Assistant Director of Post-Award Research Administration Operations

Special Instructions to Applicants: All interested applicants should attach a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application, preferably in PDF format to avoid any formatting issues. About Rice: Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally, and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lecture series, courses, and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities. Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff, and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. These values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They are reflected in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community, and Excellence. About George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing: The George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing ranks among the top 20 undergraduate engineering programs (U.S. News & World Report) and is strongly committed to nurturing the aspirations of faculty, staff, and students in an inclusive environment. We seek greater representation of women, minorities, people with disabilities, and veterans in disciplines in which they have historically been underrepresented; to attract international students from a wider range of countries and backgrounds; to accelerate progress in building a faculty and staff who are diverse in background and thought; and to support an inclusive environment that fosters interaction and understanding within our diverse community. Position Summary: The Assistant Director of Post-Award Research Administration Operations provides school-level leadership, supervision, and high-level technical expertise for post-award research administration operations across the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing. Housed in the Dean’s Office and reporting to the Director of Research Administration, this position serves as a centralized post-award expert and directly supervises Research Administrators embedded within SOEC departments. This role designs, implements, and monitors workflows that promote consistency, accuracy, compliance, and faculty-centered service across the school’s sponsored research portfolio. While departments retain responsibility for local research administration operations, the Assistant Director strengthens coordination, clarifies expectations, supports the escalation of complex post-award issues, and helps remove administrative barriers for faculty and departments. The Assistant Director supervises, mentors, trains, and evaluates post-award staff; strengthens internal competencies; and cultivates a collaborative, high-performing research administration team. The position also evaluates post-award fiscal practices, identifies opportunities for workflow optimization and operational improvement, and supports strong internal controls related to financial monitoring, expenditure review, projections, cost sharing, reporting, and closeout coordination. Working closely with departmental leadership, faculty, central research administration, finance, payroll, and other institutional offices, this role serves as a liaison and escalation resource for complex post-award matters. The ideal candidate will be a self-directed and highly credible post-award professional who can build trust across departments, exercise sound judgment and discretion, and lead through both formal supervisory authority and collaborative influence. Workplace Requirements: This position is offered as a hybrid role, combining both in-office and remote work to provide flexibility and support collaboration. Per Rice policy 440 , work arrangements may be subject to change. Hiring Range: 97,000 *Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime. Minimum Requirements: Bachelor’s degree In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience, above and beyond what is required, may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis. 4+ years of significant post-award research administration experience in a higher education, academic research, or similarly complex sponsored-project environment. Skills: Superior knowledge of research administration guidelines, regulations, and policies. Exceptional business management, leadership, coaching, and supervisory skills. Exceptional analytical, critical-thinking, and problem-solving skills. Exceptional verbal and written communication skills. Demonstrated ability to build trust and credibility across departments, faculty, staff, and central administrative offices. Demonstrated ability to develop workflows, document procedures, support training, and improve administrative processes. Preferences: 6+ years of significant post-award research administration experience in a higher education, academic research, or similarly complex sponsored-project environment. Demonstrated experience supervising, coaching, mentoring, and evaluating research administration staff, with a focus on strengthening performance through training, constructive guidance, and clear expectations. Experience working across distributed teams or departments, with a demonstrated ability to build credibility, exercise sound judgment, and support consistent practices in a collaborative environment. Experience serving as a resource to faculty, administrators, and research administration staff on complex post-award and sponsored project administration matters. Experience developing or improving workflows, procedures, training materials, internal controls, or operational practices that support process standardization and service improvement across decentralized administrative units. Essential Functions: Provides school-level leadership, supervision, and high-level technical expertise for post-award research administration operations across SOEC. Directly supervises Research Administrators embedded within SOEC departments, including coaching, mentoring, training, performance feedback, workload awareness, and evaluation. Serves as a resource to faculty, departmental leadership, Research Administrators, and school leadership on complex post-award and sponsored project administration matters. Supports the development, implementation, and monitoring of school-level post-award workflows, procedures, tools, and expectations to promote consistency, accuracy, compliance, and faculty-centered service. Provides training and technical guidance to research administration staff on post-award activities, sponsor requirements, institutional procedures, financial monitoring, documentation standards, and compliance expectations. Interprets award documents, sponsor requirements, and institutional policies to support compliant and effective post-award administration. Advises faculty, staff, administrators, and school leadership on post-award matters, including allowable costs, budget management, financial projections, cost sharing, effort-related processes, reporting needs, and award closeout. Reviews, monitors, and provides guidance on sponsored project expenditures, including high-value or high-risk transactions, cost transfers, over- and underspending, cost-sharing commitments, and allocation of charges. Supports account setup coordination, award management, financial monitoring, projections, reporting, and closeout activities in partnership with departmental staff and central offices. Identifies operational gaps, compliance risks, training needs, and opportunities for workflow optimization, service improvement, and stronger internal controls. Serves as a liaison and escalation resource among faculty, departmental leadership, central research administration, finance, payroll, and other institutional offices to resolve complex post-award issues. Coordinates with central offices to support audit inquiries, closeout analysis, sponsor reporting needs, and resolution of complex financial or administrative matters. Promotes a collaborative, inclusive, high-performing research administration team and a service culture grounded in integrity, accuracy, responsiveness, and compliance. Performs all other duties as assigned. Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits Rice Mission and Values : Mission and Values | Rice University Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process, please get in touch with Rice University’s Human Resources Office via email at [email protected] for support. If you have any additional questions, please email us at [email protected] . Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.