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Job Category:
Limited
Employment Type:
Regular
Job Profile:
Research Administration Director (B)
Job Summary:
The School of Education's Office of Research and Scholarship (ORS) is seeking an experienced and forward-thinking leader to serve as Director of Research Administration. This position provides strategic leadership for the School's comprehensive research administration program, overseeing pre-award and research compliance functions that support a diverse portfolio of externally funded research, scholarship, and creative activity.
As a key partner to faculty, academic leaders, and campus stakeholders, the Director plays a critical role in advancing the School's research mission by fostering a culture of service, compliance, innovation, and continuous improvement. The Director leads a team of research administration professionals, providing supervision, mentoring, and professional development while ensuring the delivery of high-quality support across the full sponsored projects lifecycle.
The Director guides operational strategy, develops and implements effective policies and business processes, and identifies opportunities to leverage technology, data analytics, and emerging tools to enhance efficiency and service delivery. Working closely with university and external sponsors, the Director ensures compliance with institutional, state, and sponsor requirements while helping faculty successfully navigate an increasingly complex research environment.
This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of research administration at the nation's top-ranked School of Education, supporting faculty whose work spans education, the arts, health, and human development and creates positive impact across Wisconsin and around the world.
Key Job Responsibilities:
- 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
- Develops, conducts, and administers training initiatives for faculty, staff, and other stakeholders in areas related to research administration
- Oversees pre-award and/or post-award research administration activities
- Directs and coordinates staff, systems, and procedures related to the processing of sponsor supported grants, contracts, and agreements on a daily basis
- Oversees division compliance related to sponsored grants and contracts
- Establishes, implements, and maintains policy and procedures for sponsored project administration
- 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
- Facilitates internal or external audits of grants and contracts
Department:
School of Education / Office of Research and Scholarship
Compensation:
Minimum: $150,000
Commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off, competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance, tax-advantaged savings accounts, and participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund.
Required Qualifications:
Bachelor's degree in business, public administration, higher education administration, accounting, finance, or a related field.
Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, sponsored programs, grants management, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated experience managing the full lifecycle of sponsored projects, including pre-award, post-award, and compliance functions.
Experience supervising and developing professional staff and leading teams in a complex organizational environment.
Knowledge of federal regulations governing sponsored research, including Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), and sponsor requirements from agencies such as NSF, NIH, DOE, DOD, and other federal and non-federal sponsors.
Experience developing and implementing policies, procedures, and operational improvements to support research administration functions.
Demonstrated ability to build effective relationships and collaborate with faculty, administrators, and campus partners.
Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to analyze complex issues, exercise sound judgment, and make independent decisions.
Experience working with financial, grants management, and/or research administration systems
Preferred Qualifications:
Advanced degree in a related field.
Certified Research Administrator (CRA) or other research administration certification.
Experience supporting sponsored research in an R1 higher education institution.
Experience leading both pre-award and post-award functions within a centralized or shared-services environment.
Experience with research compliance areas such as effort reporting, conflict of interest, research security, subrecipient monitoring, export controls, or cost sharing.
Experience managing organizational change, process improvement initiatives, or implementation of new systems and technologies.
Experience using data analytics and reporting tools to support decision-making and operational effectiveness.
Experience with Workday, Tableau, Cayuse, Huron, or similar enterprise administration systems.
Demonstrated success leading service-oriented teams and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Experience supporting a diverse portfolio of federal, state, foundation, and industry-sponsored projects.
Education:
bachelor’s required, master’s preferred
How to Apply:
To begin the application process, click on the "I am a current employee" button or "I am not a current employee" button under Apply Now. You will then be prompted to upload your application materials.
Important: The application has only one attachment field. Upload the following documents in that field, either as a single combined file or as multiple files in the same upload area.
References will be requested from final candidates. All applicants will be notified once the search concludes and a candidate is selected.
Contact Information:
Hanna Blazel
School of Education Director of Research Strategy
hblazel@wisc.edu
Institutional Statement on Diversity:
Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.
To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.
Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.
The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).
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