Senior Research Contracts & Federal Agreements Officer

 

Required Qualifications (as evidenced by an attached resume):
Bachelor's degree (foreign equivalent or higher). In lieu of a Bachelor's degree, an Associate’s degree and two (2) years of full-time experience involving research grants, subawards and/or contracts in a research setting may be considered. Three (3) years of full-time experience negotiating a variety of research contracts/awards (e.g. industry-sponsored research agreements, clinical trial agreements, grant awards, subcontracts). One (1) year of full-time experience administering research grants, subawards and/or research contracts in research administration. Three (3) years of full-time experience negotiating and administering federal research contracts, and other complex federal research agreements (e.g. Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs), federal flowthrough subawards/subcontracts, industry-sponsored federal contracts such as SBIR/STTRs, collaboration agreements). Demonstrated knowledge of federal, state, university, and industry rules and regulations governing research agreements.

Preferred Qualifications:
Juris Doctor (or foreign equivalent). Two (2) additional years of direct experience negotiating a variety of research contracts/awards. One (1) additional year of direct experience administering research grants, subawards and/or research contracts in research administration. Two (2) years of direct experience with federal regulations, laws and policy applicable to research administration (e.g. FAR, DFARS Uniform Guidance, HIPAA privacy, FDA regulations). One (1) additional year of full-time experience negotiating and administering federal research agreements (e.g. negotiating and administering federal research contracts, and other complex federal research agreements (e.g. Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs), federal flowthrough subawards/subcontracts, industry-sponsored federal contracts such as SBIR/STTRs, collaboration agreements). Two (2) years of direct experience in research proposal development, submission, and/or review. One (1) year of direct experience supervising or training individuals. Demonstrated experience with research administration and database management and workflow tools (e.g. Minuet, Salesforce, Onbase, Huron/MyResearch). Experience working with Clinical Conductor, Oracle E-Business Suite, RF Report Center PeopleSoft, and/or Google Apps for Education.

Brief Description of Duties:
This role involves drafting, negotiating, and managing research contracts, including federal contracts, clinical trial agreements, testing and laboratory study agreements, research collaborations, and industry-sponsored contracts. The Senior Research Contracts and Federal Agreement Officer ensures compliance with university policies and federal/state regulations while liaising with faculty, sponsors, and administrative offices such as the university’s technology transfer office – intellectual property partners (IPP), the office of grants management (OGM), the office of research compliance (ORC), the office of research security (ORS), the procurement office and the office of proposal development (OPD) to process research agreements. The Senior Research Contracts and Federal Agreement Officer work within the scope of contracts and protocols, both internal and external, to prepare, distribute, process, and execute federal research contracts and research agreements for the Research Foundation for The State University of New York at Stony Brook (RF).

Due to legal regulations and ethical issues, the incumbent will adhere to stringent guidelines to ensure that contracts are in compliance with all applicable federal, state, university and RF policies. 

The successful incumbent must have outstanding written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills. Experience successfully working independently as well as part of a team with a collaborative approach to problem solving. Experience effectively multi-tasking in a fast-paced, deadline driven environment with a high degree of accuracy and organization. Strong organizational and time management skills with exceptional attention to detail. The Senior Research Contracts and Federal Agreement Officer must possess the ability to thrive in a busy, high-volume, and deadline driven work team environment that requires coordination of multiple activities and the judgment and flexibility to reprioritize accommodate emergency requests. Experience interacting with individuals at various levels within an institution as well as the general public whenever necessary. This position supervises at least one full-time staff member and requires strong communication and leadership skills.
 

• Federal Agreement drafting, review, negotiation, execution:
  • As university authorized representative, work directly with RF counsel and OR&I leadership and teams, with a particular emphasis in federally funded research to draft, review, negotiate, execute and process of a variety of federal research agreement contract types including, for example, Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs), federal flowthrough subawards/subcontracts, industry-sponsored federal contracts such as SBIR/STTRs and clinical trials, collaboration agreements), and amendments to the same. 
  • Ensure compliant agreement terms by exercising independent judgement to interpret and apply relevant federal, state, and local laws, and institutional policies, guidelines and procedures to all contract terms and negotiations. 
  • Work independently to effectively engage with researchers and external researcher sponsors to resolve contractual issues in a manner that ensures compliance, that adhere to institutional policy and practice.
  • Serve as primary expert in providing risk assessments and offering alternative approaches to mitigate risks, including alternative contractual language.
• Research contract drafting, review, negotiation and execution:
  • As a university authorized representative, work directly with RF counsel and OR&I leadership and teams, with a particular emphasis in the office of sponsored programs (OSP) and grants management (OGM) to process draft, review, negotiate, execute and administer a variety of research agreement contract types and other complex agreements including, for example, local, federal, national, international, private, non-profit, public and industry-sponsored research agreements and clinical trial agreements.
  • Ensure compliant research agreements by exercising independent judgement to interpret and apply relevant federal, state, and local laws, and institutional policies and procedures to contract terms. 
  • Work independently to effectively engage with researchers and external researcher sponsors to resolve contractual issues in a manner that ensures compliance, that adhere to applicable federal, state, SUNY, RF and institutional policy and practice.
  • Serve as primary expert in providing risk assessments and offering alternative approaches to mitigate risks, including alternative contractual language.
• Agreement Administration:
  • Responsibility for entering into all federal research agreements and research contracts and contract negotiations, terms and correspondence into electronic tracking and management systems (e.g. Huron/MyResearch, Inteum/Minuet and other systems) as applicable.
  • Monitors and maintains the processing and flow of agreements in the negotiation process and generates reports regarding the same.
  • Follow, develop, and update established processes to ensure metrics and tracking, compliance, document harmonization, and timely execution of contracts.
• Proposal Development and Pre-Contract Review:
  • Provide assistance in contract proposal development, fiscal planning and management and patent and licensing issues. Assist PIs in formulating budgets for research agreements and act as liaison with Compliance entities.
  • Review requests for proposals or solicitations to determine requirements for submission and review faculty proposals for compliance with external and internal policies. Act as authorized representative in support of proposal submission.
• Supervisory and Leadership Duties:
  • Forge Master Research agreements for Stony Brook University and the entire SUNY system. Tracking research projects/agreements and collection of data for internal and external purposes. Maintenance of a database consisting of all sponsored research initiatives.
  • Represent Office of Sponsored Programs at campus and external meetings. Provide research presentations and informational sessions to the campus community. Special projects as assigned. Act as back up for the team of contracts administrators in OSP as needed.
  • Oversee and manage direct reports including recruiting, hiring, preparing performance objectives, workload distribution, personnel issues, completing and processing performance reviews and programs, creating job descriptions, approving time off, and professional development for the same. 
  • Provide direction and training for team members, coordinate projects, and update established efficient processes or develop new procedures to reduce cycle time, and timely execution of contracts. Work towards making moderate to substantial improvement or enhancements to systems and processes to improve performance of contracts area.
• Other duties as assigned.

Special Notes:
The Research Foundation of SUNY is a private educational corporation. Employment is subject to the Research Foundation policies and procedures, sponsor guidelines and the availability of funding. This is a full-time appointment. FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.

For this position, we are unable to sponsor candidates for work visas.

Due to U.S. Export Control laws and regulations, the candidate hired will need to be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or other "protected individual" (as defined by 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1324b(a)(3).

Resume/CV and cover letter should be included with the online application.

Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in the creation of an inclusive learning and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other protected classes under federal or state laws. 

Stony Brook University is dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants, including individuals with disabilities. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application, interview, or hiring process, please request one by contacting [email protected]. We will consider accommodation requests in compliance with applicable laws. This process is independent and does not require any voluntary self-identification of disability status. Please include the position title and position number (if known) in your message.

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The starting salary range (or hiring range) to be offered for this position is noted below, it represents SBU’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.