Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs

Director of Office of Sponsored Programs

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is a campus-wide service unit within the Office of Research, reporting to the Associate Vice Provost for Research Administration and Compliance. OSP supports faculty members in obtaining external research funds and processes all proposals (7,000 annually) and awards (4,000 annually) for grants and contracts for the Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses. Other responsibilities include negotiating over 1,200 contractual agreements annually, administering subcontracts, and applying Federal and University policies related to sponsored programs, as well as coordinating with CoMotion, the Office of the Attorney General, Grant and Contract Accounting, and with UW compliance offices including the Human Subjects Division, the Office of Animal Welfare, Export Controls, Financial Conflict of Interest, and Environmental Health and Safety. Other functions include monitoring the University contract database, contributing to research administration communications, and learning programs.

The Director leads OSP in all areas within its purview, serves as the pre-award and non-fiscal post-award research representative to University-wide committees, and directly supports the negotiation of master agreements (overarching agreements with sponsors to establish the terms and conditions that will apply to all projects and funding issued under the agreement). The Director leads continuous improvement efforts to create and implement innovative strategies to address an increasing number of regulatory compliance issues while providing outstanding customer service. Under their guidance, employees collaborate to streamline and automate processes, enhance customer service, establish standard operational metrics, and build relationships across campus and externally. A continuing major effort in OSP involves refinement of an electronic research administration system (SAGE) and its integration with other administrative electronic systems. Enhancing the performance of OSP staff to ensure high-quality responsiveness to both external and internal constituencies is a primary expectation of this position. The Director provides highly technical subject matter expertise as well as experience-informed opinions regarding research administration decisions at executive levels.

The University of Washington (UW) is a world leader in research, ranking among the world's top 25 universities. Each year since 1974, UW receives more federal research funding than any other U.S. public university, with research funding for Fiscal Year 2023 exceeding $1.8 billion. It is critical that OSP has strong, effective leadership if UW is to maintain its position as a premier research university. The Director serves as the Authorized Signing Official for UW sponsored programs.

Position Responsibilities

Executive Leadership 25%

• Promote and oversee the delivery of excellent customer service by OSP within available resources.
• Serve as Authorized Signing Official for UW sponsored programs and ensuring OSP staff with delegated signature authorities have the requisite knowledge, skills, and integrity
• Represent OSP to UW senior management, academic units, and other constituents, advocating for OSP and communicating OSP positions and initiatives
• Directly support the negotiation of master research agreements involving the University
• Support the development and delivery of comprehensive, high-quality training in research administration to UW research personnel
• Participate and represent UW in local, regional and national forums shaping Federal policy in grants administration, best practices and electronic research administration
• Participate in University-wide initiatives in the sponsored programs space
• Advocate for adequate financial resources for OSP

Executive Administration 25%

Leading Change 15%

Manage, mentor and develop OSP Staff 10%

Building and Maintaining Strategic Relationships 15%

Ensuring Compliance with Regulations, Policies and Laws 10%

Position Qualifications

Required : Master's Degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, Legal or Policy Studies and minimum of ten years of progressive leadership experience in a high-volume service business setting. Equivalent education / experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license / certification / registration.

Desired : Juris doctorate, experience in dealing with various aspects of proposal development / preparation, grant management, contract negotiation, compliance, and related areas, experience in a large research university with a health science unit, at least seven years of relevant executive-level experience, with proven administrative, organizational, analytical and problem-solving skills and proven expertise in organizational restructuring and process engineering for service improvement, seven years work experience in a research environment in university federal, state, international, foundation, and corporate grant and contract administration work, including negotiation of terms and conditions of awards, excellent written and oral communication skills, demonstrated experience working effectively with customers and sponsors at multiple levels in the context of complex organizations, ability to manage, motivate and coach a large team under tight deadlines and amidst multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities; supervisory and management experience to include demonstrated skill in problem solving, staff motivation, and establishing and managing to operational metrics, experience with electronic management and work flow tools, knowledge of major federal sponsor policies, including NSF, NIH and DoD, and an understanding of federal, state and other relevant regulations a plus as well as knowledge of contracting and subcontracting, advanced knowledge of multiple sponsor fiscal and administrative terms and conditions.

In addition, the Director should demonstrate the ability to lead