Program Director, Regulated Research

Job Summary

The Program Director, Regulated Research provides strategic, programmatic, and governance leadership for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's regulated research computing program within the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). This position holds institution-wide purview across the regulated research program, spanning strategy, governance, audit readiness, technical roadmapping, and cross-unit coordination that extends beyond Technology Services to encompass all relevant stakeholders across campus.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Directs the regulated research program with full administrative authority, setting strategic priorities and establishing programmatic direction in alignment with OCIO and institutional goals.

• Develops, interprets, and implements policies and procedures governing the regulated research program; ensures operational consistency and regulatory compliance across all program activities.

• Provides authoritative, expert-level professional and technical knowledge in regulated research computing, research compliance, and relevant cybersecurity frameworks.

• Develops and maintains a multi-year technical and programmatic roadmap, integrating emerging compliance requirements, infrastructure needs, institutional research priorities, and annualized reporting on roadmap outcomes.

• Serves as primary advisor to the CIO, senior OCIO leadership, and OVCRI leadership on all matters related to regulated research strategy, risk posture, and program development.

• Leads the institution's audit readiness posture for regulated research environments, coordinating preparation for federal agency reviews, sponsor audits, and compliance assessments.

• Maintains comprehensive documentation of program controls, policies, and operational procedures to support continuous audit readiness under frameworks including NIST SP 800-171, CMMC, HIPAA and applicable federal acquisition regulations.

• Monitors evolving regulatory landscapes, including CUI, ITAR, EAR, CMMC, HIPAA, and sponsor-specific requirements, and translates regulatory changes into actionable program updates.

• Promotes cross-functional coordination and stakeholder engagement with faculty, researchers, department heads, and compliance officers to identify program needs, communicate requirements, and resolve operational issues.

• Serves as the escalation point for non-routine technical decisions — including incident response, identity and access management changes, and GCC High administration — coordinating execution through the program’s matrix team of subject-matter experts across Technology Services.

• Develops and manages program budgets and budget proposals; directs financial resources, including budget allocation, facilities, and operational expenditures in support of regulated research infrastructure.

• Identifies and develops matrix team support for the regulated research program; ensures resources are allocated and reported on; and provides an escalation path for challenges in supporting regulated research computing environments.

• Develops and provides annual reports to OCIO, OVCRI, and broader communities on the status of regulated research computing.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• A total of three (3) years (36 months) of professional experience in research administration, research compliance, regulatory affairs, contracts and grants, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated experience managing or coordinating programs that cross organizational boundaries.
• Demonstrated experience developing or maintaining program documentation such as SOPs, policies, control narratives, or similar at an institutional or enterprise scale.
• Demonstrated experience working within or directly supporting a program governed by at least one federal regulated research or information security compliance framework, such as NIST SP 800-171, CMMC, CUI, ITAR, or EAR.
• Demonstrated experience serving in a liaison or coordination role between technical/IT teams and non-technical stakeholders (researchers, compliance officers, legal, or sponsored programs staff), including the ability to understand and communicate with technical teams directly.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience managing or coordinating regulated research computing programs at a research university or federal contractor organization.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives involving research administration, information security, and/or IT infrastructure in a higher education or comparable institutional setting.
• Demonstrated experience with sponsored research operations, including federal grant and contract compliance, audit preparation, and sponsor reporting obligations.
• Direct experience responding to and successfully passing audits as a federal contractor or in a federal-contractor equivalent role.