What are the responsibilities and job description for the Grants Manager - Department of Chemistry position at Vanderbilt University?
About the Work Unit:
Chemistry is the intellectual home to over 250 students, post-docs, and faculty members working in a wide range of specializations, as well as the interdisciplinary fields of chemical biology, structural biology, molecular toxicology, materials chemistry, and nanotechnology. Close collaboration with the School of Medicine, School of Engineering and other departments within the College of Arts and Science-particularly the departments of Biological Sciences and Physics—provides valuable opportunities to not only excel in the traditional disciplines of chemistry but also investigate the many ways that chemistry intersects with other fields.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Personnel/Payroll
- Serve as Responsible Manager of Department Grants Team including recruiting, training, workflow managements, etc.
- Review and approve time off.
- Manage team schedule to maintain on campus coverage.
- Provide information to others (oral or written) to explain/clarify problems or requests.
- Participate in periodic management meetings to keep top management informed of problems and concerns.
- Oversight of spending compliance across sponsored and non-sponsored funds within the department, including assisting in budget recons and meeting with Faculty, Financial Unit Manager, and AO.
- Communicate, implement, and interpret policies as appropriate.
Budgetary/Financial
- Generates, creates, and provides detailed and accurate monthly financial reports to department PIs including budget vs. actual expenses, forecasting, and burn rate calculations.
- Participates in project financial planning meetings.
- Serves as point of contact for department administrators regarding sponsored project financial information.
- Routinely reviews project transactions to ensure compliance with sponsor and University guidelines.
- Processes retroactive cost transfers to remove non-compliant expenses from projects.
- Monitors PI effort to ensure adherence to effort commitments and compiles requests for grant-funded summer salary.
- Generates required documentation for Research Finance and CAS Research offices for financial closeout of awards.
- Facilitates PI requests for no-cost extension.
- Adjusts costing for grant-funded personnel as requested by department PIs.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Supervisory Relationships:
This position does have responsibility supervising the Department grants staff; the Grants Manager reports administratively and functionally to Department Administrative Officer.
Education and Certifications:
- A Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education, or the equivalent in experience, is necessary.
Experience and Skills:
- A minimum three years of directly related Grants or Financial experience is required.
- Strong interpersonal and communication (written/verbal) skills is necessary.
- Strong personnel management experience is necessary.
- Ability to foster cooperative work environment is necessary.
- Familiarity with faculty cost share policies & procedures is preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze and solve problems in a time-efficient manner, including planning, developing and coordinating multiple projects, is necessary.
- Demonstrated ability to use independent judgment and to manage and impart confidential information is necessary.
- Evidentiary knowledge of human resources administration principles and practices is strongly preferred.
- Skills in the use of word processing, spreadsheet, and database software is necessary.
- Excellent organizational and time management skills are required.
- Ability to manage tasks in a fast-paced environment is required.
- Outstanding attention to detail is required.
- Previous experience with Oracle reporting strongly preferred.
