Senior Director, Research Administration

About the role

The Senior Director, Research Administration serves as the senior administrative leader and final departmental authority for all research administration functions supporting the Department of Surgery (DOS) across the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), Penn Presbyterian (PMC), Pennsylvania Hospital (PAH), and the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM).

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and enterprise-level oversight of pre- and post-award administration across the DOS sponsored research portfolio, ensuring operational excellence and fiscal stewardship in support of the Chair, Vice Chairs, Division Chiefs, and departmental leadership.
• Lead onboarding new and recruited faculty research programs, including workforce planning and staffing assessments, research space planning, COA/COI transfers, grant and clinical trial change-of-institution submissions, and required regulatory filings.
• Direct divisional research administrators in portfolio monitoring, financial operations, and compliance with departmental standards.
• Deliver monthly and quarterly financial reports to the Chair, Vice Chairs, Division Chiefs, and Administrators, providing comprehensive analysis of grant, endowment, gift, and PSOM fund activity, expenditures, projections, and available balances.
• Serve as the senior administrative authority for departmental research initiatives and strategic research operations.
• Provide strategic oversight of financial and administrative operations supporting the department’s research, academic, and teaching missions.
• Lead development and management of research and academic budgets, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities and long-term financial sustainability.
• Direct high-level monthly financial reviews and variance analysis, translating findings into actionable recommendations and consolidated reports for Senior Leadership.
• Direct fiscal operations across departmental divisions—including the Office of the Chair, Education, and Research—and manage the monthly financial close.
• Develop multi-year financial projections, ensure accuracy of financial statements, and oversee stewardship of departmental commitments including faculty startup packages, protected effort, and space and infrastructure costs.
• Lead integration and optimization of financial and research administration systems (Workday, Business Objects, PennERA) to strengthen reporting, data integrity, and decision-making across the department.
• Exercise overall responsibility for pre- and post-award administration of the department’s $26M+ sponsored programs portfolio, spanning basic, translational, and clinical research, including IDE/IND clinical trials and corporate sponsored studies.
• Hold ultimate accountability for financial stewardship and policy adherence across all grants, contracts, gifts, endowments, and PSOM funds, ensuring compliance with federal, sponsor, and University regulations.
• Serve as the departmental signatory authority for IRB, IACUC, and RIS submissions, providing final review and approval across all research operations.
• Develop and implement internal controls, departmental policies, and standardized workflows to support compliance, reduce risk, and improve efficiency.
• Lead audit readiness, corrective action planning, and enterprise-level risk mitigation across the full research portfolio.
• Provide senior leadership and direct supervision of a multidisciplinary research administration team of 10 staff, including managers who themselves supervise research administration and support personnel across grants, PSOM fund management, regulatory submissions, clinical research finance, HR activities, and laboratory research support.
• Lead all aspects of talent management including recruiting, onboarding, performance evaluation, workload planning, compensation review, and career development.
• Exercise final authority in resolving complex personnel matters involving performance, classification, and HR policy.
• Drive organizational development by designing and implementing process improvements, training curricula, and standard operating procedures that build team capability, ensure consistency, and establish scalable infrastructure to support the department's growing research enterprise.
• Provide enterprise-level oversight and final departmental authority for all DOS sponsored program submissions, ensuring compliance with Penn, PSOM, and sponsor policies.
• Lead or directly execute proposal development and submission for senior departmental leadership, including complex NIH R, F, and K applications, supplemental awards, and fellowship activations, as well as submissions to federal agencies, foundations, and industry sponsors.
• Oversee management of no-cost extensions and unfunded proposals in PennERA, maintaining accurate documentation across the portfolio.
• Exercise final departmental authority to initiate and approve MTAs, DUAs, NDAs, equipment loan agreements, service agreements, and collaborative research agreements, in coordination with OCR, OGC, and Research Services.
• Serve as the departmental signatory authority for IRB and IACUC submissions.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree (MBA/MPA or related field preferred).
• Bachelor's and 7–10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in academic medical center research administration or equivalent combination of education and experience required.
• Expert knowledge of federal and sponsor regulations (e.g., NIH, NSF, FDA/IDE/IND), clinical research compliance (IRB/IACUC), and University/PSOM sponsored programs policies.
• Demonstrated success leading pre- and post-award administration, financial planning and analysis, and research operations at scale.
• Proven experience integrating research administration with clinical research finance (coverage analysis, budgeting, billing compliance) and improving processes through KPIs and continuous improvement.
• Experience supervising managers and multidisciplinary teams, building training, mentoring, and career pathways for research administration staff.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and change leadership across faculty, divisional administrators, and central offices.