Research Contracts Officer

A Brief Overview

As a member of the Grants and Contracts team in Research Services, Vice Principal Research portfolio (the Portfolio), the Research Contracts Officer plays a critical role in supporting the research mission at Queen's University by reviewing, drafting, and executing research contracts between Queen's University and external partners/collaborators. With direction from and reporting to senior management in Research Services, the incumbent will also hold responsibility for supporting and collaborating with in-house Legal Counsel.

Working in close collaboration with faculty members to deliver research contracts that support their research program goals, the Research Contracts Officer ensures contract terms and conditions align with Queen's policies, legal requirements, and funder guidelines. The Research Contracts Officer will lead the end-to-end process of timely contract development, review and execution, and will escalate high risk or complex agreements. The Research Contract Officer works in a team environment alongside members of the Grants and Contracts team and supports colleagues across the Portfolio in the shared mission to deliver high quality customer service.

The Research Contracts Officer is a key leader who provides expertise on triaging contractual issues, and is a central resource that provides training and mentorship for other Research Services staff while keeping their own training up-to-date for emerging issues impacting the research enterprise.

This position drafts and reviews research agreements, ensuring that contracts align with university policies, ethical standards and applicable laws and regulations. This position liaises with affiliated hospital partners, research centers, institutes and groups and advises principal investigators and staff on contractual terms, university policies and risks. This position also identifies and contributes to internal processes and provides strategic operational guidance and project management to ensure efficient contract execution.

What you will do

• Drafts and reviews research agreements for the university, escalating contractual clauses of concern, complex or high risk files to Legal Counsel or senior leadership.
• Liaises with affiliated hospital partners, research centers, institutes and groups to ensure all contracts and processes are aligned with expectations, compliance, legal and funding term requirements.
• Advise principal investigators and staff on contractual terms, university policies, and risks while ensuring appropriate protections for intellectual property, publication rights, liability, and confidentiality.
• Maintains accurate use of contract management systems while ensuring review turnaround, signature deadlines and service delivery expectations are met.
• Reports on progress and proactively identifies potential risks to reporting timelines and deliverables.
• Ensures contracts align with university’s policies, ethical standards and applicable laws and regulations, formatting agreements for consistency, clarity and accuracy.
• Identifies and contributes to internal processes regarding the development, revision, and implementation of standard operating procedures, workflows, and checklists to promote compliance and improve process quality.
• Provides strategic operational guidance and project management to ensure efficient contract execution, including delegation of tasks as needed.
• Contributes to national working group initiatives promoting best practices in research contract review and administration.
• Other duties as required in support of the department and/or unit.

Required Education

• Four-Year Bachelor Degree or equivalent. In addition, requires trade certification, qualification, or on-going learning to remain ahead of changes in technology or emerging fields.

Required Experience

• More than 5 years of experience.
  • Experience working in a general legal environment considered an asset
  • Experience in contract management including one or a combination of drafting, negotiating, executing, and/or amending contracts is considered an asset.
  • Knowledge of relevant laws, regulations, policies, standards and/or guidelines considered an asset.
  • Experience in writing, interviewing, reviewing, editing and/or proofreading internal and/or external communications and documents considered an asset (e.g., social media, policy manuals, newsletters, handbooks, legal documents, forms/templates, blogs, training/reference materials, technical documents, webinars, etc.).
  • Consideration may be given to an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Job Knowledge and Requirements

• Knowledge of concepts and principles in a specialist field that is typically acquired through a combination of advanced professional or academic qualifications and/or significant work experience.
• Provide expert advice, guidance and consultation on highly complex issues and/or where the outcome may be contentious.
• Interaction with others requires highly developed interpersonal skills to effectively persuade, negotiate, counsel, and/or consult.
• Adapt messages to meet the different needs of different audiences.
• Prioritize and distribute work to deliver objectives on time and to the highest standard.
• Identify in advance when the intended results may not be achieved and develops a plan to address the gaps.
• Lead team and project meetings and develop team/unit and departmental project plans.
• Lead procedural or technological change within a unit or across broader university functions.
• Identify opportunities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of work processes.
• Anticipate complex challenges to ensure activities are completed on time.
• Effectively leverage relevant data as input to making decisions.
• Appropriately assess risks before making a decision.
• Comprehensive understanding of what sexual violence, harassment and discrimination are, and their varying effects on diverse members of the community.
• Question and take appropriate steps to address attitudes, macroaggressions and other behaviours which are discriminatory. Acknowledges and respects diverse cultural traditions, abilities and beliefs.