Managing Director, Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaption

The Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaptation (HRC) brings together six universities: The University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University Bloomington, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, University of Utah, and Yale University. Together, we study how people and robots can, do, and might adapt to one another over months and years as needs, skills, expectations, and social contexts change. The Center unites researchers across robotics, AI, cognitive science, social science, data, and ethics to establish a new science of human-robot co-adaptation. This science will be developed, tested, and refined through the Human Environment with Robots (HERO) Facility Network: long-term deployments of assistive robots in real-world settings including student dorms, cafés, museums, homes, hospitals, and assisted-living facilities.

The Center is supported by a five-year, $30 million award from the National Science Foundation through its Science and Technology Centers (STC) program.

The Managing Director is the senior-most staff member, and serves as an operating leader for the Center. They work with the Center Director and the Leadership Team to execute and deliver on the Center's strategic vision. This will require coordinated execution across all universities, research threads, the HERO facility network, and the Center's education, outreach, industry, ethics, and advisory committees. The ideal candidate will take initiative to understand and identify key needs for the success of the Center, and proactively assist the team to succeed in the Center's mission.

Center Leadership and Strategic Coordination

• →Represent the team in presenting the vision, activities, and achievements of the Center to visitors, university leadership, members of NSF, news and media, and government representatives
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  Assist Center Director and Leadership Team in garnering cross-center coordination, alignment, and ownership of the vision of the Center. This will involve getting to know the team, facilitating connections between members as needed, identifying unique interest- and expertise- based opportunities for the Center

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  Assist in best matching Center resources and personnel to the activities, so as to best meet the goals of the Center

Center Operations and Execution

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  Provide oversight for of Center activities, supporting cross-program alignment with key Center goals and objectives, milestones and deliverables, reporting, and dissemination.

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  Establish Center-wide processes that maximize cross-center coordination and synergies and connect functions with processes:
  Functions: e.g., Development of education materials; HERO participatory design workshops; HERO robot deployments;
  Processes: e.g., gantt charts for tracking, distributed meeting invites, organizing communication channels like Slack, syncing calendars, etc

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  Help boards and committees operate effectively, including the External Advisory Committee, the Industry Advisory Board, the HERO Facility Board, the Ethics Board, and the Strategic Growth Council. Support committee leadership, goal and agenda setting, cross-project communication, and membership turnover. 

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  Organize major Center events including annual strategic planning, site visits, panels, meetings, and other Center-wide activities.

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  Provide operational direction and oversight to Center Staff: Hardware engineer, Software engineer, Outreach coordinator, Education coordinator

Program and Project Management

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  Build the project management infrastructure to track progress, identify risks that require additional supports or would result in project delays, and maintain visibility and ownership of all major activities

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  Track commitments, milestones, risks, decisions, and action items across teams and activities

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  Identify opportunities and needs for engaging Center staff, including engineers, education and outreach coordinator, with research teams to facilitate progress

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  Assist Center leadership with assessing whether activities are progressing towards Y1/Y3/Y5 goals

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  Identify programmatic problems and challenges, and facilitate resolution with the appropriate groups and members of the leadership team

Financial, Contractual, and Resource Coordination

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  Work with the Financial Analyst, UT sponsored-projects offices, and partner institutions on coordinating budgets, subawards, expenditures and contracts.

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  Support forecasting and management of Center-wide resources.

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  Coordinate administrative aspects of strategic reallocations and new initiatives.

Compliance, Reporting, and Institutional Coordination

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  Coordinate NSF reporting and collection of Center-wide metrics/outcomes.

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  Coordinate IRB/research-compliance processes across HERO sites and institutions.

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  Maintain records and documentation needed for annual reviews, advisory committees, and public dissemination.

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  Coordinate with legal, sponsored-projects, research-compliance, communications, and other administrative offices as necessary.

• Bachelor's degree and five (5) years of program management, operations, and/or support of strategic initiatives. 

• Experience managing a team of staff with distinct roles and expertise to achieve a joint large project mission

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with personnel with a wide range of backgrounds and different stakeholders

• Ability to strategically manage, assess, and lead efforts to meet long-term goals

• Ability to connect, structure, and track short- and intermediate- term activities to long-term goals

• Self-motivation to acquire new skills and knowledge, and to form strong interpersonal connections

• Familiarity with, and willingness to assess and adapt the latest tools and technologies as may be helpful for the work

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

• Prior experience in a project management or managing director or related position in large university research initiatives such as a Center or Institute

• Experience working with both technical (e.g., computer science, machine learning, robotics, etc.) as well as human factors (e.g., UX, design, human-computer interaction, social science) researchers on a joint project

• Experience working with large research teams on federally funded projects, especially  large NSF grants - NSF Expeditions, Institutes, Centers, Major Research Instrumentation, NSF Sites, etc.

• Experience working with research compliance processes, including IRB 

• Direct training in or experience facilitating team or collaborative research, particularly across disciplines.

$120,000 + depending on qualifications

• Typical office environment.

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

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A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form.  You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States.  Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment.  Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.