Senior Contracts Specialist

NYU Grossman School of Medicine is one of the nation's top-ranked medical schools. For 175 years, NYU Grossman School of Medicine has trained thousands of physicians and scientists who have helped to shape the course of medical history and enrich the lives of countless people. An integral part of NYU Langone Health, the Grossman School of Medicine at its core is committed to improving the human condition through medical education, scientific research, and direct patient care. At NYU Langone Health, equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental values. We strive to be a place where our exceptionally talented faculty, staff, and students of all identities can thrive. We embrace diversity, inclusion, and individual skills, ideas, and knowledge. For more information, go tomed.nyu.edu, and interact with us onLinkedIn,Glassdoor,Indeed,Facebook,TwitterandInstagram.

Position Summary:

We have an exciting opportunity to join our team as a Senior Contracts Specialist. The Senior Contracts Specialist is responsible for the review and negotiation of contracts, grant agreements, and other agreements (including subawards and service agreements) administered by sponsored awards administration. The position entails processing of all contracts and liaising with sponsoring agencies, collaborating institutions, the Deans Office, the Principal Investigator (PI), and the PIs department, Office of Science and Research (OSR) units such as industrial liaison, clinical trials, as well as other central administration departments and corporate partners such as the Development, the Office of Legal Counsel, the Department of Insurance & Enterprise Risk Management (Insurance) and others. The Senior Contracts Specialist works as part of a team with the research community to prepare contracts, grant agreements, and other agreements for proper execution. This position will spend approximately 30% of their time assisting sponsored programs administration and OSR leadership in the development and implementation of short and long-range training and educational plans.

Job Responsibilities:

• Ensure timely processing of contacts and other award agreement for proper signature as well as other aspects of agreement execution (e.g. coordinating with sponsoring agencies, collaborating institutions, PIs and departments to obtain the appropriate final documents, coordinate with investigators to make sure all appropriate signatures are obtained, and compile the agreement and all other contractual documentation for signature
• Customizes and/or composes letters on own initiative or in response to request for information; actively educates departments and PIs as appropriate to ensure expeditious use of sponsored awards administration systems
• With other OSR and sponsored awards administration leadership, assists with prioritizing sponsored awards administration activities (e.g. respond to inquiries using comprehensive knowledge of sponsored awards administration activities, policies, and procedures)
• Assists supervisor in development of new forms, guidelines, manuals, and directions in connection with sponsored awards administration contracting process; suggests change to sponsored awards administration processes to increase efficiency or clarity or otherwise improve them
• Participates in activities related to systems improvement within sponsored awards administration.
• Develops courses and provides training sessions for the NYULH research community that covers basic information about the world of sponsored awards administration and related research contracting including, but not limited to, preparing budgets, developing proposals, and responding to compliance requests.
• Develops training program and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for new and current sponsored awards staff that provide uniform instructions enabling consistent information being provided to the NYULH research community.
• Provides instructor lead training sessions and develops training materials relating to sponsored programs and related research contracting to faculty and staff.
• Works with OSR and sponsored programs leadership to identify and implement opportunities for training and educational improvements (procedures, policies, consistent approaches, new communication vehicles).
• Designs, develops and implements educational and training programs for research faculty and staff; and sponsored programs administration staff.
• Updates other departments and stakeholders of statuses and maintains such information with an accessible system for all contracts, grant agreements and other agreements in accordance with sponsored awards administration procedures; manages delays by coordinating with departments and PI as appropriate
• Provides legal review of, negotiates and processes industry-sponsored clinical trial agreements, foundation and government grants and contracts, peer institution memorandum and related agreements (e.g., marking up agreements based on templates, guidelines and training; and seeking advice and direction form sponsored awards administration supervisor, Office of Legal Counsel, and Insurance for situations independently identifies as outside scope of training or presenting risk to the institution) within prescribed timelines.
• Acts as principal liaison on agreement review, negotiation and processing between sponsored awards administration and sponsoring agencies (including government, foundation and industry sponsors) collaborating institutions, the research community, OSR and corporate partners and individuals involved in sponsored awards administration contract review and negotiation, all in accordance with sponsored awards administration guidelines and supervisor instruction, incorporates and reconciles conflicting advice, proposes appropriate solution and harmonizes processed between conflicting departments when necessary
• Drafts agreements leveraging existing templates based on circumstances of specific matters, using a familiarity with the templates, interacting with department, knowledge of existing laws and regulations to ensure that the NYULH and the PIs interests are properly protected.
• Crafts persuasive arguments to influence external sponsors and collaborating institutions during negotiations
• Identifies and implements useful precedents for the agreement based on patterns established by previously reviewed contracts
• Resolves contract and contract-related issues (such as invoicing issues, study start-up delays, requests related to audits)
• Obtains all required internal supporting documents for each agreement, including insurance, indemnification, compliance and internal approval documentation as required per the agreement and internal policy. Using knowledge of various processes of other departments, sponsored awards administration guidelines, advise sough from supervisors, liaises with principal Investigators, research community, OSR units and corporate partners

Additional Position Specific Responsibilities:

Participates in activities related to systems improvement within sponsored awards administration. Performs general word processing duties utilizing intermediate to advanced-level functions. Maintains current knowledge of all relevant procedures, forms, guidelines, manuals, directives, laws, etc., that apply to the contracting process at NYULH. Modifies and/or creates databases and complex spreadsheets.

Minimum Qualifications:

To qualify you must have a Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, related degree, or equivalent in education and experience. 5-7 years related experience with sponsored programs administration in a healthcare or research setting or other relevant experience in all aspects of proposal review, including specific experience with grants and/or contracts financial administration. Knowledge of grant policies and regulations for the public and private sectors. Must be able to meet deadlines and be proficient in the use of computers, including database management, spreadsheets, word processing applications and the Internet. Excellent organization, time management, oral, written, communication/interpersonal skills; and the ability to work with a wide variety of personalities as part of a team.

Preferred Qualifications:

Masters Degree in applicable field (MBA, MPA, MPH, etc.) or Juris Doctorate. Action oriented, strong functional/technical skills, interpersonal skills, organizational skills, analytical skills, time management, and written communication skills. Respects diversity.

Qualified candidates must be able to effectively communicate with all levels of the organization.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine provides its staff with far more than just a place to work. Rather, we are an institution you can be proud of, an institution where you'll feel good about devoting your time and your talents.

NYU Grossman School of Medicine is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to diversity and inclusion in all aspects of recruiting and employment. All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration without regard to race, color, gender, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender dysphoria, national origin, age, religion, disability, military and veteran status, marital or parental status, citizenship status, genetic information or any other factor which cannot lawfully be used as a basis for an employment decision. We require applications to be completed online.
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NYU Langone Health provides a salary range to comply with the New York state Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $81,325.15 - $123,596.00 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, specialty, education, and hospital need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation or benefits.

To view the Pay Transparency Notice, please click here