The Director of Sponsored Programs provides strategic leadership and oversight of the university’s sponsored programs enterprise, with primary responsibility for pre-award administration, regulatory compliance, and non-financial post-award management. Reporting to the Chief Research Officer, this role ensures that all sponsored activity aligns with federal, state, sponsor, and institutional requirements while supporting faculty success and institutional research growth.
The Director serves as the institutional authority on sponsored programs compliance, policy, and sponsor engagement and provides leadership to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

Responsibilities Include:

• Provide strategic leadership for all sponsored programs administration, establish policies, procedures, and internal controls governing research administration, and collaborate with senior leadership to advance institutional research goals.
• Oversee proposal development, review, and submission processes, ensure accuracy, completeness, and compliance of proposals before submission, and provide guidance to faculty on sponsor requirements, funding opportunities, and proposal strategy.
• Serve as the institutional expert on Uniform Guidance and sponsor regulations, interpret sponsor requirements and ensure consistent institutional compliance, and act as primary liaison with external funding agencies. Complete requirements associated with SACSCOC.
• Oversee administration of award terms and conditions (non-financial), ensure appropriate management of prior approvals, modifications, and compliance obligations, and coordinate with the Director of Sponsored Research Finance on financial matters.
• Oversee the administration of research compliance areas related to grant management (COI, IRB, IACUC, IBC, Controlled Substances, Hazardous Chemicals, Research Compliance Trainingand Export Control) as well as oversee the administration of Intellectual Property and licensing activities. Serve as the Institutional Official on the IRB and the IACUC, and serve in an ex officio capacity on the Research Council and Patent committee.
• Work with the Associate Director of OSP to analyze research metric reports to share with leadership, and to help inform strategic decisions.
• Supervise OSP staff and ensure high-quality service delivery, and foster a culture of compliance, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Requirements Include:

• Bachelor's degree preferred (or equivalent knowledge obtained through a combination of education, training and experience)
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in sponsored programs or research administration preferred
• Experience in higher education or complex research environments preferred
• Strong knowledge of Uniform Guidance, federal regulations, and sponsor compliance requirements
• Demonstrated experience supporting proposal development and award administration
• Experience supervising staff and leading a functional unit