Director, Research Administration Pre-Award Services

Overview

🔍 School of Medicine, Stanford, California, United States 📁 Compliance Legal 📅 Dec 10, 2025 Post Date 📅 107899 Requisition #. Please include a Cover Letter with your application to outline how your experience is a fit for this position.

The Director, Research Administration Pre-Award Services leads the central pre-award organization within the Stanford School of Medicine’s Research Management Group (RMG), providing strategic oversight for one of the nation’s most complex and research-intensive academic medical environments. This senior leadership role directs the teams responsible for expert proposal development, sponsor and regulatory compliance assurance, and institutional submission across Stanford Medicine’s diverse, high-volume, and rapidly evolving research portfolio.

The Director plays a pivotal role in strengthening school-wide pre-award operations by establishing shared standards of excellence, modernizing processes and systems, and ensuring a cohesive, faculty-centered service model. This includes guiding the thoughtful reimagining of the central pre-award structure to better align resources, expertise, and workflows with the School of Medicine’s expanding research portfolio and the varying complexity of proposals across disciplines.

The role is well suited for dynamic leaders who have successfully driven innovation and change within research administration, bringing forward new approaches, technologies, and service models that enhance clarity, efficiency, and institutional readiness. Through deep collaboration with department-based research administrators, faculty, and institutional partners, the Director advances sponsored research practices that promote consistency, transparency, and operational excellence.

As a member of the Research Operations leadership team, the Director champions operational excellence, develops a thriving and skilled pre-award workforce, and leads continuous improvement efforts that elevate the faculty experience and strengthen Stanford Medicine’s ability to pursue bold, world-changing research.

• Provide strategic leadership for the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of pre-award operations across Stanford Medicine.
• Lead and mentor a team of pre-award professionals, overseeing and modernizing all aspects of proposal development.
• Drive institutional readiness at the enterprise level by shaping and overseeing scalable, transparent, and audit-resilient policies, procedures, and systems.
• Spearhead institution-wide collaboration with faculty, departmental leaders, research finance, and administrative units to align pre-award services with organizational priorities and ensure high-trust, high-impact support.
• Lead the end-to-end management of the pre-award process, using data-driven metrics to track efficiency, identify bottlenecks, and deploy resources strategically to maintain optimal timelines and outcomes.
• Establish and advance a cohesive, enterprise-level service model that supports over a billion dollars in sponsored research annually through seamless, compliant, and faculty-centered proposal development.
• Coordinate pre-award strategy across the Research Support Office (RSO), Sponsored Proposal Office (SPO), and department-embedded staff, fostering alignment through a clear vision, standardized processes, open communication, and strong cross-functional partnerships.
• Other duties may also be assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (Master’s preferred).
• Professional certification (e.g., CRA, CPRA, CFRA).
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, including leadership and direct oversight of pre-award operations.
• Proven track record of leading organizational transformation or system redesign in an academic or biomedical setting.
• Experience managing hybrid central-decentral service models.
• Deep working knowledge of federal research compliance (e.g., Uniform Guidance, NIH/NSF policies), institutional routing, and sponsor systems.
• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills, with demonstrated faculty-facing experience.
• Familiarity with Stanford systems and structures…