Senior Grants & Contracts Specialist, School of Public Health

WHY UT SOUTHWESTERN?
With over 75 years of excellence in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, UT Southwestern is committed to excellence, innovation, teamwork, and compassion. As a world-renowned medical and research center, we strive to provide the best possible care, resources, and benefits for our valued employees. Ranked as the number 1 hospital in Dallas-Fort Worth according to U.S. News & World Report, we invest in you with opportunities for career growth and development to align with your future goals. Our highly competitive benefits package offers healthcare, PTO and paid holidays, on-site childcare, wage, merit increases and so much more. We invite you to be a part of the UT Southwestern team where you'll discover a culture of teamwork, professionalism, and a rewarding career! 

JOB SUMMARY
Pre-Award Activities

Pre-Award activities focus on coordinating and managing the full proposal lifecycle, including developing compliant applications, budgets, and required documentation in alignment with sponsor and institutional requirements. This includes tracking submissions, facilitating approvals, collaborating with investigators and subrecipients, and ensuring all commitments (e.g., cost share and effort) are accurate and documented prior to submission.

Post-Award Management

Post-Award management involves serving as the primary liaison to investigators, ensuring proper award setup, financial oversight, and adherence to sponsor terms throughout the project lifecycle. Responsibilities include monitoring expenditures, managing payroll and subawards, supporting reporting and audits, and leading timely and compliant project closeout activities.

Financial Management

Financial Management ensures that all sponsored project funds are monitored, reconciled, and managed in accordance with approved budgets, timelines, and regulatory requirements. This includes overseeing transactions, resolving discrepancies, coordinating with financial stakeholders, and providing investigators with clear, strategic guidance on spending and financial performance.

Compliance

Compliance focuses on ensuring adherence to federal, sponsor, and institutional regulations by validating that all costs are allowable, allocable, reasonable, and consistently applied. It also includes monitoring subrecipients, effort reporting, and audit readiness while proactively identifying risks and promoting a culture of accountability and regulatory integrity.

 

BENEFITS
UT Southwestern is proud to offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. Our benefits are designed to support your overall wellbeing, and include:

• PPO medical plan, available day one at no cost for full-time employee-only coverage
• 100% coverage for preventive healthcare-no copay
• Paid Time Off, available day one
• Retirement Programs through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS)
• Paid Parental Leave Benefit
• Wellness programs
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Qualified Employer
• Learn more about these and other UTSW employee benefits!

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

Required

• Education
  Bachelor's Degree in business administration, public administration, or related field 
   

• Experience
  4 years of experience in business or public administration with emphasis on customer service in financial or contracting position 
  Applicants without the stated degree, but with significant additional professional applicable experience may be considered in lieu of education requirement. 
   

Preferred

• Licenses and Certifications
  Certified Research Administrator (CRA) Upon Hire 
   

JOB DUTIES

• Gathers and provides information regarding funding opportunities and application procedures to applicants by reading newsletters and announcements, search directories, funding files, and other relevant resources.
• Provides guidance to researchers for proposal development and submission by interpreting and ensuring adherence to sponsor and university announcements and guidelines.
• Provides grants management support to researchers by negotiating and processing awards, interpreting award conditions, obtaining approvals for award modifications, and completing required reports.
• Negotiates contracts with various agencies (state and federal government, private organizations), pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnological companies to achieve agreements satisfactory to all parties.
• May draft entire contracts of various types following state laws and Board of Regents' guidelines.
• Provides working supervision to Grants and Contracts Specialist and administrative positions.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

SECURITY AND EEO STATEMENT

Security
This position is security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education Code 51.215, which authorizes UT Southwestern to obtain criminal history record information.

EEO
UT Southwestern Medical Center is committed to an educational and working environment that provides equal opportunity to all members of the University community. As an equal opportunity employer, UT Southwestern prohibits unlawful discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or veteran status.