Job Description

The Whiting School of Engineering (WSE) seeks an accomplished Associate Director Research Administration - Pre-Award to provide strategic leadership for its pre-award team. This position oversees a team of pre-award professionals responsible for the management of over 900 sponsored proposals from over 290 unique sponsors per year, while advancing operational excellence, service quality, and compliance across the portfolio. The Associate Director will provide visible leadership in shaping pre-award strategy, developing staff, and promoting consistent, high-quality research administration services to faculty across the school, leveraging metrics-based tools and analytics to inform decision-making, enhance service delivery, and support operational effectiveness.

The Associate Director Research Administration provides leadership in training, direction and management of a team of grants, subawards, and/or contracts analysts. The role may oversee or manage teams engaged in pre-award and/or post-award functions, such as proposal preparation, documentation review, portfolio management, workload assessments, process improvements, and workflow coordination. The Associate Director may also serve as a support resource for the pre-award and post-award teams during periods of increased workload, staff absences, or vacancies.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Supervise staff who perform the primary transactional actions related to grants, subawards, and/or contracts.
• Provide expert advice to faculty and staff regarding sponsored projects and related activities. Act as liaison for compliance with regulations and university policies.
• Provide regulatory and compliance oversight and guidance to research administration staff related to university policies and procedures and all applicable rules, regulations, and sponsor guidelines. Monitor risk and compliance concerns.
• Implement systems to track research administration reporting and metrics as well as sponsored projects deadlines and activity.
• Project and analyze long-term trends in total research funding and sponsored effort.
• Monitor and manage onboarding and ongoing training and ensure processes are effective.
• Ensure that effective on-going training programs are in place for all key positions and processes supporting research administration, including developing and participating in training/guidance of departmental students, staff and faculty in understanding university and various applicable sponsor policies and regulations as well as the systems that support sponsored projects.
• Participate in institutional committees for research compliance and sponsored programs administration across the university.
• Create and implement policies and procedures to address new regulatory changes in alignment with university, federal, and other sponsored guidelines.
• Serve as a research administration ombudsperson for faculty and staff by providing leadership and guidance in support of sponsored projects.
• Participate in long-range and strategic planning related to policy, organizational structure, process, outreach, and professional growth and development of staff. In coordination with leadership, assess gaps and overlaps in business processes and lead efforts to analyze and streamline processes to improve organizational metrics, performance and service levels and ensure consistency across the division.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in related field and relevant specialized training.

• Seven years of progressively responsible directly related experience.

• Additional education may substitute for required experience and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD or JD in related field and relevant specialized training.
• Experience in sponsored projects, contracts and/or research compliance administration experience.

Technical Skills & Expected Level of Proficiency

• Contract Negotiation - Advanced
• Grant Regulations - Advanced
• Interpersonal Skills - Advanced
• Policy Development and Implementation - Advanced
• Process Improvement - Advanced
• Research Administration Knowledge - Advanced
• Research Administration Training - Advanced
• Stakeholder Engagement - Advanced
• Strategic Planning - Advanced

The core technical skills listed are most essential; additional technical skills may be required based on specific division or department needs

Classified Title: Associate Director Research Administrati
Job Posting Title (Working Title): Associate Director Research Administration – Pre-award (Office of Research)
Role/Level/Range: ATP/04/PG
Starting Salary Range: $99,800 - $175,000 Annually (Commensurate w/exp.)
Employee group: Full Time
Schedule: M-F, 37.5 hrs wkly
FLSA Status: Exempt
Location: Hybrid/Mount Washington Campus
Department name: WSE Office of Research
Personnel area: Whiting School of Engineering