Assistant Director-Research Administration

Job Description Summary & Additional Information

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science seeks an Assistant Director of Research Administration at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in Baltimore, Maryland. The Assistant Director leads all sponsored project administration and financial management at (IMET), a research institute comprised of faculty from three partners, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB).

This hands-on role directly supervises administrative and research support staff providing pre- and post-award services, grant-funded procurement, and sponsored travel oversight for the UMCES and UMB faculty and laboratories. Additionally, the position serves as the central reporting officer responsible for tracking, consolidating, and analyzing research activities and expenditures across all three partner institutions (UMCES, UMB, and UMBC).

Core Responsibilities

Reporting & Analytics (UMCES, UMB, UMBC)

• Lead tracking, consolidation, and reconciliation of complex sponsored research data across disparate ERP/grants systems (Kuali, Workday, PeopleSoft, Quantum).

• Maintain oversight of IMET’s proposal submission pipeline, tracking funding success rates and identifying recurring grant opportunities.

• Utilize spreadsheet modeling techniques to build unified monthly, annual, and ad-hoc expenditure reports.

• Deliver research metrics for leadership reviews, external reporting, legislative inquiries, and governing council presentations.

• Track burn rates, cost-share commitments, subrecipient disbursements, and indirect cost recovery across partner accounts.

Research Compliance & Workflow Harmonization (UMCES, UMB, UMBC)

• Monitor lab compliance with federal, state, and institutional guidelines (e.g.,export controls, biosafety protocols, conflict of interest, and data management).

• Bridge administrative procedural differences between UMCES, UMB, and UMB to establish standardized, efficient workflows for resident research teams.

Proposal Development & Pre-Award Facilitation (UMCES & UMB)

• Lead pre-award team, providing guidance on complex, multi-investigator, and multi-institutional proposals to federal (e.g., NSF, NOAA, NIH, DOE, USDA) and non-federal sponsors.

• Supervise proposal budgeting, cost-share monitoring, subaward documentation, and grant packages to ensure compliance prior to institutional routing.

• Act as primary operational liaison to UMCES and UMB Offices of Sponsored Programs (OSP) and Sponsored Projects Accounting (SPA).

Research Operations & Post-Award Management (UMCES & UMB)

• Lead the post-award team providing post-award administrative support for UMCES and UMB faculty, researchers, and technical staff based at IMET.

• Manage award setups, re-budgeting, subaward execution, no-cost extensions, effort reporting, and project closeouts under federal Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200).

Grant-Funded Procurement & Sponsored Travel Oversight (UMCES & UMB)

• Supervise staff handling all grant-funded purchasing and travel to ensure compliance with sponsor guidelines, Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), the Fly America Act, and campus policies.

• Review sole-source justifications, equipment screening requirements, and high- value vendor quotes prior to institutional routing.

• Ensure team maintains audit-ready procurement and travel records across active UMCES and UMB grant accounts. 

Preferences: Masters degree in relevant discipline, experience within higher education or non profit research administration strongly preferred. Certified Research Administrator (CRA) or Certified Financial Research
Administrator (CFRA). Prior experience managing multi-institutional consortium accounts, shared facilities funding, or system-level joint appointments.

Required Application Materials: Cover letter, resume, list of three references and their contact information

Open Until Filled: yes

Minimum Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Business Administration, Finance, Accounting, Research Administration, or related field.

Required Experience: Seven+ years direct experience in sponsored research
administration (pre- and post-award) as well as of at least seven years professional experience managing business operations. Minimum of two (2) years of experience supervising or managing professional staff.

Technical Skills: Intermediate or higher proficiency in Microsoft Excel or similar
(PivotTables, advanced lookups/formulas, and multi-tab data consolidation).
Working knowledge of common office programs (e.g., word processing,
presentation, & database progams).

System Knowledge: Experience navigating enterprise financial/ERP and grant
management platforms.

Compliance Expertise: In-depth working knowledge of federal regulations
(Uniform Guidance 2 CFR 200), direct/indirect costing principles, effort
certification, and sponsor-specific guidelines.
 

Department

Worker Sub-Type

Salary Range

EEO Statement

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science is an equal opportunity employer. The Center’s policies, programs, and activities are in conformance with pertinent Federal and State laws and regulations on nondiscrimination regarding race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, and disability. Inquiries regarding compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; Title IX of the Educational Amendments; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; or related legal requirements should be directed to the Assistant Vice President of Human Resources, Center Administration, 2020 Horns Point Rd, Cambridge, MD 21613.