Senior Pre-Award Specialist (Research Administration)

Location: San Antonio, Texas, United States

Company

Texas A&M University-San Antonio's Division of Research and Innovation supports faculty and staff pursuing externally funded research and sponsored projects.

What you will do

• Serve as the primary pre-award contact for assigned principal investigators, departments, colleges, and research units.
• Guide proposals from funding opportunity identification through institutional review, approvals, and sponsor submission.
• Interpret sponsor requirements, review criteria, policies, and submission instructions for investigators.
• Develop proposal timelines, checklists, submission plans, budgets, and budget justifications.
• Review narratives and technical documents for completeness, consistency, clarity, formatting, responsiveness, and compliance.
• Coordinate with Research Compliance, Post-Award, Finance, Human Resources, Procurement, and other university offices.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a related field.
• At least four years of related experience in a university or business environment involving budgets, project management, proposal administration, proposal preparation, or funding opportunity identification.
• Knowledge of federal sponsors, funding mechanisms, 2 CFR Part 200, sponsor requirements, and applicable regulations.
• Ability to manage multiple proposals, priorities, and deadlines independently while collaborating with faculty and administrative offices.
• Strong written and verbal communication, organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Familiarity with proposal submission systems such as Grants.gov, Research.gov, eRA Commons, ASSIST, or JustGrants.

Nice to have

• Experience with externally sponsored proposals, grants, research administration, proposal narratives, or technical documents.
• Experience developing sponsored project budgets and budget justifications.
• Experience with institutional systems such as Maestro, FAMIS, Workday, or Cayuse.
• Certified Pre-Award Research Administrator or Certified Research Administrator certification, or interest in pursuing certification.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time staff position within the Division of Research and Innovation.
• Employee benefits are available through Texas A&M University-San Antonio.
• Work includes supporting community engagement and the well-being and prosperity of local communities.
• The position is security-sensitive and requires a criminal history investigation and credential verification.

Hiring process

• Submit a cover letter, resume or CV, and professional references.
• All required documents must be uploaded before submitting the application; applications cannot be revised after submission.