related terms and conditions.
• Respond to faculty inquiries regarding award negotiation procedures.
• Maintain meticulous records.
• Complete other duties as assigned by the Associate Director of award negotiation.

• Master’s degree or Bachelor’s degree, with equivalent relevant directly related experience.
• A minimum of five (5) years of experience in Research Administration, including expert knowledge of application of 2 CFR 200.
• A minimum of two (2) years of experience in:
  • Staff Supervision
  • Electronic Research Administration
  • Training and Development of Staff
• Excellent communication and listening skills.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to interact with various customers throughout WVU.
• Requires independent judgement, strong organizational skills, and the ability to address customer service concerns.
• Knowledge and ability to transfer attention among tasks within short periods of time.
• Demonstrated ability to organize and manage workload to meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated commitment to customer and team-oriented management.
• Demonstrated ability to apply judgement, discretion, and initiative in coordination of many different and complex tasks.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate, empower, and lead employees.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement training activities.
• Demonstrated ability to supervise others and provide constructive feedback.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a team and delegate.
• Demonstrated problem solving skills.
• Demonstrated knowledge of research administration.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and appropriately apply Federal, State, and University policies and procedures, and interpret cost principles.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate with senior administrators regarding technical issues.
• Must be enterprising, judicious, entrepreneurial, and diplomatic.

• Certified Research Administrator, preferred.

At West Virginia University, we leverage our talents and resources to create a better future for our state and the world. As West Virginia’s land-grant university, WVU has three campuses that touch each corner of the state. The WVU System includes 518 buildings on 15,880 acres, Extension Service offices in all 55 counties, ten experimental farms and four forests.

From the groundbreaking R1 research of our flagship campus in Morgantown to the career-oriented programs of WVU Potomac State in Keyser to the technology-intensive programs at WVU Tech in Beckley – the contributions of WVU employees directly impact the 1.8 million people of West Virginia every day, no matter their role or position.

Service, curiosity, respect, accountability, and appreciation are the core values that unite Mountaineers, inspiring one another to work tirelessly and support others as they seek to reach new heights. After all, when you’re a Mountaineer, impossible is just another mountain to climb.

Creating an inclusive, engaged, and dynamic learning environment is core to WVU’s academic mission. We welcome candidates who can contribute a range of ideas, approaches and experiences.

To learn more about West Virginia University, visit go.wvu.edu. View current career opportunities at careers.wvu.edu.

West Virginia University is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer and is the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity. The University values diversity among its faculty, staff, and students, and invites applications from all qualified applicants regardless of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, nationality, genetics, disability, or Veteran status.