Assistant Director, Award Setup Services

About the role

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Assistant Director is responsible for providing operational leadership for centralized award setup and modification services within the Research Administration Collaborative (RAC). The position establishes, manages, evaluates, and continuously improves a shared-service capability designed to provide accurate, timely, consistent, and accountable research administration services on behalf of participating University units.

Responsibilities

• Centralized Award Setup and Modification Service Leadership (35%) — Direct day-to-day service operations including workload management, prioritization, resource allocation, and service delivery. Establish and maintain operating procedures, service standards, quality controls, and escalation practices. Monitor service performance and address operational issues, risks, bottlenecks, and emerging priorities. Ensure services comply with University requirements, institutional controls, and established operating practices. Foster a culture of accountability, responsiveness, accuracy, transparency, and customer service.
• Staff Leadership and Workforce Development (20%) — Build and lead a high-performing operational service team. Recruit, supervise, coach, and develop staff responsible for award setup and modification services. Establish performance expectations and provide ongoing feedback, evaluation, and performance management. Develop workforce capabilities through onboarding, training, cross-training, and professional development. Assess staffing needs and allocate resources to meet service demands and evolving operational requirements. Promote a collaborative, inclusive, and continuous-improvement-oriented team culture.
• Process Improvement and Operational Implementation (20%) — Lead implementation of redesigned workflows, procedures, controls, and operating standards. Partner with RAC colleagues and stakeholders to reduce administrative burden, streamline processes, and improve service outcomes. Develop and maintain operational documentation, decision frameworks, and quality-assurance practices. Identify recurring process issues and implement corrective actions to improve efficiency, quality, and consistency. Support evaluation and adoption of technology, automation, and decision-support solutions.
• Performance Management and Stakeholder Coordination (15%) — Establish and monitor key performance indicators, service levels, productivity measures, and quality metrics. Use operational data to identify trends, risks, capacity needs, and improvement opportunities. Provide leadership with regular assessments of service performance, operational risks, and improvement priorities. Partner with OSP, GCA, academic units, and other stakeholders to resolve cross-functional issues and improve service delivery. Communicate operational expectations, process changes, and performance outcomes to stakeholders.
• Service Scaling and Strategic Program Development (10%) — Evaluate service effectiveness, capacity, scalability, and operational readiness. Develop operational plans supporting expansion of centralized services to additional units and service areas. Support onboarding and transition activities for participating units. Recommend staffing, workflow, process, and technology investments needed to support future growth. Contribute to RAC planning, pilot evaluation, governance activities, and broader operational excellence initiatives.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, public administration, finance, research administration, higher education administration, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience in business administration, finance, research administration, or public administration.
• Five years of experience with business administration, finance, research administration, or higher education administration.

Preferred qualifications

• Five years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, sponsored programs administration, program operations, or a related administrative field.
• Demonstrated experience supervising staff and managing operational workflows, workload priorities, and service delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret complex policies, exercise independent judgment, solve operational problems, and implement effective business processes.
• Strong analytical, communication, relationship-management, and performance-management skills, including the ability to use operational data and metrics to support decision-making.
• Advanced degree and/or professional certification relevant to research administration, program management, organizational leadership, or business operations (e.g., CRA, MBA, MPA).
• Significant experience with sponsored research administration, particularly post-award administration, award setup, award modifications, or sponsored-project financial management.
• Experience leading shared-services, centralized-service, service-center, or other high-volume operational environments.
• Experience leading process improvement, organizational change, service redesign, workflow optimization, or implementation of new operating models.
• Experience using operational performance measures, workflow technologies, automation, case-management systems, or AI-enabled tools to improve service delivery.

About the team

The Office of Research is led by the Vice Provost for Research and oversees three administrative units: Human Subjects Division (HSD), Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), and Office of Research Information Services (ORIS).

Compensation and benefits

• Pay range: $126,000 – $150,000 annual
• Benefits: UW staff benefits information
• Shift: First shift (United States of America)
• Position type: Regular, full-time (100% FTE)
• Union/bargaining unit: Not applicable