Add Health Research Project Director

UNC-Chapel Hill•Chapel Hill, NC

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), housed and administered at the Carolina Population Center (CPC), is the largest, most comprehensive nationally representative longitudinal study of adolescents ever undertaken. Over its 32-year history, Add Health has collected extensive demographic, social, familial, behavioral, psychosocial, cognitive, and health survey data from participants and their parents. It also gathers contextual data from participants’ schools, neighborhoods, and geographies of residence, along with in-home physical and biological data, including genetic markers, blood-based assays, anthropometric measures, and medications. The Add Health Research Project Director will provide leadership, financial, and administrative management for the home exam field operations of the Add Health research project, which has an approximate budget of $20 million. This role involves overseeing the biological portion of a nationwide data collection effort performed by a major subcontractor and close collaboration with three biological laboratories. The director will assist in tracking the 18,000-person cohort by developing retention plans and timelines, coordinate the development of questionnaire materials and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for data and specimen collection, and work with data staff on the secure transfer of sensitive participant information across subcontracting partners. The position requires close collaboration with the Add Health research team, including experts in sociology, epidemiology, and data collection management, on day-to-day biological research activities, data collection, and field operations. The director will also coordinate field activities across subcontractors and data staff, oversee regulatory compliance (IRB submissions, amendments, renewals, reliance agreements, Promptly Reportable Incidents (PRI), and NIH RPPR reporting), and ensure compliance with UNC and federal guidelines across multiple institutions and coordinating sites. This includes implementing corrective actions, staff training, and interviewer guidance to support compliance and data quality. The position will directly supervise multiple project staff, including an Assistant Project Manager, the Retention Coordinator, the Medical Outcomes Coordinator, and the Biospecimen Coordinator, managing their work, timelines, deliverables, training, and coordination.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience managing and prioritizing responsibilities across multiple concurrent projects and project components, ensuring alignment of timelines, resources, and deliverables across teams.
Proven ability to plan, direct, and execute project activities across multiple functional areas, ensuring deliverables are completed on time and within scope.
Outstanding organizational and management skills.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Must be motivated and take initiative.
Must be able to anticipate and solve problems.
Must show the ability to work independently.
Demonstrated ability to work and collaborate within and across teams both inside and outside the organization.

Nice To Haves

Minimum of one year of experience in managing or directing a complex research project, preferably within a university setting.
Experience with field operations for major data collection efforts, especially those involving collection of biological specimens.
Experience using statistical packages (e.g., SAS, Stata) to run descriptive statistics.

Responsibilities

Provide leadership, financial and administrative management for the home exam field operations of the Add Health research project.
Oversee the biological portion of a nationwide original data collection effort performed by a major subcontractor.
Work very closely with three biological laboratories.
Assist with keeping track of the 18,000-person cohort by developing retention plans and timelines.
Coordinate development of questionnaire materials and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for data and specimen collection.
Work with data staff on the transfer of sensitive information across subcontracting partners to ensure study participant information is accurately and securely transferred.
Work closely with the Add Health research team on the project’s biological day-to-day research activities involving data collection and field operations.
Coordinate field activities across the subcontractors and data staff.
Oversee regulatory compliance activities for the project, including IRB submissions, amendments, renewals, reliance agreements between coordinating sites and subcontractors, Promptly Reportable Incidents (PRI), and NIH RPPR reporting.
Work across multiple institutions and coordinating sites to ensure compliance with UNC and federal guidelines and implement corrective actions, staff training, and interviewer guidance as needed to support compliance and data quality.
Directly supervise multiple project staff, including an Assistant Project Manager, the Retention Coordinator, the Medical Outcomes Coordinator, and the Biospecimen Coordinator.
Assign and monitor work, manage timelines and deliverables, support staff training, and ensure effective coordination across project teams and external partners.