Tufts University

Tufts University

Senior Research Development Specialist - OVPR

Boston, Massachusetts · Senior

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 5 days ago
Project ManagementResearchLeadershipCommunicationProblem SolvingPublic SpeakingWritingMicrosoft Office

About the role

  • Through strategic partnerships, funding intelligence, and proposal development expertise, SRD helps investigators compete successfully for external funding while advancing the university's research priorities.
  • This position is primarily remote, and candidates may be located anywhere within the United States.
  • While day-to-day work is conducted remotely, employees in this role are expected to travel to the Boston area approximately once per quarter for team meetings and other in-person activities.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with individual investigators and multidisciplinary teams to develop highly competitive funding proposals through strategic planning, team building, partnership development, grantsmanship editing, and writing.
  • Provide expert proposal development support and grantsmanship guidance for federal and non-federal funding opportunities across a broad range of disciplines.
  • Support the development of large-scale, interdisciplinary, and multi-investigator proposals.
  • Guide and support early-career investigators in developing competitive funding strategies and proposal development skills.
  • Collaborate with partners across the university, including Research Administration, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Tisch Library, academic leadership, and other stakeholders to support faculty research objectives.
  • Lead special projects designed to strengthen research capacity, enhance funding competitiveness, and support institutional research priorities, including establishing goals, tracking outcomes, evaluating impact, and communicating results to university leadership.
  • Foster connections among investigators, funding agencies, external partners, and university leadership to advance collaborative research opportunities.
  • Mentor and support less experienced research development staff and interns.
  • As a Senior Research Development Specialist, you will serve as a strategic partner to faculty, research teams, and university leaders in the development of highly competitive extramural funding proposals.

Requirements

  • Knowledge and experience typically acquired by:
  • Completion of a Master's degree.
  • 5+ years of related experience in academic research, research development, grant-seeking, technical writing, or a related field.
  • Demonstrated experience supporting the development of competitive extramural funding proposals and research funding initiatives.
  • Strong grantsmanship, editing, writing, and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex ideas into compelling proposals for diverse audiences.
  • Knowledge of federal and/or foundation funding agencies, sponsor priorities, and the research funding landscape.
  • Experience managing multiple concurrent projects, competing priorities, and proposal deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
  • Experience using Microsoft Office applications, project management tools, and related technology platforms.

Nice to have

  • At least two years of direct experience supporting individual investigators and faculty teams pursuing federal funding opportunities.
  • Experience supporting large-scale, complex, interdisciplinary, or multi-investigator proposals.
  • Experience advising early-career investigators on funding strategy, proposal development, and research advancement.
  • Strong presentation, facilitation, public speaking, training, or workshop delivery skills.
  • Minimum $74,000.00, Midpoint $92,500.00, Maximum $111,000.00
  • generally, new hires can expect pay between the minimum and midpoint of the range.

Compensation

  • Minimum $74,000.00, Midpoint $92,500.00, Maximum $111,000.00
  • Salary is based on related experience, expertise, and internal equity
  • generally, new hires can expect pay between the minimum and midpoint of the range.

Company info

  • What We're Looking For

Visa & Work Authorization

  • Advise investigators on funding strategies, sponsor priorities, agency expectations, and competitive positioning to strengthen proposal success

This listing is sourced directly from Tufts University's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.