Project Coordinator (PIA)

Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Works with Minors check: Yes

About the Department:

Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) at George Mason University serves as the university’s central hub for workforce development, executive education, and applied professional learning. CPE partners with federal agencies, industry, and academic units across Mason to design and deliver high‑impact training programs that strengthen the region’s talent pipeline. CPE supports strategic university initiatives by offering flexible, mission‑aligned programs—including short courses, certificate programs, customized federal training, and large‑scale workforce skilling efforts—that advance organizational performance and address emerging national security, defense, and technology needs. As part of GMU’s research and innovation ecosystem, CPE collaborates closely with Mason Defense, academic colleges, and research centers to ensure programs are responsive, experiential, and aligned with federal workforce priorities. Mason Defense leads George Mason University’s efforts to expand and deliver impactful defense and national security programs through applied research, federal partnerships, workforce development, and strategic initiatives. The department collaborates closely with academic units, research centers, and federal agencies.

About the Position:

This position provides administrative, operational, financial transaction, and customer support that sustains day-to-day program operations under federally sponsored agreements and contracts.

The position is assigned to a designated collaboration center and supports program activity at that location and additionally supports sponsored program activity across other awards as assigned.

Requirements, systems, and reporting obligations vary by award; the position applies to the appropriate requirements to each and maintains separation between activity supporting different awards.

Reporting to the Program Manager, the position works closely with program and project managers, events and engagement staff, university business units, and external participants.

The position applies to established university and sponsor policies, procedures, and system requirements accurately and independently, and serves as a process reference point for program staff.

It does not establish, draft, or interpret university or sponsor policy; questions of policy interpretation are escalated to the supervisor or to the responsible university office.

In its sponsored program capacity, the position coordinates, processes, supports, and documents.

• Coordinates the scheduling, correspondence, and day-to-day administrative operations supporting sponsored program activity across assigned awards;
• Coordinates schedules, meetings, and conference room and facility reservations across programs and participating organizations;
• Prepares correspondence, meeting materials, agendas, minutes, and routine reports for program leadership and external participants;
• Coordinates with program and project managers on task deadlines, deliverable schedules, and administrative requirements;
• Coordinates onboarding activity for incoming staff, faculty, contractors, and program participants, including access requests, system setup, and required documentation;
• Applies the requirements applicable to each assigned award and maintains separation between activity supporting different awards; and
• Serves as a process reference point for program staff on administrative and transactional requirements, and escalates matters requiring policy interpretation.

• Prepares and processes the financial, procurement, and travel transactions supporting sponsored program activity, applying university and sponsor requirements accurately across awards;
• Prepares and submits travel pre-approvals, expense reports, and reimbursement documentation in accordance with university policy;
• Prepares purchase requests, supply orders, and vendor payment documentation in accordance with university procurement policy;
• Charges transactions to the correct award, fund, and account, and maintains supporting documentation demonstrating allocability;
• Assembles supporting documentation for invoice substantiation, procurement actions, and vendor payments;
• Tracks expenditures against established budgets and reports variances to program leadership; and
• Resolves routine transaction exceptions with university business units and escalates unresolved matters to the supervisor.

• Supports the daily operation of the assigned collaboration center and provides professional customer and visitor support to government, academic, and industry guests;
• Supports visitor coordination, including scheduling, access arrangements, and reception of government, academic, and industry guests;
• Provides customer support to program participants, partner organizations, and university staff;
• Coordinates facility operations support, including space setup, supplies, equipment, and service requests;
• Coordinates with university facilities, information technology, and security offices on operational matters; and
• Maintains operational records for the assigned location.

• Provides logistics and administrative support for convenings, meetings, and events conducted under sponsored programs, in coordination with events and engagement staff;
• Supports event logistics, including space reservations, catering arrangements, materials preparation, and vendor coordination;
• Supports registration, participant rosters, name badges, and attendance records;
• Prepares and processes the transactions supporting event execution in accordance with university policy;
• Provides on-site logistics support during events as assigned; and
• Maintains event files, including agendas, rosters, vendor documentation, and expenditure records.

• Maintains program records and tracking systems and supports the documentation requirements associated with sponsored reporting and audit;
• Maintains program trackers, task and deliverable logs, and status records in the designated systems;
• Compiles administrative and operational data for inclusion in periodic program reports;
• Maintains organized records supporting audit and sponsor reporting requirements, filed by award; and
• Supports the assembly of documentation responsive to audit and sponsor inquiries.

• Performs additional projects and functions as requested by the supervisor, which may require collaboration with other program staff, university academic and business units, or external entities.

• High school diploma or equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Progressively responsible experience providing administrative, operations, or office management support in a professional environment;
• Demonstrated experience processing financial, procurement, or travel transactions within established institutional policy;
• Demonstrated experience maintaining program records, trackers, or documentation supporting reporting requirements;
• Demonstrated experience supporting meetings, events, or visitor coordination;
• Ability to resolve routine procedural exceptions independently and to recognize when a matter requires escalation to the supervisor or a responsible university office;
• Ability to serve as a process reference point for program staff on transaction, travel, procurement, and onboarding requirements;
• Ability to coordinate schedules, meetings, and facility and conference room reservations across multiple programs and competing priorities;
• Ability to prepare accurate correspondence, reports, trackers, and program documentation for professional and government audiences;
• Ability to provide professional customer and visitor support to government, academic, and industry guests;
• Ability to maintain organized records that remain complete and retrievable in support of audit and sponsor reporting requirements;
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and collaboration and project tracking tools, and demonstrated ability to learn new institutional systems rapidly;
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent requests and deadlines without loss of accuracy or responsiveness;
• Position is restricted due to the availability of funds. This position is supported entirely by non-continuous sponsored funding; continuation is contingent upon continued sponsored funding;
• Primary duty station is at a designated collaboration center. Occasional work at other university and program locations is required;
• Travel of approximately 10–15%, as required, including occasional overnight and multi- day travel; and
• U.S. citizenship is required as a condition of employment.

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or equivalent of education and experience;
• Experience supporting federally sponsored programs, government contracts, or higher education administration preferred;
• Experience working across multiple funding sources or awards with differing requirements preferred;
• Working knowledge of university financial, procurement, travel, and personnel processes and systems, and the ability to apply them accurately and independently across multiple funding sources; and
• Ability to distinguish requirements applicable to different sponsored awards and to allocate and document effort, expenditures, and activity to the correct award.

Instructions to Applicants:

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Project Coordinator (PIA) at https://jobs.gmu.edu/.

Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide cover letter and resume for review.

For Full Consideration, Apply by: August 28, 2026