Research Administration Director

About the role

The College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence (CAI) seeks a collaborative and strategic Research Administration Director to serve as the senior operational leader for the College's research administration enterprise. Reporting directly to the Associate Dean for Research (ADR), this position provides leadership and oversight for all pre-award and post-award research administration activities, ensuring the efficient, compliant, and effective administration of the College's sponsored research portfolio.

As a founding leader within the College's Research Office, the Research Administration Director will design, build, and scale a modern research administration organization that grows in capability alongside the College's expanding research enterprise. This position is responsible for developing the operational infrastructure, professional staff, and service model necessary to support faculty success, enable increasingly ambitious research programs, and provide exceptional stewardship of sponsored research investments.

Responsibilities

• Directs and coordinates staff, systems, and procedures related to the processing of sponsor supported grants, contracts, and agreements on a daily basis
• Oversees pre-award and/or post-award research administration activities
• Develops, conducts, and administers training initiatives for faculty, staff, and other stakeholders in areas related to research administration
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
• Facilitates internal or external audits of grants and contracts
• Serves as a liaison to internal and external leadership and stakeholders; advises principal investigators, leadership, and central grants administration, interacts with granting agencies regarding policy interpretation, and provides recommendations for successful outcomes
• Establishes, implements, and maintains policy and procedures for sponsored project administration
• Oversees division compliance related to sponsored grants and contracts

Requirements

• Three to four years of progressively responsible research administration experience
• Professional experience supervising, mentoring, and developing professional staff
• Experience applying fiscal and administrative rules, regulations and procedures for administering sponsored projects

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Research Administration, Finance, or a related field required
• Master's Degree preferred

Preferred Qualifications

• Five or more years of progressively responsible research administration experience
• Demonstrated track record of working collaboratively with multiple groups/stakeholders
• Demonstrated organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience building, growing, or scaling a research administration organization
• Experience supporting large, multidisciplinary research proposals, centers, or strategic initiatives
• Experience leading organizational change or process improvement initiatives
• Experience working with federal sponsors, including NIH, NSF, DOE, DoD
• Experience with Workday ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) & UW RAMP (Research Administration Management Portal)

Benefits

This position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Generous paid time off
• Competitively priced health, dental, vision, and life insurance
• Tax advantage savings accounts
• Participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

For a summary of benefits, please see this document.

Pay

The minimum salary for this position is $130,529; actual pay is determined at time of hire and is based on experience and qualifications.