Manager, Sponsored Research Contract Administration

Manager, Sponsored Research Contract Administration

This position is remote; however, you must be based in a KP location, CA, OR, CO, WA, GA, MD, VA, HI or D.C. 

The Manager, Sponsored Research Contract Administration manages the KFRI research contracting function in compliance with KP policies and procedures, federal and State law and other applicable requirements.  The Manager, Sponsored Research Contract Administration supervises contracting personnel, and manages contract development, negotiation, execution and processing, and tracking of KFRI-s contracting function workload, prioritization and execution.  The Manager will collaborate with regional research leadership in research contracting, including the promotion of best practices in research contracting across the KP research program.    

In addition to the responsibilities listed below, this position is also responsible for guiding and overseeing sponsored research contracting management at Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (KFRI);developing and implementing contract management systems and procedures for all contracts and agreements issued to KFRI; overseeing enterprise-wide research contracting and agreement negotiation; supervising the development of custom reports for management and customers; providing advanced guidance when responding to inquiries from federal contracts and grants officers; manages the negotiation and execution of KP research agreements; serving as subject matter expert for all contracting related issues; serving as an institutional point of contact with regional KP stakeholders and national KP functions; providing guidance and support regarding legal and financial terms and conditions for subcontract agreements between KP and external research sponsors; and supervising timely agreement signature and approval, and ensuring the accuracy and completion of institutional research documents; and serving as a primary departmental point of contact for KP legal counsel on issues, as required.

• Provides developmental opportunities for others; builds collaborative, cross-functional relationships. Solicits and acts on performance feedback; works closely with employees to set goals and provide open feedback and coaching to drive performance improvement. Pursues professional growth; develops and provides training and development to talent for growth opportunities; supports execution of performance management guidelines and expectations. Leads, adapts, implements, and stays up to date with organizational change, challenges, feedback, best practices, processes, and industry trends. Fosters open dialogue amongst team members, engages, motivates, and promotes collaboration within and across teams. Delegates tasks and decisions as appropriate; provides appropriate support, guidance, and scope; encourages development and consideration of options in decision making.
• Manages designated work unit or team by translating business plans into tactical action items; oversees the completion of work assignments and identifies opportunities for improvement; ensures all policies and procedures are followed. Aligns team efforts; builds accountability for and measuring progress in achieving results; determines and ensures processes and methodologies are implemented; resolves escalated issues as appropriate; sets standards and measures progress. Fosters the development of work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines; obtains and distributes resources. Removes obstacles that impact performance; identifies and addresses improvement opportunities; guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly; influences teams to execute in alignment with operational objectives.
• Manages post-award administration by: overseeing budget revision to ensure correspondence with pending award documents; managing the team to track progress reports and prior approval request due dates, and overseeing the completion of administrative requirements from funders; guiding the project teams efforts to complete day-to-day post-award activities(e.g., purchasing items; reviewing expenses, effort, and projections; performing reconciliations; invoicing)to support projects; ensuring project team is notified of upcoming deadlines, and overseeing and guiding completion of post-award requirements (e.g., annual reports, final reports); proactively monitoring and guiding planning for the long-term implementation and maintenance of award systems, files, and accounts; proactively monitoring the accuracy and timeliness of the review and routing of incoming and outgoing agreements for negotiation and execution, providing guidance, as needed; and managing and guiding the project team to efficiently conduct award closeout and finalize closeout reports for submission to sponsor.
• Manages pre-award administration by: leveraging expert knowledge of complex proposals to manage team members to review and draft research proposal application elements, according to proposal guidelines for each submission; providing consultation on and managing the application of research methodologies, processes, and/or protocols, and the utilization of grant management software and other related systems; managing and guiding team members to advise and answer questions from stakeholders relating to pre-award administration and proposal development, including the interpretation and application of granting agency policies, procedures, and regulations; overseeing the development and justification of project budgets in collaboration with the project team; and managing and guiding team members to prepare submissions (e.g., just-in-time) and participate in the award acceptance process in collaboration with the project team and Investigator.
• Manages research accounting by: coordinating resources to facilitate the preparation and provision of accounting documentation (e.g., invoice, financial reports) of contracts and grants; managing the project team to make allowability, allocability, and reasonableness determinations; and reviewing, approving, and proactively identifying and mitigating risks to the timely and accurate preparation and submission of accounting entries (e.g., cost transfers, accruals), journal adjustments, and interregional invoicing documentation, monitoring month-end, year-end, and/or audit-related close and the completion of related analysis.
• Serves as a senior compliance coordinator by: guiding and monitoring proposals to ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations and KP policies and procedures; and developing within-unit research processes, procedures, and guidance for compliance with federal and KP regulations.
• Manages research administration operations by: collaborating in the development of and overseeing operational budgets; managing team to use current systems, and providing detailed input on system and/or business process improvements; monitoring and managing team members portfolios and workloads, partnering with senior manager to reallocate portfolios, as needed; and overseeing compliance with existing research-specific policies and procedures, and providing detailed input on policy and procedure updates.
• Manages research contracting by: overseeing and guiding the project teams negotiation of basic contracts or agreements (e.g., amendments/modifications, confidentiality), standard contracts or agreements (e.g., subawards, subcontracts, data use agreements, and/or clinical trial agreements) and complex contract and agreements (e.g., data sharing and management plans, intellectual property licensing agreements); and overseeing and guiding project team to review, edit, and provide consultation to research administrators and Investigators on basic contract and legal terms (e.g., contract law, statements of work), standard contract and legal terms (e.g., publication, confidentiality, intellectual property, data use, privacy human subject regulations), and complex contract and legal terms (e.g., large multi-site collaborations/consortia, multi-lateral data use and transfers).
• Manages internal and external stakeholder relationships by: serving as a primary point of unit contact for internal (e.g., legal, purchasing) and external stakeholders (e.g., funders, contractors).