Job DescriptionThe Senior Director of Research Administration provides strategic and operational leadership for research administration across the Department of Medicine. Reporting to the Vice Chair for Administration, with a close working relationship with the Chair, Vice Chair for Research, and the Vice Chair for Clinical & Translational Research, the Senior Director oversees the infrastructure, processes, resources, and personnel that support the Department's research enterprise.
The Department of Medicine is a complex, multi-disciplinary organization encompassing a broad portfolio of basic, translational, clinical, and health services research across multiple divisions and research programs. The Senior 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.
The Senior Director will lead efforts to strengthen and standardize research administration across the Department, develop scalable infrastructure, improve the faculty experience, optimize research financial performance, and identify opportunities to expand research activity and external funding.
ResponsibilitiesStrategic Research Administration Leadership• 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, Vice Chair for Clinical & Translational Research, Division Chiefs, Division Administrators, research center/program leaders, and institutional leadership to identify opportunities and address barriers to research growth.
• Develop and implement policies, procedures, and organizational structures that support an efficient and sustainable 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.
Sponsored Research and Grants Administration• Provide strategic oversight of pre- and post-award research administration across 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.
Research Finance and Portfolio Management• 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 division leadership in developing sustainable research programs and understanding the financial implications of research activity.
Faculty and Investigator Support• Create a high-quality, customer-focused research administration model that allows investigators to focus on scientific and academic priorities.
• 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.
• Partner with faculty to identify administrative barriers and implement solutions that improve the investigator experience.
• Establish mechanisms for gathering and acting on faculty feedback regarding research administration services.
• Support investigators in navigating institutional policies, sponsor requirements, and regulatory obligations.
Compliance, Risk Management, and Internal Controls• Ensure departmental research administration practices comply with applicable federal, state, institutional, and sponsor requirements.
• Partner with compliance, legal, IRB, COI, 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.
Operational Excellence and Process Improvement• Evaluate the Department's research administration infrastructure and continuously identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability.
• Standardize processes across divisions where appropriate while preserving flexibility for specialized research programs.
• 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.
Organizational Leadership and Team Development• 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 divisional and institutional research administration teams.
Research Growth and Strategic Initiatives• Partner with departmental and institutional leadership to identify opportunities for strategic research growth.
• Support the development of new research centers, institutes, programs, and collaborative research initiatives.
• Provide administrative and financial analysis for strategic research investments and business cases.
• Support large-scale initiatives involving multiple investigators, divisions, departments, institutions, or external partners.
• Help identify opportunities to leverage departmental and institutional resources to increase research capacity and competitiveness.
• Develop analyses and recommendations to inform leadership decisions regarding research investments, infrastructure, staffing, and resource allocation.
Core Competencies• 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
Scope and ImpactThe Senior Director will have a broad departmental impact and will be expected to operate at both the strategic and operational levels. Success in this role will be measured not only by compliance and effective administration, but by the Senior Director's ability to build an infrastructure that enables the Department of Medicine to grow its research enterprise, improve the investigator experience, strengthen financial performance, and execute strategic research priorities.
The position requires a highly collaborative leader who can navigate the complexity of a large academic medical center, translate institutional requirements into effective departmental practices, and build trusted partnerships with faculty and administrative leaders.
Qualifications- Bachelors degree required (Masters degree preferred)
- 7 years experience in health administration including preferred leadership experience in a health care environment
Compensation StatementThe Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides salary ranges that comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $153,723.00 - $245,000.00 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and operational need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation or benefits.
Non-Bargaining Unit, 831 - Medicine Admin MSH - ISM, Icahn School of Medicine
