Director of Grants and Contracts - Department of Psychiatry

The Director of Grants and Contracts for the Department of Psychiatry provides strategic and operational leadership for research administration across the Department of Psychiatry. Reporting to the Vice Chair for Administration, with a close working relationship with the Chair and Vice Chair for Research, the Director oversees the infrastructure, processes, resources, and personnel that support the Department’s research enterprise.

The Department of Psychiatry is a complex, multi-disciplinary organization encompassing a broad portfolio of basic, translational, and clinical research. The Director will serve as a key strategic partner to departmental and institutional leadership, ensuring that the research enterprise is positioned for growth while maintaining strong financial stewardship, regulatory compliance, operational effectiveness, and exceptional service to faculty.

• Develop and execute a comprehensive research administration strategy aligned with the Department’s academic, clinical, and research priorities.
• Serve as a senior advisor to departmental leadership on research administration, research finance, sponsored programs, compliance, infrastructure, and operational strategy.
• Partner with the Chair, Vice Chair for Research, research center/program leaders, and institutional research leadership to identify opportunities and address barriers to research growth.
• Develop and implement policies, procedures, and organizational structures that support an efficient, sustainable, and faculty-centered research enterprise.
• Anticipate emerging needs and develop scalable administrative infrastructure to support growth in research volume, complexity, and funding.
• Represent the Department in institutional committees and initiatives related to research administration and sponsored research.

• Provide strategic oversight of pre- and post-award research administration for the Department.
• Ensure effective management of proposal development, submission, award setup, subawards, modifications, closeout, and other sponsored research activities.
• Establish standards and service expectations for grant administration and monitor performance against those expectations.
• Partner with institutional sponsored research offices to ensure timely and compliant submission and management of sponsored projects.
• Identify opportunities to improve proposal development capabilities, including support for large, complex, multi-investigator, multi-institutional, and programmatic submissions.
• Develop strategies to increase external research funding and strengthen the Department’s competitiveness for federal, foundation, industry, and other sponsored funding.

• Provide oversight of the Department’s research financial portfolio, including sponsored and non-sponsored research activity.
• Partner with Finance and departmental leadership to monitor research revenue, expenditures, projections, commitments, and financial performance.
• Establish effective financial reporting and forecasting mechanisms that allow faculty and leadership to understand the financial health of research programs.
• Monitor grant balances, effort commitments, salary support, cost sharing, subawards, indirect cost recovery, and other key financial indicators.
• Identify financial risks and opportunities and develop corrective or strategic action plans.
• Support faculty and departmental leadership in developing sustainable research programs and understanding the financial implications of research activity.

• Create a high-quality research administration model designed to optimize the submission pipeline and expand our research enterprise. 
• Promote shared accountability for effective research administration and encourage early, proactive engagement among investigators and research administrators.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex research administration issues.
• Develop resources, tools, training, and educational programs to improve faculty understanding of research administration requirements and opportunities.
• Support investigators in navigating institutional policies, sponsor requirements, and regulatory obligations.

• Ensure departmental research administration practices comply with applicable federal, state, institutional, and sponsor requirements.
• Partner with compliance, legal, research integrity, IRB, institutional research administration, and other relevant offices to address regulatory and operational issues.
• Develop and maintain appropriate internal controls related to sponsored research and research finances.
• Monitor emerging regulatory and sponsor requirements and assess their impact on the Department.
• Lead or coordinate departmental responses to audits, monitoring activities, and compliance reviews as appropriate.

• Evaluate the Department’s research administration infrastructure and continuously identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability.
• Establish key performance indicators and dashboards to monitor research administration performance.
• Use data and analytics to identify trends, bottlenecks, resource needs, and opportunities for improvement.
• Lead process redesign and technology implementation initiatives that enhance research administration.
• Promote automation, standardization, and effective use of institutional research systems and technology.

• Lead, develop, and oversee departmental research administration staff and, where applicable, matrixed or shared research administration resources.
• Assess organizational structure, staffing levels, roles, and capabilities to ensure alignment with the Department’s research portfolio and strategic priorities.
• Establish clear performance expectations, professional development opportunities, and career pathways for research administration staff.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer service, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Develop effective partnerships with departmental and institutional research administration teams.

• Masters degree, preferred in healthcare administration or health science, or applicable leadership experience and education
• 7+ years of experience in health care finance or administration; experience in strategic planning and execution, formulating policy, building and developing financial plans, managing resources and leading successful teams

• Strategic leadership and organizational vision
• Research administration expertise
• Financial acumen and business judgment
• Data-driven decision making
• Operational excellence and process improvement
• Regulatory and compliance knowledge
• Faculty partnership and customer service
• Relationship management and collaboration
• Change management
• Team leadership and talent development
• Executive communication
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex matrixed academic medical center