Cornell University - Pre-Award Specialist, College of Engineering

Cornell University's College of Engineering (COE), the preeminent engineering school in the Ivy League, has a rich history of experimentation, innovation, and leadership. Consisting of almost 3,000 undergraduate students, 1,700 graduate students, and over 200 faculty members, Cornell Engineering is recognized as a global leader in the discovery of new knowledge and the creation of transforming inventions. Cornell Engineering students and faculty members possess an independent spirit that allows for the development of innovative interdisciplinary research, the creation of exciting new programs, and the education of students who will better the future.

The College of Engineering’s Research Administration Service Center (RASC) provides centralized pre-award grant proposal support for Principal Investigators (PI’s) and departmental proposal administrators throughout the college. The COE RASC team is charged with coordinating the creation, submission, and tracking of grant proposals to federal and state agencies, foundations, corporate and private sponsors. The team’s overall goals are to provide consistent, high-quality support and excellent customer service while standardizing procedures and expectations for pre-award grant proposal activity.

The Pre-Award Specialist will be responsible for serving as a primary point person for PI’s across the College with regards to grant proposal submissions, coordinating with Cornell’s Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), administrative managers, department chairs/directors, departmental finance leads and various funding agency representatives to respond to pre-award related issues and questions during the proposal submission process and the pre-award period. This position will help to implement and communicate standard procedures and expectations related to proposal submission, and provide updates and data related to pending proposal submissions.

Required Qualifications:

• Associate’s Degree in business, communication or related field and six or more years of financial and/or administrative experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Must be detail oriented and possess excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Must be highly competent and knowledgeable in modern office methods and procedures (including electronic filing techniques, telephone etiquette, and professional writing/email communication).
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as a part of a team in a professional office environment, working on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Highly proficient with software products including Excel, Adobe Acrobat, MSWord, and Outlook.
• Familiarity with database management and/or financial management tools.
• Ability to handle confidential information and materials.
• Experience interacting and building relationships with high-level clientele, faculty, visitors, and organizational leaders

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in business, communication or related field and four years of financial and/or research administration experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience interpreting instructions and applying for funding from a variety of sources, especially NSF, NIH, DOD, DOE, and NASA, leading the administrative aspects of preparing grant proposals for submission, and interpreting University research compliance requirements.
• Extensive experience with grants.gov, NSF FastLane, NIH ASSIST, Adobe Acrobat, Excel, and Word.

When applying through our system, please remember to attach your application materials (Resume/Cover Letter/CV) in either Microsoft Word or PDF format.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.