Strategic Research Operations Lead

University of Kentucky; Lexington (KY); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Kentucky is seeking a Research Operations Facilitator to join the College of Pharmacy. This role coordinates resources, workflows, budgets, partnerships, and research support services to advance the college's research mission.

Work closely with leadership, faculty, and administrators to strengthen research competitiveness, support faculty development, and drive growth and impact of the college’s research enterprise.

Qualifications

• Experience in strategic planning and resource coordination for research.
• Familiarity with sponsored research, grants, and compliance processes.
• Ability to analyze metrics and develop dashboards to inform planning.
• Strong financial management skills including budgeting and prioritization.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with detail-oriented work style.
• 6 years of related experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational coordination for the College of Pharmacy Office of Research Operations, including planning, project tracking, resource management, and implementation of research initiatives.
• Support development and execution of the college’s research strategic plan and help align budgets, workflows, policies, and partnerships with research priorities.
• Coordinate proposal development activities, peer review processes, grantsmanship support, faculty mentoring programs, and research training opportunities.
• Serve as a liaison with institutional research administration, compliance, and regulatory offices to facilitate approvals, sponsor compliance, and efficient research operations.
• Develop and manage reporting systems, dashboards, assessments, and analyses that inform research planning, resource allocation, and decision-making.
• Track research productivity, awards, proposals, scholarly output, patents, and other key metrics to support leadership reporting and strategic planning.
• Coordinate collaborative and multi-institutional research activities and support faculty engagement with internal and external research and entrepreneurship partners.
• Manage office budgets, monitor center budgets, and support fiscal planning activities.
• Organize and support major research programs, symposiums, seminars, and related events, including logistics, communications, documentation, and follow-up.
• Partner with marketing and communications teams to promote research achievements, maintain research-related content, and enhance visibility of faculty expertise and research impact.

Skills

Strategic planning

Resource planning

Project management

Operational coordination

Data analysis

Dashboards

Communication

Stakeholder management

Research administration

Budget monitoring

Job description

The University of Kentucky is seeking a Research Operations Facilitator to join the College of Pharmacy. This role coordinates resources, workflows, budgets, partnerships, and research support services to advance the college's research mission.

Work closely with leadership, faculty, and administrators to strengthen research competitiveness, support faculty development, and drive growth and impact of the college’s research enterprise.