Interdisciplinary Research Program Manager

Harvard University • Cambridge, MA

3d • $45,000 - $55,000 • Onsite

About The Position

This position is a Term appointment for up to two years depending on funding. Reporting to the Director of the Center for Green Buildings and Cities, who serves as the project's Principal Investigator, the Interdisciplinary Research Program Manager supports the coordination and success of this interdisciplinary research initiative, working closely with the project's co-PIs. The Program Manager organizes weekly meetings to ensure regular progress updates, cross-team alignment, and timely course corrections, and serves as a central point of communication across the project's three integrated research thrusts: advanced thermal materials, intelligent building-scale systems, and cooperative urban-scale energy management. The Program Manager tracks project metrics and sponsor reporting deadlines, and is responsible for the project's major written outputs, including the annual report to sponsors. In addition to supporting integration across disciplines, the Program Manager supports the PI and co-PIs in developing and maintaining relationships with industry partners, ensuring that practical insights from the field inform the design and scalable deployment of project innovations. The role also coordinates the preparation and submission of proposals for extramural funding, helping to sustain and expand the project's research and implementation efforts. This role is essential to advancing the project's mission of scaling HouseZero®-inspired innovations into interconnected, energy-efficient communities and delivering impactful, real-world solutions to climate challenges.

Requirements

• Doctorate degree in engineering, architecture, urban planning, environmental science, energy systems, or a closely related interdisciplinary field.
• Experience leading or coordinating complex, multi-stakeholder research initiatives, particularly those involving sustainability, climate resilience, or urban systems.
• Proven ability to synthesize interdisciplinary research and produce accessible technical and non-technical reports.
• Strong leadership, facilitation, and organizational skills; experience managing collaborative teams and meetings.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including grant writing and report preparation.
• Familiarity with extramural funding processes and experience coordinating successful proposals.
• Demonstrated ability to work across disciplinary boundaries and with external industry partners.
• Employment authorization to work in the US.

Nice To Haves

• Subject matter knowledge in one or more of the initiative’s core focus areas: advanced thermal materials, intelligent building-scale systems, or urban-scale energy management.
• Experience in interdisciplinary or systems-level research at the nexus of building design, sustainable technologies, and urban development.
• Familiarity with real-world implementation of research-based innovations in the built environment.

Responsibilities

• Organize and lead weekly meetings across the project's three research thrusts, and coordinate meetings with the PI and co-PIs three to four times per year; collect progress updates from team members, track deliverables against project timelines, and escalate issues requiring PI and co-PI decisions.
• Support the PI and co-PIs in developing and maintaining relationships with industry partners and external stakeholders; manage ongoing communications and follow-up, coordinate partner meetings and site visits, and channel practical field insights into research and deployment planning.
• Develop and maintain metrics for project success; monitor performance against milestones and communicate progress to the PI, co-PIs, and other stakeholders; manage sponsor reporting deadlines and compliance requirements.
• Write the annual report to project sponsors, collecting contributions from across the research teams and integrating them into a unified document with an overall synthesis of the year's findings; coordinate the project's overall white paper by collecting input from research teams and managing contributors through drafting and review.
• Coordinate preparation and timely submission of proposals for extramural funding, including managing internal deadlines, assembling contributor materials, and liaising with the Office for Sponsored Programs.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Generous paid time off including parental leave
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one
• Retirement plans with university contributions
• Wellbeing and mental health resources
• Support for families and caregivers
• Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement
• Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree