Executive Center Director

SLAC; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford University seeks an Executive Center Director (Academic Operations Manager 2) for the Stanford Innovative Neurotherapeutics Center (SINC) at Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. The role provides leadership in administrative and operations functions to advance neuropsychiatric research and translation.

You will manage staff, coordinate cross-disciplinary initiatives, and partner with faculty leadership to advance the center's mission and external partnerships with

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience running a center or translational/academic program.
• Proven track record in strategic planning, multi-year budgeting, staffing leadership, and operations management.
• Ability to lead cross-disciplinary teams and engage with faculty, hospitals, industry, and donors.
• Clinical translation experience; familiarity with regulatory/translational workflows (IRB, GCP, FDA).
• Strong budgeting, fundraising, grants/contracts management; donor engagement a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to influence at multiple levels.

Responsibilities

• Provide management and coordination of administrative and operations-related functions for departments with substantial impact.
• Manage staff to achieve the research and teaching mission and objectives of the unit.
• Partner with faculty leadership on departmental affairs and external representation.

Skills

Strategic planning

Budgeting

Staff leadership

Operations management

Stakeholder engagement

Cross-disciplinary teams

Communication

Education

PhD in Neuroscience

MPH or MBA

Job description

The Stanford Innovative Neurotherapeutics Center, or SINC, is a new center at Stanford University and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital dedicated to advancing treatments for devastating neuropsychiatric disorders. Stanford University is seeking an Executive Center Director (Academic Operations Manager 2) to provide management and coordination of administrative and operations-related functions for departments with substantial impact within a school. This position will manage staff to achieve the research and teaching mission, goals and objectives of the unit. They will partner with and/or influence faculty leadership on departmental affairs

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 5-10 years of experience running a center or similarly scaled translational/academic program, with a proven track record in strategic planning, multi-year budgeting, staffing leadership, and operations management.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-disciplinary teams and engage with internal and external stakeholders (faculty, hospitals, industry, donors) to implement large-scale programs.
• PhD or graduate degree in Neuroscience preferred. MPH or MBA strongly preferred to complement scientific leadership with health systems/public health or business administration expertise.
• Clinical translation experience preferred, with familiarity moving research from discovery to clinical application and understanding of regulatory/translational workflows (IRB, GCP, FDA).
• Strong track record of managing budgets, fundraising, grants/contracts, and financial forecasting; experience with donor engagement and external partnerships is a plus.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to influence at multiple organizational levels and represent the center externally when needed.