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Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution as approved and accepted by the University of South Alabama and three years of directly related experience. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

Please submit a writing excerpt of no more than two single-spaced pages of original work created without the use of AI, preferably research-related. The two pages may include both text and figures, at your discretion. Preferred Qualifications Job Description Summary The University of South Alabama’s Research Development department is seeking to hire a Research Development Specialist. Interested candidates should apply to be considered.

Essential Functions These are the job duties required of the position. Essential Functions

• Assists both individuals and teams of researchers with proposal development from early stage to final draft, providing strategic editorial oversight to ensure alignment with sponsor requirements and priorities, both programmatic and technical.
• Develops proposal timelines collaboratively and assists in management of the proposal from concept to submission, including identifying roles and responsibilities for content development.
• Assists researchers with conceptual formulation and writing of non-technical proposal content, such as synthesizing varied institutional resources into persuasive narratives that demonstrate a competitive advantage, or tailoring management plans to the specific needs of the research team.
• Assists researchers with developing figures and tables to support the proposal narratives that demonstrate a competitive advantage, or tailoring management plans to the specific needs of the research team.
• Assists researchers with developing figures and tables to support the proposal narrative, such as timelines or Gantt charts, logic models, conceptual diagrams, and organizational charts.
• Reviews and provides guidance on proposal alignment with the funding opportunity and sponsor requirements, including navigating ambiguous sponsor guidelines, communicating with program officers, and reviewing submissions for compliance with document formatting requirements.
• Ensures clarity, organization, accuracy, style, and quality of written work, including reviewing submissions for a rhetorically compelling narrative and consistent voice across multi-author contributions.
• Facilitates clear communication and coordination between researchers, collaborators, and research administrators at the college and central level to improve ease submission.
• Performs comprehensive administration of both the Office of Research and Economic Development’s (ORED) portfolio of internal funding programs and limited submissions competitions.
• Revises and publishes internal program announcements annually to align with institutional research strategy.
• Curates limited submission opportunities.
• Markets programs and opportunities to faculty.
• Creates and manages online competitions in web-based software.
• Manages reviewer pools, invitations, and assignments.
• Manages applicant notifications and other correspondence.
• Coordinates with college grant administrators and Sponsored Projects staff about required application components.
• Collects, processes, and analyzes progress report data from awardees.
• Assists with planning and organizing departmental events as needed such as faculty networking sessions, research orientations, research forums and symposia, invited speakers, workshops, and training.
• Performs and participates in outreach to faculty about research development services.
• Helps facilitate departmental events such as research networking, workshops, or training.
• Maintains understanding of the research funding landscape, including information on federal policies and national funding trends, in order to perform informed funding opportunity searches.
• Uses available university data and analytics tools to understand faculty and institutional research capabilities.
• Curates funding opportunity newsletters for specific faculty cohorts using subscription search software.
• Performs targeted funding opportunity outreach and dissemination.
• Performs foundational research and data collection as necessary to support institutional capacity for specific funding opportunities.
• Performs and participates in de-briefing sessions with PIs of declined proposals to translate reviewer feedback into meaningful revisions for resubmission.
• Curates and manages content on ORED websites using USA’s content management system, including creation of accessible PDFs.
• Develops, produces, and distributes ORED email newsletters and other departmental email communications using university platforms.
• Collaborates with USA’s Marketing and Communications department and other internal partners to effectively promote research news across a variety of channels and platforms.
• Manages ORED social media content.
• Assists with developing, writing, and editing additional internal and external research communications as needed.
• Designs documents, promotional materials, and other marketing collateral to support ORED programs and events.
• Tracks faculty interactions and other research development activities to contribute to data-driven analysis of departmental services.
• Maintains and contributes to online proposal development resources.
• Regular and prompt attendance.
• Ability to work schedule as defined and additional hours as required.
• Related duties as required.

Posting Information

Benefits

Paid Time Off (PTO) Health Insurance Short Term Disability Life Insurance Education Benefit Retirement Plan Memberships and Events Student Loan Forgiveness Paid Time Off (PTO) Employees earn paid time off (PTO) as they work. PTO can be used for vacation, holidays, sick days and personal days. Each year, employees can choose to cash out up to 80 hours of available PTO the following calendar year. Health Insurance New employees health, dental, and pharmacy benefits are effective the first day of the month following hire date. Short Term Disability This free benefit provides income support for those who are out of work for a medical reason such as illness, accident, or maternity. After a fifteen day waiting period, it provides 60 percent wage replacement. Life Insurance USA Health provides a free term life insurance policy for our employees based on annual salary. Policies for spouse and dependents are also included. Additional coverage can be purchased for employee, spouse and dependents. Education Benefit University of South Alabama offers a credit on tuition each semester for employees, spouse, and dependents after just six months of employment. Retirement Plan USA Health offers a 5% matching retirement account and other non-matching account choices. Included with this benefit is a free individual session with a financial planner. Memberships and Events Employees can join USA’s state-of-the-art recreation center for a nominal fee. USA football season tickets are available at a discount, and employees can attend all other USA sporting events for free. Student Loan Forgiveness As an employee of a government or not-for-profit organization, you may be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program through the U.S. Department of Education.