Mitchell, I think you should be quite flexible about your requirements.  Folks
wander into research administration through a variety of routes, none of which
is automatically better than any of the others.  There is no prescribed means
of preparation for this job.

I recommend listing the bare minimum of qualifications (Master's required,
doctorate preferred; 3-5 years experience working in higher ed; etc.) but
listing the sorts of things you expect this person to do.  Will s/he write
proposals?  Then list proposal-writing experience.  Create budgets or oversee
post-award accounting?  Then mention those tasks, perhaps require some
experience.  Find funding sources?  Experience with funding agencies?  Mention
that.

But the most important things may be ability to work with faculty in stressful
situations; high degree of tolerance for ambiguity; ability to work on many
tasks at once; sense of humor; excellent communication skills, both written and
oral; and--most important of all--willingness to do whatever has to be done to
get proposals out the door.

The trick, I think, is to write a job description which is flexible enough to
attract a bunch of highly qualified candidates, select the few most likely and
interview them; if they don't wash, keep going down the list.

Regards and good luck,
Bill Campbell (Ph.D.)
Director, Grants & Research
University of Wisconsin-River Falls

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