Administrative Director - Division of Animal Resources, Emory School of Medicine

Emory University•Atlanta, GA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Administrative Director is a senior administrative leader in Emory University's Division of Animal Resources (DAR), which supports the university's research mission through animal care, veterinary services, and research support. DAR is AAALAC-accredited and serves more than 250 investigators, supports up to 16 species, and operates across 12 research facilities totaling more than 200,000 gross square feet. Its specialized services include breeding, aquatics, diagnostics, surgery, ABSL3, behavioral support, and logistics. Reporting directly to the DAR Executive Director, with a dotted-line reporting relationship to the Senior Executive Administrator for Research Administration within the School of Medicine (SOM), the Director leads and oversees division-wide administrative services, workforce administration, operational support processes, IT operations, and administrative infrastructure. The role sets service standards, develops and implements policies and procedures, supervises assigned administrative personnel, and leads efforts to improve operational efficiency, accountability, and consistency across DAR facilities and units. The Director partners with DAR and SOM leaders, Human Resources, Finance, IT, and operational teams to implement strategic priorities, manage workforce processes, modernize administrative operations, and coordinate continuous improvement, special projects, change management, space planning, and business continuity. The role also oversees administrative processes and documentation supporting accreditation, inspections, reporting, and institutional compliance; promotes accurate administrative data and records; and monitors assigned unit budgets. Division-wide financial reporting, forecasting, reconciliations, and financial analysis remain the responsibility of the DAR Finance team. The position is generally performed in person at an Emory University location; remote-work days may be granted at department discretion, and Emory may change remote-work status with notice.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business administration, healthcare administration, public administration, human resources, or a related field.
Seven years of progressively responsible administrative or operational management experience, including supervisory experience.
Experience overseeing administrative operations, workforce management, process improvement, and organizational policies and procedures.
An equivalent combination of education, training, and experience may be considered.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading complex administrative operations in an academic, research, healthcare, or similarly regulated environment.
Demonstrated success guiding teams through organizational change and modernization while maintaining employee engagement and morale.
Demonstrated ability to supervise staff, lead cross-functional initiatives, improve processes, and work effectively with senior operational and institutional leaders.
Experience with workforce administration and HR, institutional compliance documentation, administrative systems, and operational data governance.
Experience overseeing unit-level budgets and collaborating with a centralized or dedicated finance team.
Experience with federal award requirements and animal research grant compliance.

Responsibilities

Lead and oversee DAR administrative services, IT operations, and operational support functions across facilities and units.
Modernize and automate administrative processes, collaborating with DAR leadership, IT, Finance, and operational teams to evaluate solutions, define requirements, oversee implementation, support adoption, and measure outcomes.
Establish administrative service standards, accountability measures, response expectations, and escalation procedures for support to investigators, research staff, animal care staff, veterinary teams, and institutional partners.
Develop and implement standardized administrative policies, procedures, records-management practices, and workflows, including those related to customer service, census administration, service documentation, animal ordering, and operational coordination.
Oversee administrative coordination of billing inputs, invoicing documentation, animal purchasing requests, supply-chain activity, and workspace needs, working with Finance on transactions and controls.
Supervise and develop assigned administrative staff by setting expectations, delegating responsibilities, evaluating performance, and building team capacity and accountability.
Oversee workforce administration processes in coordination with SOM Human Resources, including recruitment, onboarding, employee transitions, personnel documentation, and performance-management workflows.
Advise and partner with DAR leadership and SOM Human Resources on staffing, compensation recommendations, promotions, employee development, organizational changes, engagement, and retention.
Serve as a liaison among DAR leadership, operational managers, and SOM Human Resources to address workforce challenges, support personnel decisions, and resolve or escalate HR matters.
Develop strategies and SOPs for employee engagement, cross-training, workforce continuity, and retention; communicate administrative decisions and changes and establish staff feedback channels.
Translate DAR and SOM strategic priorities into actionable administrative and operational improvement plans.
Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives to streamline workflows, reduce duplication, address service gaps, and improve coordination among DAR units.
Evaluate administrative workloads and service trends and recommend improvements to staffing coverage, service delivery, and resource use.
Oversee assigned special projects, change-management activities, and division-wide administrative initiatives.
Support operational readiness, space coordination, and administrative infrastructure planning with veterinary, animal care, facilities, and institutional partners.
Lead business-process documentation, knowledge transfer, and cross-training across DAR Administration and IT to support continuity and standardization.
Oversee administrative processes and documentation supporting AAALAC accreditation, inspections, annual reports, institutional requirements, and applicable animal research regulations, in partnership with responsible leaders.
Establish and monitor administrative controls, recordkeeping standards, SOPs, and documentation practices supporting compliance and audit readiness; identify process gaps and coordinate corrective actions.
Ensure the accuracy, consistency, access, and documentation of administrative data, including census and service activity records; oversee master-file maintenance, validation protocols, reporting-field standards, and documentation quality.
Work with the DAR Finance team to ensure operational data and service documentation support billing, reporting, budget planning, and financial analysis.
Monitor assigned unit budgets against approved allocations, review budget-to-actual information provided by Finance, and address operational variances with unit managers.
Provide staffing information, workload indicators, and operational assumptions to inform resource planning and budget development; division-wide financial reporting, forecasting, reconciliations, and financial analysis remain with the DAR Finance team.
Perform other duties as assigned.