Senior Research Operations Manager, Construction Industry Institute

The University of Texas at Austin•Austin, TX

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Research Operations Manager serves as the organizational backbone of the Construction Industry Institute’s research program at The University of Texas at Austin. Working closely with the Director of Research, this role coordinates the interfaces, processes, data, and communications connecting individual research projects, teams, and CII leadership. It has independent ownership of contracting and payment processes and regularly interfaces with industry volunteers, member representatives, and contracted academic researchers. The role also engages in person at a handful of CII events each year and supports coordination without directly managing technical research work. The position coordinates a portfolio of concurrent projects and maintains program schedules, data repositories, reports, dashboards, budgets, contracts, stakeholder activities, and communications. Work is performed in a standard office environment. The scheduled workweek is 40 hours, with standard business hours Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; work outside normal hours may occasionally be required during peak times. The position is expected to continue, with an earliest start date of immediately.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business administration, communications, or a related field.
Five years of experience in management, project/program coordination, research administration, or program support.
Strong organizational skills and ability to reliably track multiple concurrent tasks and deadlines.
Data-oriented mindset, attention to detail, and follow-through.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills for coordinating with various stakeholders.
Service-oriented mindset.
Proficiency in Excel or spreadsheet tools for data organization and tracking.
Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Responsibilities

Coordinate concurrent research projects through team formation, Requests for Qualifications (RFQ) processes, kickoffs, progress updates, closeout, and event presentations, without directly managing technical research work.
Maintain a master calendar and schedule for projects, committee meetings, and milestone events across the portfolio.
Track project status, timelines, and dependencies; flag and escalate risks or resource conflicts.
Help ensure projects follow appropriate structure, scope, and process throughout their lifecycle.
Maintain program data repositories, including attendance, budgets, team rosters, participation records, and historical project data, ensuring information is accurate, accessible, and timely.
Build and maintain reports and dashboards on program status, engagement, and performance metrics.
Design and maintain workflows and role/responsibility frameworks, such as RACI-style matrices.
Support program budget development; monitor expenditures and reconciliations, maintain historical cost data, support forecasting, prepare budget reports, and coordinate with financial services staff.
Manage initiation and completion of agreements with external partners and contractors; coordinate with internal UT offices to ensure institutional compliance.
Identify and propose improvements to contracting and payment workflows.
Support collaboration among sponsored research teams, member volunteers, and governance and oversight groups.
Organize and support meetings and committee activities, including agendas, materials, and follow-up documentation.
Serve as a point of contact among academic partners, industry stakeholders, and program leadership.
Prepare status reports and materials for leadership and oversight bodies.
Coordinate stakeholder communications, including updates, announcements, and public-facing content; help establish and maintain consistent communications processes and cadence.
Coordinate review and publication of program deliverables and content.
Perform other related duties as assigned.