Program Director

University of Chicago; Chicago (IL); Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Chicago is seeking a Program Director to lead the planning, execution, and delivery of long‑running, grant‑funded solution development programs in collaboration with partner institutions. As a senior contributor and team leader, you will liaise between technical staff, institutional partners, PIs, funders, and leadership, guiding scope, milestones, and communications.

You will oversee budgeting, reporting, and coordination across workstreams, ensuring successful delivery while

Qualifications

• 7+ years of program management experience.
• Experience leading multi‑institution software development programs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Program Planning and Execution: Develop scope, work breakdown structures, milestones, resource plans, risk mitigation with investigators and leaders.
• Stakeholder Coordination: Coordinate with partner institutions, facilitate meetings, manage inter‑institution dynamics.
• Communication: Deliver updates to technical and non‑technical audiences; prepare reports and presentations; represent the University at meetings and site visits.
• Technical Oversight and Collaboration: Maintain knowledge of Globus platform; translate research requirements into program plans; oversee budgets and schedules.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Leadership

Budget oversight

Education

Bachelor's degree in related field

Tools

Agile

Scrum

Job description

Department Globus Labs About the Department Globus (www.globus.org) is a mission-driven organization dedicated to enabling discovery by delivering advanced data management and computation capabilities to researchers worldwide. As a unit within The University of Chicago, Globus develops and operates commercial-quality, software-as-a-service used by thousands of institutions, including research universities, national laboratories, federal agencies, and commercial research organizations. Core features are free for non-profit researchers, and the Globus service is sustained through institutional subscriptions that unlock advanced features for organizations needing greater control, compliance support, and deeper integration with their research computing environment. This model reflects the organization’s core commitment: making secure, reliable cyberinfrastructure services accessible to the broadest possible research community. The Globus team comprises professional software developers and business operations staff, as well Globus Labs, a dedicated research group pioneering novel methods and technologies.

Team members are geographically distributed—a structure that reflects the global nature of the research communities we serve—while maintaining a collaborative culture focused on making an impact in disciplines ranging from the life sciences and astronomy, to materials science and public policy.

The Globus professional services team develops solutions in support of external organizations’ data-intensive research, building on their ongoing investments in Globus. Projects are funded by the recipient organizations, typically supported by grants from federal agencies including NSF, NIH, DOE, and are carried out by distributed teams spanning multiple institutions. The work typically involves large-scale cyberinfrastructure: distributed computation, high-volume scientific data management, and software systems that must perform reliably at the scale demanded by modern research workflows.

Professional services team members are committed to advancing the research mission of the scientific community by delivering reliable, high-quality software infrastructure accessible to the broadest possible set of researchers.

Job Summary We seek a Program Director to lead the successful planning, execution, and delivery of long-running, grant-funded solution development programs conducted in collaboration with partner institutions. As a senior individual contributor and team leader you will be the primary liaison between technical staff, institutional partners, principal investigators, funding agency program officers, and organizational leadership. This role operates at the intersection of software project management, technical leadership, and organizational diplomacy. You will provide guidance and oversight to program teams and serve as the primary point of contact with faculty, sponsors, and leadership, overseeing all program operations including development methodology, deliverables and timelines, reporting and communications, and budget management. You will be successful if you are equally comfortable leading a sprint planning session with engineers, presenting milestone progress to a funding program officer, and navigating the institutional sensitivities that arise in multi-institutional research collaborations.

Multi-institutional, grant-funded programs sit at the frontier of research infrastructure, and the systems we develop directly enable scientific discovery across disciplines. You are a good fit for this role if you are a program leader who thrives on complexity: someone energized by the challenge of aligning distributed teams, building trust across institutional boundaries, and delivering technical results that serve the research mission.

The work requires the rigor of professional project management, the knowledge to engage with technical staff, and the relationship intelligence to operate effectively in the academic and non-profit research ecosystem.

Do you currently lead development of custom solutions and applications in advanced computing environments? Do you love learning about leading edge research and creating innovative solutions to facilitate breakthrough discoveries? Do you enjoy engaging with the research community to make advanced capabilities available to all? If so, you will love the collaborative, mission-driven environment at Globus.

This position is wholly or partially funded by contractual grant funding which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract.

Responsibilities

Program Planning and Execution:

Ensures development of the program scope, work breakdown structures, deliverables, milestones, resource plans, and risk mitigation plans in collaboration with principal investigators, partner institution leads, and organizational leadership. Monitor progress across workstreams and initiate corrective actions to mitigate schedule, scope, and budget risks.

Stakeholder Coordination:

Act as the primary point of contact for, coordinate the efforts of, and develop productive working relationships with staff at partner institutions. Facilitate team meetings and working groups, ensuring stakeholders are engaged. Navigate sensitive inter‑institutional dynamics with professionalism and discretion, building consensus, preserving relationships and keeping programs on track.

Communication:

Serve as the primary point of escalation and communication for stakeholders at all levels, including technical staff, principal investigators, leadership, and program officers. Prepare and deliver updates on program direction, scope, risk and schedule, tailored to both technical and non‑technical audiences. Support dissemination activities including preparation of reports and presentations, and represent the University of Chicago at meetings, workshops, conferences, and site visits.

Technical Oversight and Collaboration:

Develop and maintain working knowledge of the Globus platform and the technical domains relevant to scientific applications. Coordinate with Globus product management, software development, and support teams to ensure program requirements and field learnings are reflected in product plans. Collaborate with software developers to translate research requirements into actionable program plans, considering staff and related system dependencies. Provides specialized professional expertise in program management. Implements plans for educational programs and initiatives and acts as a liaison between the program and program participants. Plans and develops program objectives and/or content. Researches and identifies trends and needs and establishes program directions accordingly. Serves as a key resource for program information. Resolves problems or questions referred by program staff, University administrators, or other contingencies. Develops and administers program budgets and recommends or makes budgetary recommendations. Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible experience in program management, with demonstrated leadership of complex, multi‑stakeholder software development programs. Experience managing programs that span multiple organizations. Experience managing long‑running software development projects with distributed teams, within variable funding, milestone and deliverable constraints. Demonstrated mastery of program management fundamentals: monitoring program progress, tracking effort and expenditure, and anticipating emerging risks to schedule, scope, budget, or stakeholder relationships. Experience with software development methodologies including Agile, Scrum, or hybrid approaches. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with demonstrated ability to synthesize complex technical and programmatic information into concise, actionable summaries for diverse audiences. Ability to prioritize multiple workstreams and independently follow through with detail on general, and sometimes ambiguous, direction for deliverables. Ability to facilitate productive technical discussions and working sessions across geographical and organizationally distributed teams. Demonstrated skill in building consensus, mediating disagreements, and bringing disparate factions together toward shared decisions and outcomes. Familiarity with the architecture and operational characteristics of research computing and cyberinfrastructure.

Working Conditions

Primarily remote work, with occasional required attendance at in‑person meetings. This job requires occasional evening or weekend hours. Occasional travel may be required to attend in‑person program meetings and provide on-site support to program teams.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination. Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form. All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case‑by‑case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position. The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at: http://securityreport.uchicago.edu. Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637. The University of Chicago is an urban research university that has driven new ways of thinking since 1890. Our commitment to free and open inquiry draws inspired scholars to our global campuses, where ideas are born that challenge and change the world. We empower individuals to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas. Students in the College develop critical, analytic, and writing skills in our rigorous, interdisciplinary core curriculum. Through graduate programs, students test their ideas with UChicago scholars, and become the next generation of leaders in academia, industry, nonprofits, and government. To learn more about the university click here http://www.uchicago.edu/