Associate Director of Research Operations

The University of Texas at Austin; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Texas at Austin seeks an Associate Director of Research Operations to lead research administration, improve processes, and ensure compliance across the College of Liberal Arts.

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Research, this role oversees the College Research Support Office, partners with central offices, and drives strategic initiatives to expand externally funded research on UT's main campus.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and CRA credential required.
• Seven years of progressively responsible experience in research administration.
• Experience with pre-award and post-award activities.
• Experience supervising professional staff.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; knowledge of sponsor regulations and university policies.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for research administration across the College of Liberal Arts.
• Oversee College Research Support Office operations and staff.
• Coordinate compliance, policies, and coordination with central offices.
• Develop training materials and lead organizational change initiatives.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Research administration

Pre-award & post-award

Staff supervision

Policy compliance

Stakeholder collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

CRA credential

Job description

Job Posting Title: Associate Director of Research Operations

Hiring Department: College of Liberal Arts

Position Open To: All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40

FLSA Status: Exempt from FLSA

Earliest Start Date: Immediately

Position Duration: Expected to Continue

Location: UT MAIN CAMPUS

Job Details:

General Notes

What benefits do I receive with UT? The university offers an impressive benefits package. For more details on benefits, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards For more information about the College of Liberal Arts, please visit: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/ Our college seeks to build a supportive, growth-minded community and cultivate outstanding and courageous leaders. For more information on the college staff leadership academy, please visit: https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/resources-for-faculty-staff/staff-leadership-academy/ For more information on college staff professional development, please visit: https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/larc/Staff+Professional+Development+Fund

Purpose

The purpose of this position is to provide operational leadership and oversight for research administration activities across the College of Liberal Arts. Reporting to the Associate Dean for Research, the Associate Director of Research Operations serves as the college's lead research administration professional and works closely with college leadership, department administrators, research center staff, faculty, and university partners to strengthen research infrastructure, ensure compliance, improve operational effectiveness, and support the growth of externally funded research. This position manages the daily operations of the College Research Support Office and leads efforts to develop consistent research administration practices across the college. The Associate Director partners with the Director of the Office of Research and Scholarship and Associate Dean to identify organizational needs, implement strategic initiatives, improve processes, and advance college-wide research priorities.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for research administration activities across the College of Liberal Arts. Develop and implement strategies to improve research support services, increase operational efficiency, and strengthen institutional research capacity. Evaluate existing processes and recommend improvements to align with evolving university priorities, sponsor requirements, and faculty needs. Serve as a strategic advisor to college leadership regarding research administration operations, risk management, resource allocation, workload distribution, and emerging research administration issues. Lead initiatives to centralize and standardize research administration practices across college departments, centers, and institutes. Coordinate implementation of new policies, systems, and operational changes.
• Manage operations of the College Research Support Office. Supervise research administration staff, including responsibility for hiring, training, workload management, performance evaluation, professional development, and establishment of service standards. Develop staffing strategies and workflows that ensure timely and effective proposal support, award administration assistance, agreement coordination, and faculty service. Establish metrics and reporting mechanisms to monitor service quality, office performance, proposal activity, workload distribution, and research support outcomes.
• Provide college-level coordination and compliance oversight for research administration practices across college research units and departments. Collaborate with research administrators throughout the college to establish consistent procedures, promote best practices, and improve coordination. Monitor changes in sponsor and university policies and communicate implications to stakeholders. Lead efforts related to research compliance, risk mitigation, internal controls, documentation standards, and audit readiness. Serve as a key liaison with the Office of Sponsored Projects, Sponsored Projects Award Administration, the Office of the Vice President for Research, University Compliance Services, COLA Finance, COLA HR, and other campus units.
• Provide expert guidance on complex proposals, award management issues, contracts, service agreements, research collaborations, subawards, non-funded agreements, and other sponsored project activities. Collaborate with faculty, departments, and research units to support the development and administration of large, multidisciplinary, and strategically significant projects. Develop and maintain systems, procedures, templates, and guidance materials that support consistent research administration activities throughout the college.
• Develop and coordinate training programs, professional development opportunities, and resource materials for research administrators and related staff across the college. Foster a collaborative research administration community and facilitate communication among research stakeholders. Represent the College of Liberal Arts on university committees, working groups, and initiatives related to research administration and sponsored projects. Lead special projects and perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree. Certified Research Administrator (CRA) credential. Seven years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, sponsored projects administration, grants management, research operations, or university administration. Demonstrated experience providing oversight of both pre-award and post-award sponsored project activities, including proposal development, award administration, reporting, compliance, and research support services. Experience managing complex research portfolios, programs, centers, institutes, or administrative operations supporting externally funded research. Experience supervising professional and administrative staff, including responsibility for personnel management, training, workflow coordination, performance oversight, and professional development. Experience coordinating activities across multiple stakeholder groups, departments, centers, institutes, or organizational units to improve operational effectiveness and achieve strategic goals. Experience interpreting and applying federal regulations, sponsor requirements, and university policies governing sponsored research and research compliance. Experience supporting contracts, service agreements, subawards, memoranda of understanding, or other research-related agreements. Demonstrated experience developing and implementing operational processes, administrative systems, workflow improvements, or organizational change initiatives. Excellent written, verbal, analytical, organizational, and interpersonal communication skills. Ability to collaborate effectively with faculty, administrators, research staff, department leadership, and central university offices. Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and research administration systems. Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

Master's degree. Ten or more years of progressively responsible research administration experience in a large public research university. Experience leading research administration operations for a college, division, center, institute, or similarly complex research organization. Experience serving as a compliance officer, compliance lead, or primary coordinator for research compliance activities. Experience overseeing multidisciplinary research portfolios involving federal, foundation, industry, and other external sponsors. Demonstrated success leading organizational transformation, administrative centralization efforts, service redesign, or large-scale process improvement initiatives. Experience training research administrators, faculty, or staff. Knowledge of UT Austin sponsored projects systems, policies, and procedures.

Salary Range

$100,000+ depending on qualifications

Working Conditions

• May work around standard office conditions.
• Repetitive use of a keyboard at a workstation
• Use of manual dexterity

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Employment Eligibility

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

Retirement Plan Eligibility

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

Background Checks

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Pay Transparency

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

Employment Eligibility Verification

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

E-Verify

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

Compliance

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031. The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.