Director of Pre- Award, RACE - Jefferson Center City

Jefferson Health Plans • Philadelphia, PA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Pre-Award provides strategic, operational, and compliance leadership for all pre-award services supporting sponsored research proposals across the institution. This role oversees the full lifecycle of proposal development, review, and submission, ensuring alignment with sponsor requirements, regulatory standards, and institutional policies while delivering high-quality, customer-focused service to the research community. The Director leads and develops pre-award teams, drives process improvements, and optimizes systems and workflows to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and scalability. Partnering closely with cross-functional stakeholders, this position ensures seamless coordination across the research administration lifecycle and serves as a senior subject matter expert for complex, high-risk, and high-value proposals.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree Business Administration, Management or a related field required
• 7 years Progressively responsible experience in research administration, including both federal and non-federal funding
• 3 years People leadership experience, including supervising staff and/or managing through subordinate leaders
• Research Administration Expertise: Demonstrates deep knowledge of pre-award research administration, sponsor regulations, and institutional policies.
• Communication: Communicates clearly and effectively with faculty, staff, leadership, and external sponsors.
• Analytical Thinking: Applies strong analytical and problem-solving skills to complex proposals and budgets, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Collaboration: Builds effective partnerships across departments to resolve challenges and advance institutional goals.
• Leadership & Talent Development: Leads through others, setting clear expectations, driving accountability, and developing high-performing teams.
• Project & Change Management: Leads process improvements, policy implementation, and system enhancements with minimal disruption.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Uses metrics and performance data to manage workload, improve cycle times, and enhance quality.
• Professionalism & Integrity: Models ethical behavior, accountability, and commitment to the institution’s mission

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic oversight of the full lifecycle of sponsored research proposal development, including intake, budget development, review, and submission, ensuring compliance with sponsor requirements, federal regulations, and institutional policies.
• Lead, develop, and manage pre-award teams, establishing performance expectations, supporting professional growth, and ensuring appropriate staffing and workload distribution to meet institutional needs.
• Establish and continuously improve pre-award policies, procedures, and workflows to enhance operational efficiency, service quality, and compliance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners to ensure seamless coordination across the research administration lifecycle and effective transition from proposal to award.
• Monitor regulatory and sponsor requirement changes, implement internal controls and risk mitigation strategies, and serve as a subject matter expert for complex, high-risk, and high-value proposals.

Benefits

• medical (including prescription)
• supplemental insurance
• dental
• vision
• life and AD&D insurance
• short- and long-term disability
• flexible spending accounts
• retirement plans
• tuition assistance
• voluntary benefits, which provide colleagues with access to group rates on insurance and discounts
• tuition discounts at Thomas Jefferson University after one year of full time service or two years of part time service
• medical (including prescription) insurance for all colleagues, including those who work less than part-time

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director