Assistant Director, Award Setup Services

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

8d•$126,000 - $150,000

About The Position

The Assistant Director provides operational leadership for centralized award setup and modification services within the Research Administration Collaborative (RAC) in the Office of Research. Reporting to the Executive Director, the role establishes, manages, evaluates, and continuously improves a shared-service capability that provides accurate, timely, consistent, and accountable research administration services for participating University units. The position leads day-to-day service delivery and staff development; implements and improves workflows, procedures, controls, and quality practices; monitors service performance and operational risks; coordinates with stakeholders across organizational boundaries; and supports the long-term growth and sustainability of RAC services. The role also contributes to RAC planning, pilot evaluation, governance, and operational excellence initiatives.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in business administration, public administration, finance, research administration, higher education administration, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience in business administration, finance, research administration, or public administration.
Five years of experience in business administration, finance, research administration, or higher education administration.
Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications, except where legal requirements apply.

Nice To Haves

Five years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, sponsored programs administration, program operations, or a related administrative field.
Demonstrated experience supervising staff and managing operational workflows, workload priorities, and service delivery.
Ability to interpret complex policies, exercise independent judgment, solve operational problems, and implement effective business processes.
Strong analytical, communication, relationship-management, and performance-management skills, including ability to use operational data and metrics to support decision-making.
Advanced degree and/or professional certification relevant to research administration, program management, organizational leadership, or business operations, such as CRA, MBA, or MPA.
Significant experience with sponsored research administration, particularly post-award administration, award setup, award modifications, or sponsored-project financial management.
Experience leading shared-services, centralized-service, service-center, or other high-volume operational environments.
Experience leading process improvement, organizational change, service redesign, workflow optimization, or implementation of new operating models.
Experience using operational performance measures, workflow technologies, automation, case-management systems, or AI-enabled tools to improve service delivery.

Responsibilities

Direct day-to-day centralized award setup and modification service operations, including workload management, prioritization, resource allocation, and service delivery.
Establish and maintain operating procedures, service standards, quality controls, and escalation practices; monitor performance and address operational issues, risks, bottlenecks, and emerging priorities.
Ensure services comply with University requirements, institutional controls, and established operating practices while fostering accountability, responsiveness, accuracy, transparency, and customer service.
Recruit, supervise, coach, and develop staff; establish performance expectations; provide feedback, evaluation, and performance management; and support onboarding, training, cross-training, and professional development.
Assess staffing needs and allocate resources to meet service demands and evolving operational requirements; promote a collaborative, inclusive, continuous-improvement-oriented team culture.
Lead implementation and ongoing improvement of redesigned workflows, procedures, controls, and operating standards.
Partner with RAC colleagues and stakeholders to reduce administrative burden, streamline processes, and improve service outcomes.
Develop and maintain operational documentation, decision frameworks, and quality-assurance practices; identify recurring process issues and implement corrective actions.
Support evaluation and adoption of technology, automation, and decision-support solutions.
Establish and monitor key performance indicators, service levels, productivity measures, and quality metrics; use operational data to identify trends, risks, capacity needs, and improvement opportunities.
Provide leadership with regular assessments of service performance, operational risks, and improvement priorities.
Partner with OSP, GCA, academic units, and other stakeholders to resolve cross-functional issues and improve service delivery; communicate operational expectations, process changes, and performance outcomes.
Evaluate service effectiveness, capacity, scalability, and operational readiness; develop operational plans for expanding centralized services to additional units and service areas.
Support onboarding and transition activities for participating units and recommend staffing, workflow, process, and technology investments to support future growth.
Contribute to RAC planning, pilot evaluation, governance activities, and broader operational excellence initiatives.