Assistant Director, Outside Activities, Office of Research Support and Compliance

University of Texas at Austin•Austin, TX

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Office of Research Support and Compliance (ORSC) at The University of Texas at Austin functions to ensure that all research conducted at the University is in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and University policies. The ORSC educates and supports the University research community with regulatory guidance concerning human subjects research (Institutional Review Board), animal research (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee), use of biohazardous agents and use of recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids (Institutional Biosafety Committee), financial conflict of interest in research (FCOI), and research integrity education. The Assistant Director for Outside Activities supports the Office of Research Support and Compliance in ensuring compliance with federal regulations and institutional policies related to conflicts of interest (COI) and conflicts of commitment (COC) arising from faculty and staff members’ involvement in outside activities (including domestic and foreign academic and industry relationships). The Assistant Director will oversee the review of financial interest disclosures and outside activity requests by the ORSC Outside Activities team and will help ensure that both research-related conflicts of interest and non-research related conflicts are managed according to university policy.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
At least 2 years’ experience in a leadership role in compliance program administration, or 4 years’ progressively responsible experience in academic research administration.
Experience in reviewing disclosures and handing conflicts of interest as part of a compliance program.
Experience in the application of federal rules and regulations in the academic or research setting.
Ability to analyze and communicate complex issues effectively and professionally within all levels of the institution (university administrators, faculty members, and other research personnel).
Demonstrated customer focused orientation for providing support to stakeholders.
Experience providing guidance and instructions and communicating in an effective and professional manner.
Ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.
Ability to set priorities, meet deadlines and manage multiple projects.
Ability to function independently, including the ability to determine when decisions can be made internally and when referral should be made to higher levels to protect institutional integrity.
Experiencing using office computing applications, team collaboration platforms, and compliance documentation systems.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree, PhD, JD or other relevant professional degree.
Demonstrated supervisory/management experience.
Understanding of institutional and national environments related to academic-industrial relations and/or academic research collaborations with foreign entities.

Responsibilities

Manages a team of outside activities and COI analysts.
Hires, trains, supervises, and oversees staff in daily office operations.
Evaluates staff performance for quality, productivity and efficiency.
Monitors work processes and workflow through continuous quality improvement to ensure efficient and customer-oriented responsiveness.
Develops and maintains standard operating procedures for financial conflict of interest (FCOI) and COC/Outside Activities review processes.
Assists staff with COI research certifications and outside activity approval requests as required to assure efficient turnaround.
Regularly evaluates staff reviews to ensure they are being correctly determined and appropriate follow-up guidance is being provided.
Collaborates with the Director in identifying and handling complex issues through daily monitoring of incoming disclosures, reviews in-process, and communications.
Develops Financial Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment management plans to promote objectivity in the design, conduct and reporting of research and to ensure that outside activities do not unduly interfere with employees’ performance of institutional responsibilities.
Monitors management plan compliance through receiving and reviewing annual reports as assigned.
Acts as a primary source of expertise for faculty and staff members and their supervisors for information about outside interests and activities related to their university responsibilities.
Serves as a liaison with departmental reviewers to address questions about complex conflict of interest situations.
Assists with the development of guidance materials and training opportunities for departments, research units and administrative offices to promote compliance with FCOI and Outside Activities policies.
Identifies stakeholder data needs related to COI/COC disclosures and collaborates with Research IT to develop and disseminate information.
Assists the Director with ongoing electronic system design and implementation.
Assists department leadership, administrators, and ancillary reviewers in performing their review and reporting activities in the system.
Maintains current knowledge and expertise in regulations and best practices related to conflicts of interest, conflicts of commitment, grants compliance, research security and other related compliance topics.
Attends meetings, conferences, and webinars on related topics.
Provides support for Objectivity in Research Committee activities, including the preparation of FCOI case summaries for Committee review and the completion of required post-meeting actions by the ORSC.