Assistant Director - Research

University of Michigan; Ann Arbor (MI); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Michigan’s Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) seeks an Assistant Director - Research to oversee research programs, assist with training activities, and support research capacity-building across disciplines.

Reporting to the Executive Director and collaborating with the Assistant Director - Operations, the role includes supervising staff, designing incubation activities, managing pilot grants, developing AI tools and training content, and engaging stakeholders

Qualifications

• PhD in a quantitative field.
• 3+ years post‑grad research experience with data science/AI methods (ML, NLP, databases, stats).
• 2+ years managing research programs or collaborative projects.
• Experience supervising staff.
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to work with diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Oversee research programs and coordinate staff scientists and research staff.
• Design and implement research incubation activities to enable collaboration and grants.
• Manage pilot grant program and AI tool development for capacity building.
• Develop AI training resources, tutorials, and content for research training.
• Engage with stakeholders to support proposal development and fundraising.
• Support development of research guidelines and technical tools across domains.
• Contribute to evaluation, reporting, and dissemination content.

Skills

Staff supervision

Research program management

Stakeholder engagement

Written communication

Oral communication

Team collaboration

Project coordination

Education

PhD in a quantitative field

Job description

Job Summary

The Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS) seeks an Assistant Director - Research to oversee our research programs and some components of our training programs, and to carry out research support activities.

MIDAS is an organization under the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research. Our mission is to advance research in data science and artificial intelligence (AI), and enable their transformative use in a wide range of research disciplines to achieve lasting scientific and societal impact. We lead strategic thrusts in data science and AI research; enable collaborative grants, provide research training, and build research resources. Through these approaches, we facilitate the development of cutting-edge methods and the application of these methods to important problems in all research disciplines. We foster a world-class data science and AI research community at U-M. We also build coalitions with academia, industry, government and the community, and support the use of data and AI for positive societal impact.

This person will report to Dr. Jing Liu, MIDAS Executive Director, and will collaborate closely with the current Assistant Director - Operations (Do-Hee Morsman). Specific duties can be adjusted based on experience.

Responsibilities

• Formal supervision of staff scientists and research staff (currently 2.5 FTE) that includes coordinating projects among team members, distributing responsibilities to staff, and coaching and mentorship of staff.
• Design and implementation of research incubation activities to enable research collaboration and grants.
• Manage the pilot grant program.
• Design and implementation of AI exploration, online resources and consultation programs.
• Design and implementation of AI tool development for research capacity building.
• Content development for research training, including the summer academies and AI tutorials.
• Assist the Executive Director in stakeholder engagement, collaboration development, grant proposal development and fundraising.
• Research capacity development.
• Develop resources that improve the research capacity across research domains, including guidelines and technical tools;
• Facilitate the development of innovative research ideas and teams, including consultations for research projects;
• Develop and deliver technical training for faculty and other researchers;
• Some participation in research proposals and projects.

Communication And Administrative

For MIDAS research and related activities, collect data and assist in evaluation in order to assess program effectiveness, develop content for reports.

Develop scientific content for website and newsletter, promotional materials and other forms of dissemination.

Required Qualifications

Required Qualifications For Intermediate-Level Candidates

• PhD degree in a quantitative field.
• More than 3 years of post-graduate research experience with one or more essential data science and AI methodologies, for example: Databases and data management; software engineering; machine learning; natural language processing; modern statistical methods.
• More than 2 years of experience in managing research programs and/or collaborative projects.
• Experience formally supervising more than one staff member.
• Professionalism, strong work ethic, demonstrated sense of responsibility, discretion and reliability.
• Ability to set priorities, exercise initiative, solve problems, adapt to changes quickly, make independent judgments, and work effectively both independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Timely and consistent communication and follow-through with the leadership, the team, and stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to drive consensus.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

Required Qualifications For Senior-Level Candidates

• All required qualifications for Intermediate-Level candidates.
• More than 5 years of experience in managing research programs and/or collaborative projects.
• More than 3 years of formal supervisory experience as a group manager/staff director.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience engaging with highly technical researchers across a variety of methodological fields, research domains, and computational platforms.
• Broad interest in data science and AI and their application domains.
• Teaching experience in data science and AI.
• A track record of productive research, reflected in publications, projects, and current and past collaborations.
• Familiarity with the U-M research environment.

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Underfill Statement

This position may be filled at the HR job title 100116-Academic and/or Research Program Officer Intermediate or at the HR job title 100117-Academic and/or Research Program Officer Senior, depending on qualifications and experience.

The salary range for the intermediate level is $90,000 - $110,000 and the salary range for the senior level is $110,000 - $130,000.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.