The Financial Associate will assist in the fiscal, administrative, and data management responsibilities within the academic departments. This role plays a critical part in ensuring compliance with financial policies, research grants, and HR procedures while providing direction and assistance to faculty and staff. The successful candidate will manage financial transactions, reconciliations, reporting, and post-award grant administration while supporting overall departmental operations.

Job Function/Responsibilities:

• Review and process accounting and personnel transactions.
• Validate and reconcile departmental monthly account ledgers.
• Process cost transfers, payroll allocations, and internal transactions.
• Provide financial analysis, reporting, and recommendations to faculty and business managers.
• Prepare travel estimates and obtain approvals.
• Process conference registrations, airfare, and lodging bookings.
• Audit and process expense reimbursements, prepayments, guest travel, and travel advances.
• Generate financial reports for faculty, graduate students, and department leadership.
• Assist with budget forecasting, grant tracking, and financial projections.
• Conduct data analysis, compliance monitoring, and financial planning.
• Monitor payroll allocations for sponsored projects.
• Process additional work payments, service awards, and payroll adjustments as needed.
• Maintain departmental financial records and retention schedules.

As the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) grows and becomes more involved in research with local industries and federal agencies, the Grants and Contracts Office is vital to ensuring proposals, awards, subawards, and other contracts are submitted and dispersed appropriately. The university wants to lead in workforce development for the Huntsville/southern middle Tennessee region and plans on achieving this by increasing its research presence in the area with local industries and federal agencies. The grants and contracts coordinator role is an entry level position critical for the university. This position will work in conjunction with the UTSI faculty and staff to ensure that proposals and awards are submitted correctly. This position will also work with the UTSI industrial security office to ensure compliance with export control, Traffic and Arms Regulations (ITAR), classified uncontrolled information (CUI), and other regulations.

Job Function/Responsibilities:

• Coordinate abstracts, statements of work, letters of commitment, and other requested information required by the request for proposal (RFP) and/or solicitation.
• Assist with uploading necessary documents into Cayuse.
• Assist with submitting grants and proposals in federal, state, and other various websites, as well as university portals.
• Use the federal acquisition regulations (FAR) and the defense federal acquisition regulations (DFAR) to determine the applicability of FAR/DFAR grant/contract requirements.
• Evaluate non-research contracts for requirements using the standard contract manual as developed by the UT System office.

The Human Resources Specialist will serve as an HR point of contact on campus, supporting a broad range of personnel- related functions. This position is essential in promoting a positive workplace culture, ensuring compliance with university policies, and facilitating effective communication between UTSI employees and the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) central HR offices. They will direct support to UTSI leadership and staff, including acting as a liaison to UTK HR departments such as Title IX, Equal Opportunity and Accessibility, Employee Relations, and Employee Engagement. Reporting to the Executive Director at UTSI, and working in coordination with UTK HR leadership, this role ensures that HR programs, processes, and services are communicated and implemented effectively at the Institute level.

Job Function/Responsibilities:

• Serve as local contact for HR concerns, employee issues, and workplace conflict resolution.
• Promote awareness and support for university-wide employee engagement programs.
• Assist with the coordination of Title IX, ADA, and accessibility programs on campus.
• Act as a confidential resource and liaison between employees and UTK HR specialists.
• Monitor and communicate HR policy updates, procedural changes, and compliance measures.
• Support UTSI in employee onboarding, workplace culture development, and well-being initiatives.
• Work closely with campus leadership to ensure that UTSI-specific HR needs are addressed and aligned with institutional goals.

The Program Manager will be responsible for customer growth, service delivery, and project management and oversight for one of four business areas inside the University of Tennessee Space Institute- Huntsville Research office. The focus of this position is to develop relationships with government, industry, and academia to drive growth, create research opportunities and execute projects to support the University of Tennessee and its customers. The manager will use their knowledge of customers, industry, and competition to identify and pursue opportunities for growth for the University of Tennessee in the Huntsville Alabama region. They will also work with team members within UT to manage communication and coordination needs of projects and administer the fiscal, administrative and data management responsibilities.

Job Function/Responsibilities:

• Project oversight and management in one of the following four areas:
  • U.S. Army (AvMC, AMC, SMD, Redstone Military Community, etc)
  • NASA
  • Civilian Military Contract Entities
  • Civilian Space Entities
• Establish and promote multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator teams across organizations and disciplines for the purpose of competing successfully for large scale projects, research centers, and training program opportunities
• Establish, develop, and sustain working relationships and serve as a key contact for federal agencies and corporations in Huntsville including Program Managers, Advisory Panels, Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), etc
• Use situational awareness to fully understand the specific research priorities and personnel needs of potential sponsors and partners in the Huntsville region.
• Prepare and present university research capabilities to potential sponsors and partners.
• Facilitate connections between university investigators and potential customers including arranging for meetings, conference calls, workshops, presentations, demonstrations, collaborations, and proposer’s days participation.
• Work with staff and provide input to develop marketing materials, research agreements, and contract agreements, as necessary.
• Maintain a current inventory of prospects and projects
• Attend and participate in agency sponsored meetings and conferences
• Coordinate and manage the logistics of outreach activities, to include but not limited to personnel exchanges between sponsor and university personnel (undergraduates, graduate students, post docs, staff, and faculty)
• Coordinates with university and partner organization to prepare proposals, business plans, proposal work statements, operational budgets, and specifications.
• Strong judgment and decision-making abilities.
• The ability to multi-task, manage multiple projects, and work well in a high-intensity environment with strict attention to detail and deadlines.

Applicant will co-instruct a Master’s level or undergraduate course in aerospace or mechanical engineering in partnership with an experienced faculty member who regularly teaches the course.  The applicant will be provided with course materials and mentorship, but will also be encouraged to draw from their professional experience to enrich the content of the course.

Successful applicants with interest in the area may also be coached on the development of academic research programs and be given an opportunity to develop experience in the proposal and management of educational research programs.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Instruct two 75-minute lectures a week.
• Advise individual students enrolled in the course during routine office hours and ad hoc appointments.
• Grade exams and assignments related to the assigned course.
• Suggest additional content based on professional experience to enrich course content.
• Help plan for the development of future courses and curriculum development.
• Develop graduate courses in their area of research to facilitate departmental growth.
• Interested applicants will also be provided an opportunity to contribute to sponsored research programs with the goal of broadening the applicant’s experience and record of professional accomplishments in this area.

The Maintenance Specialist will aid the Facilities department with maintenance and repairs of all campus facilities which include buildings, grounds, and utility systems including but not limited to lights, ceilings, doors, restrooms, and HVAC equipment. The Facilities department maintains all buildings and grounds of the campus and the maintenance performed may be routine, emergency, or preventive, this includes inspections on building systems and equipment.

Job Function/Responsibilities:

• Install, repair, maintain, overhaul, clean and service various types of refrigeration and HVAC/R equipment
• Perform preventative maintenance on air conditioning, refrigeration, and ventilation systems as well as plumbing involved with HVAC/R.
• Maintain and repair building systems including following a maintenance schedule for greasing bearings, replacing belts, checking and repairing exhaust fans and pumps.
• Will assist in repair and overhaul of pumps and air compressors as well as modify and adjust systems and units to include thermostats and control systems.
• Install, maintain, and repair electrical systems up to 480 volts, facilities, and appliances.
• Performs other related duties as required.

The technical specialist will be responsible for supporting the research and/or machine shop operations on site at the UTSI campus, located in Tullahoma, TN.  This position will provide general knowledge of the operations, machining, facilities, laboratories, and support equipment on campus with an opportunity to focus on one support area if desired.  The technical specialist will work with the UT team to manage and prioritize the support of the advanced aerospace research laboratories and facilities, in the form of maintenance, fabrication, design, and the safe operation of research apparatuses.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Fabricates, installs, operates, maintains, inspects, and repairs specialized equipment per regulations, codes, and professional practices.
• Troubleshoots and diagnoses a broad range of scientific instrumentation and equipment.
• Fabricates and assembles components as specified.
• Selects materials and components needed for completion of designs, fabrications, and repairs.
• Reads, interprets, and uses blueprints and schematics, instructions, manuals, or shop drawings to understand specifications of work.
• Performs maintenance and repair on malfunctioning equipment to include modification, replacement of parts, adjustment, and calibration.