What are the responsibilities and job description for the Agreement Coordinator position at Vanderbilt University?
The Agreements Coordinator is part of the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) at Vanderbilt University and is a key individual contributor responsible for ensuring the high-volume, fast-paced environment of the CTTC functions smoothly. This position will provide various services support to facilitate the effective management of Vanderbilt University (VU) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) contract and subcontract projects and other agreements in a high-volume, fast-paced, and dynamic team environment. The Agreements Coordinator will report to the CTTC Licensing Manager who oversees the Contracts Team and will serve as the liaison/customer service representative to VU and VUMC inventors, departments, external institutions/organizations, and sponsors.
The mission of the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) is to provide professional commercialization services to the Vanderbilt community, thus optimizing the flow of innovation to the marketplace and generating revenue that supports future research activities, while having a positive impact on society. CTTC accomplishes this by serving as an efficient and effective conduit for the transfer of promising intellectual property to industry; contributing to regional economic development by licensing and supporting new venture creation; and encouraging greater translational research collaborations between academia and industry.
Duties and Responsibilities
Contract and Agreement Management
Contract and Agreement Management
- Manage all workflow activities with respect to contract review and processing, and assist the Contracts Team in creating and maintaining electronic files, assigning contract review responsibilities, overseeing agreement processing activities, and ensuring effective management of VU contract/subcontract projects.
- Correspond and share documents with CTTC personnel, Vanderbilt and VUMC investigators, and other corporate and academic collaborators.
- Perform export control analyses and controlled materials searches for CTTC using the Visual Compliance software system to ensure that agreements between Vanderbilt and non-US entities does not violate export control laws, rules and regulations.
- Triage of all workflow documents and assign contract reviews to appropriate staff members, and track progress using CTTC software systems.
- Monitor of the CTTC agreements public email folder.
- Assist departmental staff involved in contract administration by serving as a subject matter expert and interpreting and providing guidance on University policies and sponsor regulations.
- Independently keep abreast of changes and updates in sponsored projects and data transfer terms and conditions and University policies as they relate to the establishment/maintenance of third party agreements.
- Work with Vanderbilt stakeholders to complete invention disclosures and Government compliance obligations.
Data Management, Reporting, and Analytics
- Assist contract team with set-up of electronic files for review and negotiation.
- Enter contracts into the Inteum system in a timely manner.
- Manage the intake process for new invention disclosures.
- Oversee Federal compliance management with respect to Vanderbilt and VUMC inventions and associated agreements. This responsibility includes managing the intake of all new technology disclosures and utilization and operation of CTTC's Inventor Portal used for all new technology disclosure submission.
- Ensure that researcher documentation (assignments, inventor contributions, etc) are complete and accurate.
- Review all disclosures and confirm the integrity and completeness of such documents, and work with Vanderbilt innovators to complete submissions.
- Coordinate with Licensing Officers, the Database Administrator and Inventors to resolve new disclosure compliance issues such as incomplete funding information and insufficient technology descriptions that do not meet federal requirements.
- Perform data integrity checks in both the department's Inteum Web database and the NIH-managed iEdison System where all federal invention reporting is maintained.
- Confirm invention, patent and or licensing activity for the Office of Sponsored Program's monthly grant progress reports due to confirm the accuracy of progress reports submitted by inventors for meeting their grant report compliance.
- Ensure fulfillment of all Federal Government requirements for completing invention utilization reports for Federal agencies, and for otherwise reporting income and other key metrics, into the NIH-managed iEdison database for the NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration.
- Ensure completion and accuracy of Federal reporting of agreements within the NIH-iEdison system.
- Review and reconcile various data exception reports on a monthly/weekly basis to assist in the data integrity monitoring of agreements with industry and nonprofit collaborators.
Qualifications
- A bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent combination of education, experience, relevant military experience, and relevant skills, is required.
- At least two (2) years of related experience with databases and report creation and manipulation is necessary.
- Exceptional organizational/analytical skills and attention to detail is necessary.
- Ability to take initiative, prioritize workload, and follow up consistently with limited or no supervision is necessary.
- Competency with computers and the Microsoft Office Suite is necessary.
- Demonstrated ability to use independent judgment and manage confidential information is necessary.
