Director Post-Award Research Administration

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A Brief Overview

The Director, Post-Award Research Administration & Research Portfolio Management, serves as a strategic and operational leader responsible for ensuring excellence in financial stewardship, regulatory compliance, workforce capability, technology optimization, and service delivery across all post-award functions at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute (CHOP RI).

The Director is accountable for ensuring operational transparency, advancing institutional strategy, maintaining compliance integrity, and fostering a high-performing workforce while promoting an investigator-centric service model with clear expectations for responsiveness, clarity, and partnership. This role is integral to advancing CHOP's enterprise strategic plan, including world-leading research-driven precision medicine, financial resilience, workforce-of-the-future development, and implementation of a next-generation operating model.

Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Research Administration & Operations (SVPRAO), the Director partners closely with the Directors of Research Business Operations (RBO), Specialized Accounting, Pre-Award, Research Compliance, Clinical Research Contracts & Subaward Administration, Clinical Trial Financial Management, Research Contracts, and Finance Technology and oversees a team of 47 FTEs executing the core post-award and portfolio management functions. The Director does not manage an individual portfolio; instead, they provide strategic oversight of the portfolio management framework and are accountable for the performance, capability, and service quality of the Post-Award team.

The Director is responsible for (but not limited to) ensuring that the fiscal administration of CHOPRI Principal Investigators' extramural and intramural research portfolios are managed and executed in accordance with industry best practices and regulatory guidelines as stipulated by federal, state and local entities as well as CHOP policies and guidelines. This dynamic position will partner regularly with faculty, researchers and early-career investigators and liaise with the leadership and staff across the CHOP enterprise key business areas in Research Administration, Finance, Practice Plans, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Internal Audit, Centers of Emphasis, and the six (6) academic departments.
What you will do

• Strategic Leadership & Partnership
• Provide strategic leadership to ensure Post-Award operations directly advance CHOP’s enterprise strategy and Research Institute priorities.
• Serving as subject-matter expert on Uniform Guidance, NIH Grant Policy Statement, and other regulatory rules, as they relate to post-award and ensure compliance with all grant regulatory requirements.
• Ensuring operational transparency, advancing institutional strategy, maintaining compliance integrity, and fostering a high-performing workforce.
• Collaborate closely with the SVPRA-O, RBO Director to align Post-Award operations, workforce strategy, process standardization, and automation/AI-enabled modernization, while maintaining clear delineation of responsibilities.
• Ensure Post-Award services support CHOP’s strategic imperatives:
  • World-leading research-driven precision medicine by enabling timely, accurate financial and administrative support for complex research portfolios.
  • Workforce of the future by building a high-performing, inclusive, and development-oriented Post-Award team.
  • New business models by supporting financial stewardship, sustainable grant revenue management, and risk-aware operational practices.
  • Next-generation operating model by promoting standardization, scalability, automation, and resiliency across Post-Award processes. Leads and promotes enhancement, installation of new electronic systems, and lead technology optimization efforts to advance post-award portfolio management activities.
• Represent Senior Vice President in institutional forums, committees, and governance structures related to research operations, policy, compliance, and systems.
• Portfolio Management Oversight
• Provide strategic oversight of the Research Institute’s entire post-award portfolio consisting of grants funded by the federal government (i.e., NIH, DoD, NSF, HRSA), state, city, philanthropy, and internal grants, ensuring consistent, high-quality support across the entire grants lifecycle (setup, monitoring, reporting, and closeout).
• Ensure that day-to-day portfolio management post-award grants lifecycle activities are performed by Senior Managers, Managers, and RBAs I–III; the Director does not carry an individual portfolio.
• Oversee portfolio assignment principles, workload distribution, and alignment of staff capacity with award complexity, risk, and department needs.
• Monitor portfolio-level trends (e.g., burn rates, overdrafts, compliance flags, late reports, frequent adjustments) and drive systemic interventions to reduce risk and administrative burden.
• Ensure clear communication channels and escalation pathways exist between investigators, departments, and Post-Award staff.
• Ensure timely close-out of completed grants in partnership with Specialized Accounting counterparts, including development of a monitoring and reporting process to facilitate completion of grants by their period-end dates.
• Respond to external and internal audit requests as facilitated by Specialized Accounting leadership, and work to ensure that comprehensive and well-organized documentation is readily available to support all requests (i.e., cost transfers, time and effort reports, etc.).
• Responsible for ensuring that access to electronic research administration (eRA) systems are consistent and that electronic records are up-to-date and current.
• Service Excellence & Investigator Experience
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with investigators, department administrators, divisional leadership, and RI operations partners.
• Establish and maintain structured feedback mechanisms (e.g., surveys, focus groups, recurring meetings) to identify service gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Lead efforts to reduce faculty administrative burden related to post-award administration while ensuring regulatory and financial integrity.
• Represent Post-Award as a trusted operational partner and advisor to the research community.
• Update and maintain Service Level Agreements and post-award grants policies and procedures.
• Operational Excellence & Process Standardization
• Lead the modernization and standardization of post-award processes, internal controls, and financial administration practices across the award lifecycle.
• Oversee development, implementation, and maintenance of standard operating procedures (SOPs), job aids, templates, and internal control frameworks.
• Partner with the RBO Director, Specialized Accounting, Research Compliance, Internal Audit, Center Administrative Directors, and other stakeholders to expand automation and digital workflows (e.g., system enhancements, AI-assisted tools) that reduce manual burden and rework.
• Use data, dashboards, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor performance, identify bottlenecks, and prioritize process improvements.
• Support CHOP’s financial resilience by improving accuracy, timeliness, and predictability of sponsored program financials, reporting, and closeouts utilizing Workday as the primary system of record for portfolio management.
• People Leadership & Financial Stewardship
• Promote a culture of accountability, inclusion, belonging, psychological safety, and continuous learning aligned with CHOP’s people and experience priorities.
• Set up staff for long-term success by:
  • Proactively identifying individual and team capability gaps (technical, behavioral, and leadership).
  • Providing targeted coaching, feedback, and mentorship.
  • Customizing training and development plans tailored to role, experience level, and aspirational growth.
• Maintain documented annual development plans for all Post-Award staff and oversee annual performance reviews to track skill growth, readiness, and training impact.
• Participate in structured performance calibration with the RBO Director, SVPRAO, HR, and other leaders to ensure fair evaluations, consistent expectations, and assessment of “ready now” and “ready soon” talent for succession planning activities.
• Ensure equitable workloads, transparent performance expectations, and role clarity across all staff levels.
• Support CHOP’s workforce efficiency and financial resilience strategies through thoughtful staffing models, labor utilization, productivity benchmarking, and disciplined financial stewardship for the Post-Award cost center.

Education Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree Required
• Master's Degree in finance, accounting, business, public health, research administration or similar field of study Preferred

Experience Qualifications

• At least ten (10) years of research administration or sponsored programs experience Required
• At least ten (10) years of experience in managing complex and diverse portfolios Required
• At least seven (7) years of leadership, management or supervisory experience Required
• At least ten (10) years of progressive post-award administration experience including with federal (NIH/NSF/DoD) grants and contracts, industry sponsored clinical trials and sponsored research agreements, and internally-funded awards and programs Preferred
• At least five (5) years of experience collaborating with external and internal constituencies including sponsor agencies, faculty, and local research administration professionals Preferred
• At least five (5) years of experience in a healthcare, research or academic related environment Preferred

Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations

• Certified Research Administrator (CRA) upon hire Preferred
• Certified Financial Research Administrator (CFRA) upon hire Preferred

Skills and Abilities

• Advanced knowledge of Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200), NIH Grants Policy Statement, NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), of federal, state and local grant / contract regulations, interpret foundation grant guidelines and funding agreement terms
• Advanced knowledge of electronic research administration systems
• Advanced proficiency with office software (Microsoft Office)
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent time management skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Excellent time management skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Excellent project management skills
• Strong negotiation skills
• Strong relationship building skills
• Strong change management skills
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and professionalism
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Ability to collaborate with stakeholders at all levels
• Ability to influence others to accomplish tasks outside of the direct span of control

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SALARY RANGE:

Salary ranges are shown for full-time jobs. If you're working part-time, your pay will be adjusted accordingly.

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