• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $80,000 to $95,000

Position Summary

The Department of Computer Science is currently seeking to appoint a Senior Grants Specialist. This department is committed to democratizing access to computer science education across the student body. It provides a comprehensive curriculum for majors, ranging from introductory courses in computer science and programming to advanced studies across ten research domains. Additionally, there are numerous opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in research projects, facilitating hands-on learning and practical experience.

Reporting to the Associate Director of Finance and Grants in the Department of Computer Science, the Senior Grants Specialist will be responsible for all aspects of pre- and post-award grants management and research administration services provided to faculty. Functioning at an intermediate-advanced level, the incumbent independently manages a diverse portfolio of simple to complex grants and contracts from sponsors such as NSF, DARPA, foundations, industry, and other agencies.

Responsibilities

• (45%) Pre-award
  • Pro-actively manages the pre-award process including but not limited to:
  • Assists PIs in all aspects of pre-award grants management to ensure timeliness, accuracy, and compliance.
  • Provide planning, instruction, preparation assistance and support related to grant application procedures.
  • Develops and reviews budgets and related justification for appropriateness and completeness of content.
  • Facilitates subcontract negotiations as needed.
  • Ensures compliance with federal, university, and sponsor policies and requirements.
  • Serves as the departmental point of contact and knowledge resource on grant proposal matters.
  • Communicates updates on government and university grant policies and procedures.
  • Prepares and maintains proposal guidelines, forms, and checklists to streamline the pre-award process.

• (45%) Post-award
  • Sets up awards, project budgets, and fiscal year budgets, including personnel effort allocation.
  • Regularly monitors expenses, obligated balances, variance between actual and budgeted expenses, grant expense eligibility, and purchasing transactions.
  • Reviews and updates effort/payroll allocations on grants as needed.
  • Develops and monitors comprehensive post-award reports and dashboards for departmental PIs.
  • Prepares quarterly grant attestations, performs financial analysis to identify and forecast trends, and recommends strategies to effectively manage spending and mitigate risks.
  • Reviews and resolves open commitments and overdrafts, re-budgets when necessary, completes project closeouts, and performs general financial reconciliations.
  • Liaises with central research administration offices to ensure all financial activities comply with university, government, and sponsor guidelines.
  • Prepares and oversees subcontracts from start to closeout Proactively manages all post-award aspects of the departmental external and internal grants portfolio by working closely with the department finance personnel and Sponsored Projects Finance.
  • Proactively manages the entire post-award lifecycle of the departmental external and internal grants portfolio.

• (10%) Other related duties
  • Assists PIs with annual effort certification.
  • Troubleshoots pre- and post-award issues with the supervisor.
  • Provides oversight to junior analysts and temporary staff, as needed.
  • Assists with internal audits, evaluations, and reporting.

Minimum Qualifications

• A Bachelor's degree, preferably in a technical, scientific, or financial field is required.

• At least 3 years of demonstrated grants pre-award experience, including hands-on proposal submission for NSF and DARPA grants.

• At least 3 years of demonstrated grants post-award or financial analysis/reporting experience.

• Firm understanding of NSF and university-sponsored projects and financial policies.

• Advanced-level experience in developing complex spreadsheets.

• Knowledge of accounting and budgeting policies and practices is required.

• Ability to make independent judgments and to act on decisions on a daily basis.

• Ability to work with flexibility on several tasks simultaneously and to meet various concurrent deadlines.

• Knowledge of external Federal policies (such as Uniform Guidance), guidelines/procedures for grants and contracts, including NSF, DARPA, NIH, and other government and private funding mechanisms, proposal submission platforms such as InfoEd, ASSIST, BAA, FastLane, Research.gov, and Grants.gov.

• Must be detail-oriented with excellent quantitative, analytical, organizational, interpersonal, oral, and written communication and computer skills.

• Ability to work independently in a dynamic environment with changing priorities and multiple responsibilities required. Proven ability to multi-task and meet multiple deadlines is required. Ability to work effectively with faculty, staff, and other departments while providing strong attention to detail. Ability to work discreetly with confidential information.

• Must be customer service-focused, proactive, and a self-starter; capable of working with a diverse constituency, being flexible, and maintaining a positive attitude while meeting strict deadlines.

• This position will involve advanced use of MS Excel including the creation of pivot tables and the use of formulas (i.e. VLOOKUP and Pivot) to create reports and analyze variances on a variety of data sets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Thorough knowledge and understanding of Columbia University's accounting, financial reporting system, and related fiscal policies are preferred.
• Experience in a higher education institution with an engineering research background.
• Master's degree preferred.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.