Senior Operations Manager

The University of New Mexico's Project ECHO has an exciting opportunity for a Senior Operations Manager to join our Grants Team! This position will provide essential operational leadership across the full grant lifecycle. The Senior Operations Manager is critical to maintaining Project ECHO' capacity to effectively administer the organization's growing portfolio of grants and sponsored projects.

As a successful Senior Operations Manager, you will play an active role in:

• Developing best practices, policies, and procedures in formal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to meet Project ECHO's grant writing and submission goals in collaboration with the ECHO Grants Team, Finance Team, Program Teams, and UNMHSC Sponsored Projects Team. Developing written internal policies and procedures to be shared with Project ECHO staff, specifically, Grants/Finance Team, Program Teams, and ECHO Leadership.
• Managing and providing day-to-day leadership of the Grants Administration team and providing training on federal and non-federal budget development, UNMHSC Sponsored Projects guidelines, project management, and compliance with funder guidelines.
• Entering and reviewing all data entry submissions, tasks, sub-awards, and documents in active systems (i.e., Salesforce, Smartsheet, and Click) with a high level of accuracy and timeliness.
• Reviewing external, sponsor-specific documents to ensure compliance with funder guidelines, including terms and conditions, formal requests for proposals or notices of funding announcements in alignment with UNMHSC Sponsored Projects Office guidelines.
• Reviewing internal pre-award documents to ensure quality and compliance with funder guidelines and UNMHSC Sponsored Projects Office prior to submission to internal review, including federal and non-federal budgets, budget justifications, subaward documents, export control, financial conflict of interest, finance and administration (F&A) waivers, and federal forms (i.e., SF-424 forms) or sponsor-specific required forms.
• Developing and implementing systems and processes to support the Grants Team with clear goals and objectives to implement a robust quality control process during the pre-award stage and award stage during the lifecycle of a sponsored grant and/or contract.
• Supporting the implementation, measurement, and analysis related to the Grants Team's annual priorities and goals.
• Providing strategic support to the Grants Director in providing reports and dashboards as requested and contributing to key performance metrics of the Grants Team.
• Serving as a key member of the management leadership of the Grants Team including Grants Development and Grants Administration. May supervise, train, mentor, and evaluate Grants (Research) Administrators in all aspects of the pre-award and award process, specifically focused on quality control, data collection and analysis, administrative support during the pre-award, award, and post-award stage of all sponsored contracts and grants at the ECHO Institute as assigned.
• Developing quality control check process for all pre-award documentation to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, regulations, institutional policies, and best practices as the contract or grant files moves through the award stage and post-award stage. Ensuring all awarded grants go through a pre-award quality control process, and a Contract Review meeting is held to support a streamlined hand off to the Program Team.
• Supporting the ECHO Grants Team and Finance Team in meeting all reporting and programmatic deadlines by internal UNM HSC leadership and external funder requirements.
• Maintaining and creating systems to track outgoing pre-award and award documents, including subawards and provide clear, transparent, and on-going communication with the Grants Director, Program Teams, Finance Team, and UNMHSC Sponsored Projects Office on the status of all projects.
• Providing overall strategic and operational support to the ECHO Institute to support organizational priorities and goals. Designing, coordinating, and implementing training programs for ECHO Institute staff and the Grants Team on grant administration operating policies and procedures as requested.
• Building and maintaining strong working relationships with ECHO Institute team members and external stakeholders at all levels to provide strategic directions for fundraising, grants, and organizational goals.
• Acting as a point of contact for all matters related to quality control of the grant administration of sponsored projects during the pre-award and award stage and of sponsored contracts and grants during the proposal, pre-award, and post-award stage.

Project ECHO is committed to democratizing implementation of best practices in healthcare, education and other areas where first mile professionals need support. We do this by training universities, nonprofits, and dedicated individuals on facilitation skills and how to set up robust virtual communities of practice to be able to scale their own expertise and missions to the benefit of their local communities. Over the past 20 years, Project ECHO and our partners have trained more than 1,000 partners who make up our global network of Universities, ministries of health, and NGOs around the world. Examples of programs we and others run include infectious disease control (Hepatitis C, HIV), mental health and addiction treatment, literacy, math, climate mitigation and many more.

Project ECHO is funded in part by philanthropic grants and gifts from organizations such as the GE Foundation, the Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, the Merck Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the US Government. Additionally, for programming benefitting New Mexico we receive support from the NM Legislature, the New Mexico Human Services Department and the New Mexico Department of Health.

Project ECHO prides itself on being a values-based organization and inclusive place to work. Our seven values include: Service to the Underserved, Democratization of Knowledge, Mutual Trust and Respect, Teamwork, Excellence and Accountability, Innovation and Learning and Joy of Work. We strive to find individuals who can embrace and exemplify these values.

In 2023, Project ECHO was named one of Albuquerque's Top Three Best Places to Work in 2023. This award recognizes organizations of all sizes with exceptional climates, team atmospheres, benefits, and employee engagement. For more information and a brief overview of benefits available please visit Project ECHO Newsroom.

We work with partners all over the world and work hours outside of normal business hours may be required. We are fortunate to have access to advanced technology, which will require some teleworking.

See the Position Description for additional information.

• Identified positions in this classification may require specialized certification in an area of competency, depending on the specific needs of the designated role.

Bachelor's degree; at least 5 years of experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities specified.

Completed degree(s) from an accredited institution that are above the minimum education requirement may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

• Experience supervising staff and coordinating administrative and financial operations in a complex organization
• Demonstrated ability to improve business processes, develop standard operating procedures, and promote operational efficiency
• Strong communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities
• Familiar with the grant lifecycle from pre-award to post-award institutional fiscal processes, policy implementation, and regulatory compliance standards related to sponsor-related projects

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Positions posted with a Staff Type of Regular or Term are eligible for the Veteran Preference Program. See the Veteran Preference Program webpage for additional details.

The University of New Mexico is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.

The University of New Mexico requires all regular staff positions successfully pass a pre-employment background check. This may include, but is not limited to, a criminal history background check, New Mexico Department of Health fingerprint screening, New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department fingerprint screening, verification of education credentials, and/or verification of prior employment. For more information about background checks, visit https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3280.html. Refer to https://policy.unm.edu/university-policies/3000/3200.html for a definition of Regular Staff.