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Stanford Medicine is seeking an Assistant Dean of Research Operations to provide strategic leadership and oversight of all aspects of its research administration operations. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this position provides strategic direction for the School of Medicine's centralized and decentralized functions of research administration from pre-award to post-award management, while ensuring the resources are efficiently aligned with the School's missions, vision, and strategic priorities. The Assistant Dean leads and directly manages the SoM's central team of 85 employees that is responsible as the institutional representative for the preparation, review, approval, negotiation and administration of sponsored project proposals, clinical trials, fellowships, and service agreements. They also oversee and monitor post-award activities and financial compliance for the School's sponsored project funding.

About Stanford School of Medicine
A research-intensive medical school, the Stanford School of Medicine improves health through leadership, diversity and collaborative discoveries and innovation in health care, education and research. A commitment to scientific discovery is one of Stanford's defining strengths. Researchers and clinician-scientists at Stanford Medicine work across disciplines to expand the frontiers of scientific understanding while moving the most promising breakthroughs into tangible health benefits through clinical trials. Our close proximity to the resources of the university -- including the Schools of Business, Law, Humanities and Sciences, and Engineering, our seamless relationship with our affiliated adult and children's hospitals, and our ongoing associations with the entrepreneurial endeavors of Silicon Valley, make us uniquely positioned to accelerate the pace at which new knowledge is translated into tangible health benefits.

The Assistant Dean, Research Operations will lead the re-envisioning and optimization of how the School of Medicine will provide operational support for a growing and complex research portfolio with more than $1.5B in new awards received in the last year. Initiated in 2023, this multi-year initiative will touch every researcher and academic department and program across the School, transforming research administration services and effectiveness. Collaborating with School and University leaders, faculty and staff, this position will define a vision of how research administration can best foster research in the School of Medicine and establish short and long term goals to achieve that vision.

The ideal candidate for this position will be a national leader in research administration and experienced in visioning and leading transformational change in a large, complex organization. Building on a deep and broad knowledge of research administration policy and operations, they will bring a continuous improvement mindset, a collaborative and flexible approach and a focus on service excellence.

Duties include:

• Oversee the design and implementation of an organizational structure that ensures SoM-wide research administration resources are positioned to enhance research capacity and skill sets and efficiently and effectively support a growing and more complex research portfolio, which includes multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional grants; emerging areas of data science such as artificial intelligence and digital health; clinical studies with decentralized and digital data collection; and a broad range of revenue sources and types.
• Lead and directly manage the central teams overseeing the preparation, review, approval, negotiation and administration of research proposals, grants, contracts and clinical studies with delegated responsibility and institutional signature authority from the University.
• Lead the team responsible for developing and delivering training and certification programs for research administration staff throughout the School of Medicine.
• Develop and execute strategic plans that impact all SoM academic departments/programs and research faculty. Oversee complex, multi-disciplinary, cross-organizational projects related to the plans.
• Lead the planning, delivery and evaluation of the School's research administration and operations processes and services. Direct the development and implementation of School-specific processes and standards that facilitate the efficient and timely handling and operation of the School's research proposals, grants, contracts and clinical studies.
• Represent the School in policy and process development with the University in response to the everchanging federal regulations and agency/sponsor requirements. Responsible for the communication, training, and implementation of these policies and processes.
• Oversee post-award management for the School and compliance with all federal, state, sponsor and institutional policies and regulations to the School community.
• Coordinate and ensure overall quality of the research administration teams within the School's departments, and collaborate closely with the broader University and Health System partners that are vital to the success of the Research Mission.
• Develop and foster partnerships throughout Stanford Medicine, its affiliated hospitals, and the University and with external sponsors and research partners and institutions.
• Manage the development of reporting frameworks and complex data analyses of the SoM's research enterprise (eg, proposals, awards, expenditures) to support School and department leaders with strategic decision-making.
• Evaluate the SoM-wide costs of research administration; develops financial models and implements process, service and organizational design changes to maximize the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the operations. Directly manage a budget of $15M+.
• Advise and provide guidance to the COO, the SoM Dean and department leaders and staff on research administration and operation policies and issues.
• Collaborate closely and represent the School of Medicine's research interests with a wide variety of leaders and stakeholders throughout Stanford University, Stanford Healthcare and Stanford Children's Health.

The ideal candidate for the The Assistant Dean, Research Operations, will demonstrate the following leadership competencies:

• Job Knowledge and Subject Matter Expertise
  
  • Advanced financial expertise in accounting, budget planning, and financial forecasting.
  • Advanced expertise in grants and contract administration
  • Strong knowledge of industry standards, trends and/or regulatory requirements.
  • Subject matter expertise for area(s) of responsibility.
  • Advanced expertise in business and management computer applications and databases.
  • Broad understanding of information technology hardware and software infrastructure.
• Planning: Setting objectives and determining a course of action for achieving those objectives
  
  • Experience establishing strategic plans to position and organization to be effective towards meeting long-range goals
  • Experience guiding the development of tactical and operational blueprints and roadmaps that support strategic plans
  • Experience developing policies and procedures that impact multiple sectors or an entire organization
  • Evaluate the competitive environment and landscape to assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats/risks to the organization and adjust plans to position the organization to achieve objectives.
• Organizing: organize the people and other resources necessary to carry out the plan
  
  • Experience developing organizational structures and making organizational design decisions to strategically position and allocate human resources to ensure the accomplishment of goals and objectives
  • Experience aligning human and fiscal resources to ensure the effective stewardship of annual and multi-year budgets.
• Leading: Influence people to cooperate towards a common goal and create a situation for collective response
  
  • Ability to exercise a high level of diplomacy in persuading and influencing a wide variety of people at various levels to achieve results.
  • Ability to effectively communicate new ideas, future operating models, and approaches to work
  • Ability to navigate and successfully lead others through organizational changes
  • Ability to utilize political acumen to negotiate win-win solutions and gain buy-in from stakeholders
  • Ability to cultivate strong collaborative relationships with faculty and able to anticipate faculty needs.
• Controlling: measuring performance against goals and plans, and helping correct deviations from standards
  
  • Experience measuring and monitoring organizational performance against established goals and plans
  • Experience managing the work of subordinate directors, managers, and professional staff and achieving results through their efforts
  • Experience utilizing process excellence and problem-solving methodologies to streamline and standardize business processes and ensure the flow of customer value to stakeholders

* - Other duties may also be assigned