Associate Director of Research Operations
About the role
The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is a diverse community of learners, teachers, and employees who are passionate about changing the world through education and striving for maximum impact in the field of education. Many choose to work at the Harvard Graduate School of Education because they believe in our mission and are excited by our vision for the future. We have a reputation as a great place to work, for our excellent leadership, and we are a strong community that values diversity.
Responsibilities
Research Pipeline & Resource Management (45%): The Associate Director will ensure that each project is appropriately resourced, coordinating across internal staff and external research partners to do so. Ensure that new project proposals are clear in scope and appropriately resourced to meet project timelines. Build and maintain a system for allocating staff, managing staff workloads, and project timelines. Inform hiring and pipeline management decisions.
Operational Systems & Compliance (25%): The Associate Director leads operational process improvement and ensures the team remains in compliance with data use agreements and human research subject protections. Maintain a compliance calendar and coordinate adherence to requirements including data use agreements, IRB protocols, funder reporting deadlines, and data privacy standards. Coordinate with Harvard IT on computing needs. Develop and maintain standard operating procedures related to data handling, access controls, and use restrictions; serve as a point of escalation for compliance questions and incidents, connecting staff to appropriate institutional or legal resources.
Talent Development & Team Infrastructure (30%): The Associate Director owns the full staff lifecycle for the analytic team—from recruitment through offboarding. Coordinate recruitment logistics including job postings, candidate scheduling, and offer communication in partnership with HR and hiring managers; own onboarding infrastructure including checklists, systems access coordination, introductory materials, and 30/60/90-day frameworks. Lead offboarding for departing staff—knowledge transfer, systems access revocation, file organization, and continuity planning—and lead project close-out processes including archival, final documentation, and lessons-learned capture. Maintain a living library of SOPs, process guides, and onboarding materials; develop and enforce documentation standards and facilitate team trainings as needed. Develop and manage early career pipeline opportunities, including internships, pre-doctoral programs, and related initiatives.
Qualifications
Basic Qualifications: Bachelor's degree, at least 5 years of progressive experience in research operations, program operations, project management, or a closely related field, experience working in or in direct support of quantitative social science research, demonstrated success designing and managing operational systems, strong systems-thinking skills, experience with project management platforms and workflow tools, exceptional organizational skills and judgment about prioritization under competing demands, strong communicator with experience coordinating across researchers, PIs, administrative staff, and leadership, experience supervising or formally mentoring at least one staff member.
Additional Qualifications and Skills: Advanced degree in a relevant field, experience with university-based research processes, familiarity with sponsored research, IRB administration, and academic PI workflows, familiarity with research compliance frameworks, experience in resource management or staff allocation, familiarity with project management tools, exceptional organizational skills and judgment about prioritization under competing demands, strong communicator with experience coordinating across researchers, PIs, administrative staff, and leadership, experience supervising or formally mentoring at least one staff member.
Benefits
Harvard offers a comprehensive benefits package that is designed to support a healthy work-life balance and your physical, mental and financial wellbeing. Because here, you are what matters. Our benefits include, but are not limited to: Generous paid time off including parental leave, Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one, Retirement plans with university contributions, Wellbeing and mental health resources, Support for families and caregivers, Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement, Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks.