Grants & Contracts Specialist

Job Posting Title:

Grants & Contracts Specialist

----

Hiring Department:

Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies

----

Position Open To:

All Applicants

----

Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

----

FLSA Status:

Exempt from FLSA

----

Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

----

Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

----

Location:

UT MAIN CAMPUS

----

Job Details:

General Notes

The University of Texas at Austin
What benefits do I receive with UT? The university offers an impressive benefits package. For more details on benefits, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards.

The College of Liberal Arts

For more information about the College of Liberal Arts, please visit https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/.
Our college seeks to build a supportive, growth-minded community and cultivate outstanding and courageous leaders. For more information on the college staff leadership academy, please visit https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/resources-for-faculty-staff/staff-leadership-academy/.

For more information on college staff professional development, please visit: https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/larc/Staff+Professional+Development+Fund.

Purpose

The Grants and Contracts Specialist works within the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies as the principal manager for all grant programs, including government and private foundation funding, to support Latin American Studies and collections for the LLILAS Benson partnership.

Responsibilities

Contract Administration

• Serve as lead administrator for the full range of contracts and agreements executed by LLILAS, regardless of funding source, including inter-institutional agreements and memoranda of understanding; consulting, honoraria, and visiting-speaker agreements; vendor and procurement contracts; licensing, data-use, and digital-collections agreements; subcontracts and sub-awards; and agreements funded through gifts, endowment income, conference and program fees, fee-for-service engagements, or technical-assistance activities.
• Draft, review, redline, and negotiate contract terms in coordination with University contracts, procurement, and Legal Affairs offices, ensuring alignment with University policy, funder requirements, and Institute objectives.
• Manage the full contract lifecycle, including intake, drafting, negotiation, execution, amendment, monitoring, and closeout.
• Maintain a master contract tracking system and calendar covering effective dates, deliverables, renewal and expiration dates, required approvals, certifications, signatures, and insurance documentation.
• Advise Institute staff and faculty on appropriate agreement types, University contracting procedures, risk considerations, and documentation requirements for new partnerships and initiatives.
• Monitor contract deliverables and partner reporting obligations, and coordinate invoicing and payment with LLILAS finance staff.

Grants Management, Compliance, and Reporting

• Manage pre-award and post-award administration of LLILAS-sponsored grants, including Tinker Foundation grants and other institutional awards.
• Support proposal development, including budget preparation, subaward budgets, current and pending support, justifications, and other sponsor-required proposal components; coordinate award modifications, no-cost extensions, and closeout processes in coordination with the Office of Sponsored Projects.
• Prepare, review, and route electronic proposal forms, award documents, and related approvals through the Office of Sponsored Projects and other University approval systems.
• Support post-award setup, cost allocations, effort coordination, PI support for award monitoring, and monitoring of award budgets, expenditures, cost-share or matching commitments, and spending against approved award categories.
• Prepare and submit required financial, programmatic, annual performance, and renewal reports.
• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, University, and funder regulations and policies, including 2 CFR 200, Uniform Guidance, and relevant U.S. Department of Education requirements.
• Coordinate subrecipient monitoring, including issuance and tracking of subawards, risk assessments, consultant agreements, procurement documentation, and collection of required subrecipient reports.
• Maintain organized, audit-ready records across all agreement and award types, and support internal and external audits of grant activities.
• Prepare periodic summary reports on contract and grant activity, compliance deadlines, program outcomes, and renewal needs for Institute leadership.

Committee, Fellowship, and Student Support Administration

• Convene and staff grant-related faculty committees, including preparing agendas, minutes, follow-up action items, bylaws, membership rosters, and terms of service.
• Coordinate selection committees for grant-related fellowships and mini-grants.
• Process grant-related fellowship applications, verify eligibility, administer stipend disbursements, and monitor recipient compliance with award terms.
• Maintain records for post-fellowship service obligations, where applicable.

Supporting Program, Outreach, and Partnership Responsibilities

• Coordinate events, partnerships, and outreach activities required by grant or contract terms.
• Manage grant-related speaker logistics, event budgets, program calendars, and partner communications.
• Serve as key liaison for cross functional collaboration.

Other related functions as assigned

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration, nonprofit management, research administration, or a related field, and three years of experience, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Progressively responsible experience in contract administration, procurement, grants management, or sponsored programs administration, preferably in a higher education, nonprofit, research, or public-sector setting.
• Working knowledge of federal grant regulations, including 2 CFR 200 and Uniform Guidance, and experience applying institutional or funder compliance requirements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain contract, financial, and compliance requirements to non-specialist staff, faculty, and external partners.
• Demonstrated experience drafting, reviewing, negotiating, tracking, and closing a range of agreement types.
• Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to manage a high-volume portfolio of concurrent contracts, awards, deadlines, deliverables, and reporting obligations.
• Proficiency with financial, contract, grants management, and standard office productivity systems.

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant field. Experience with Title VI or other U.S. Department of Education grant programs.
• Spanish and/or Portuguese language proficiency.
• Certification in contract management, grants management, or research administration, such as CFCM, CRA, or CGMS.
• Experience with international, interinstitutional, cultural, academic, or research-related agreements, particularly with Latin American institutions.
• Familiarity with University of Texas at Austin contracting, procurement, sponsored-projects, financial, and compliance systems and policies.

Salary

$60,000+ depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

Typical office environment

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, and then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional required materials (letters of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded to the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current University employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left-hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled into your application. The application is one page, and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

----

Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

----

Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

----

Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

----

Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

----

Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

----

Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

----

E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

----

Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.