Director of Award Pre-Proposal Support (APPS)

Thank you for considering a career with the Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY).

The team at RFCUNY is made up of dedicated, talented professionals committed to providing the services that allow CUNY researchers, faculty, and staff to focus on their intellectual curiosity and scientific discoveries.

We are pleased that you are interested in exploring opportunities to join RFCUNY.

Primary Location:

Bargaining Unit:

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SUMMARY:

The Research Foundation of CUNY (RFCUNY) is seeking a Director of Award Pre-Proposal Support (APPS) to help strengthen and coordinate system-wide research development capacity across the City University of New York (CUNY), in close collaboration and partnership with the CUNY Office of Research. To catalyze a more dynamic and collaborative research enterprise, this role will be cross-cutting by design and will report directly to the President of RFCUNY. The Director will provide high-value centralized support services and align with CUNY’s growing research development ecosystem by delivering resources, training that enable greater faculty-initiated external proposal submissions and improve faculty proposal competitiveness with key federal, industry, and private sponsors. This role is designed to complement and support campus-based pre-award functions and does not replace the local grants office’s authority.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Director is responsible for the following: 1) Promoting sponsored project development across the City University of New York (CUNY) by assisting faculty, students, and staff in obtaining external funding. 2) Supporting the grants offices across the CUNY system with proposal development and advisory review of CUNY proposal submissions. 3) Providing training and educational outreach on grant opportunities and proposal development for faculty, students, and staff. 4) Assisting with the securing of funding from private and public agencies. 5) Fostering collaborative relationships among a wide and diverse range of constituencies through support for the development of inter-institutional grants. 6) Offering an environment that is conducive to faculty engagement in externally sponsored research, as well as pedagogical and creative activities.  Specific duties and tasks include:

• Responsible for pre-award outreach to CUNY faculty, administrators, and staff. This includes coordination and support in the identification, cultivation, solicitation, and marketing of selected opportunities.

• Build strategic relationships with CUNY and college/school key research stakeholders to achieve enhanced research development outcomes

• Identify investigators for targeted projects and initiatives for submission to external sponsors, enhance collaboration across the campuses, and nurture strong partnerships across the colleges to promote faculty research development.

• Develop a systemic approach and unified curriculum for staff training, faculty one-on-one consultations, tutorials, forums, targeted workshops, webinars, and formal presentations to promote knowledge of funding opportunities and training on agency requirements and guidelines.

• Assist CUNY faculty, administrators, and staff with proposal development, including furnishing advice, guidance, and coordination with the colleges’ pre-award teams, with the goal of maximizing proposal quality, developing compelling narratives, providing strategic planning, logistical support, and practical assistance with proposal development, including coordination of tasks, timelines, and resources, budgets, and partnerships with other institutions.

• Provide support in reviewing proposals, ensuring consistency with sponsor guidelines in collaboration with campus grants offices.

• Serve as a liaison between investigators and external granting agencies.

• Provide consultative proposal review services, upon request, to identify opportunities for strengthening submissions and improving alignment with sponsor requirements and applicable regulatory guidelines, in coordination with campus grants offices.

• Contribute to the creation of faculty collaborator discovery tools, network formation, and strategic convenings across CUNY.

• Strengthen RFCUNY & CUNY’s data-driven research intelligence initiatives to map and identify nodes of expertise and potential growth across the colleges.

• Support coordination and enhancement of proposal development practices across the university in partnership with campus grants offices and the CUNY Office of Research.

• Oversee the management and maintenance of the searchable grant opportunities database procurements: Pivot-RP and Grant Forward.

• Develop mechanisms that support and encourage research collaboration among CUNY faculty, departments, and colleges.

• Work with the college grants offices to extend and provide linkages to faculty, students, and staff for external funding.

• Supervise staff as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A minimum of ten years of experience in grant administration and/or research development in a university setting

• Master's degree required; PhD preferred

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with faculty from diverse disciplines, senior university staff, and officials of funding agencies

• Knowledge of federal cost principles; proposal development processes and strategies

• Deep knowledge of the pre-award lifecycle, grant regulations, and compliance specific to major funding agencies.

• Experience with electronic proposal management systems such as Research.gov and Grants.gov.

• Experience with funding opportunity discovery tools such as Pivot-RP or GrantForward preferred

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Familiarity with federal research programs

• Ability to function effectively in a dynamic, growing university

• Ability to deal with complexity, ambiguity, and change

• Flexibility and creative thinking

• Excellent interpersonal skills

• Flexibility in work schedule to accommodate proposal deadlines

• Prior career engagement with the National Organization of Research Development Professionals (NORDP) or analogous professional organizations is a plus

• Experience with electronic research administration tools such as Cayuse, a plus

• Extensive experience with grantmaking processes, grant-seeking strategies, and research administration best practices in relation to securing funding, a plus

Pay Range:

$167,449 - $195,35

RFCUNY Benefits
RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.