Administrative Director
Company: Columbia University
Location: New York
Posted on: October 20, 2024
Job Description:
- Job Type: Officer of Administration
- Bargaining Unit:
- Regular/Temporary: Regular
- End Date if Temporary:
- Hours Per Week: 35
- Standard Work Schedule:
- Building:
- Salary Range: $100,000 - $140,000 annually
The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based
on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental
budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses,
specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the
University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of
possible compensation at the time of posting.
Position Summary
The Administrative Director will report to the Co-Directors of The
Carol and Gene Ludwig Center for Research on Neurodegeneration
(CGLC); Co-Directors of Taub, Department of Neurology Chair with a
dotted line reporting to Tina Xue, Sr. Director of Finance and
Research Administration.
The incumbent will provide administrative and financial support for
day-to-day scientific operations and plays a key role in setting
the strategic direction of a complex, multi-institution,
multi-investigator effort to employ powerful scientific resources
in pursuit of the treatment and cure of Alzheimer's disease and
related neurodegenerative diseases.
The candidate will work closely with the co-Directors to advance a
series of research projects by coordinating closely with
investigative collaborators, sponsors, and donors; overseeing
diverse wet and dry laboratory operations and personnel; and
ensuring compliance and quality within this extensive research
program.
The successful candidate will oversee the entire lifecycle of CGLC
research projects, from working closely with the co-Directors on
the design of the overall research plan, to writing scientific
components of grant applications and working closely with NIH and
other key sponsors, to supervising the execution of individual
projects that relate to the program's overall research
strategy.
This individual will routinely make decisions regarding the
administration of significant and growing annual research expenses.
The complex and rapidly expanding program consists of a rich
mixture of both broad and focused research projects funded by
multiple federal and philanthropic sources, including LFF Pilot
Research Awards.
The incumbent will also play a key role in the operations of the
CGLC center, providing key support in areas such as strategic
planning, development, processes implementation, communications,
branding and website management, liaising and building
relationships with internal and external collaborators, space and
equipment management, events, HR, and the development of research
resources in order to meet current and future needs.
A key future role will be in fitting-out, equipping and staffing
new research space in the new Biomedical Research Building at 167th
Street and Audubon Avenue.
Responsibilities
Program Leadership and Strategic Planning:
- As a key member of the CGLC leadership team alongside the
co-Directors and faculty investigators, the incumbent will play an
important role in promoting the program's trajectory from basic
science research, to pre-clinical translational research, clinical
trials and ultimately the integration of results into mainstream
patient care.
- Explore and develop new opportunities to drive the CGLC
program, which includes coordinating with multiple NIH-funded
centers of excellence and eventually working with the Clinical
Trial Office (CTO) and collaborating with existing Columbia
infrastructure for pre-clinical and clinical trials. The individual
will facilitate the planning and implementing of new projects based
on these new opportunities.
- Collaborate with philanthropic sources, physicians, scientists,
regulatory professionals, biostatisticians, executive staff and
others as necessary for development and execution of the CGLC's
goals, ensuring their successful execution.
- Direct and prioritize resource allocation to ensure that all
research deliverables are met for the entire CGLC's program.
Leadership of Program Operations and Financial Administration:
- Oversee the general operation of the entire CGLC program,
ensuring that ongoing administrative and operational processes
support the goals and objectives of the program. Plan and lead
routine project team meetings.
- Oversee the development and management of the CGLC budget in
accordance with the financial goals and expectations of the
program. Project budgetary requirements of new projects and work
with Department Administrator and grants support personnel to
finalize and implement project and sub-project budgets. Work
closely with financial personnel to address budgetary constraints
and strategize when funding considerations arise such as the need
for a project extension or request for additional funding. Review
the progress of subcontract sites and make determinations regarding
routine financial administration of subcontracts.
- Oversee the purchasing and reconciliation functions of the CGCL
and of the co-Directors research programs in collaboration with
departmental financial personnel.
- Evaluate productivity to ensure that all federal research
grants deliverables are met in a timely manner and communicated to
the funding agencies.
- Establish mechanisms to continually evaluate and respond to
short- and long-term operational and fiscal needs.
- Liaise with research facilities in the Taub Institute, Dept of
Neurology, Stem Cell, Brain Bank, Genome Centers (including the
High Throughput Screening and Next Generation Sequencing
facilities) to ensure easy access of the CGLC to these
facilities.
Leadership of the Carol and Gene Ludwig Center Pilot Grant
Program
- Liaise with the co-Directors and the Scientific Center Advisory
Committee and past Ludwig Fellows to identify the new annual
topic.
- Publicize topics and timelines for the Pilot Award
competitions;
- Establish the peer-review team and organize the review
sessions.
- Coordinate with grantees to present their data at 12 and 24
months at Neurology Grand Rounds / LFF Pilot Grant Research
Day.
- Ensure timely reporting of progress.
- Work with the awardees to access the necessary facilities, and
expertise to take their results to the next level (academic,
industry support, patent coverage).
Communications and Symposia:
- Work with the co-Directors to designate the topic of the Annual
CGLC Scientific Symposia.
- Independently identify and book meeting facilities, catering,
sponsors and speaker invitations for the Annual CGLC Scientific
Symposia.
- Independently interact directly with the Ludwig Family
Foundation (LFF) personnel on behalf of the co-Directors, looping
in the co-Directors and LFF personnel to ensure that the LFF is
fully briefed on progress and plans for the CGLC's research
program.
- Independently interact with other sponsoring agencies (such as
NIH program officers or industry sponsors), key project personnel,
new donors and potential donors, and VIP supporters and
participants, on behalf of CGLC Principal Investigators.
- Write formal and informal communications regarding project
progress and share directly with sponsors, industry collaborators,
and other members of the financial/administrative
leadership.
- Draft text related to the CGLC's program for a wide range of
publication contexts, such as draft press releases and text of
publications for scientific journals.
- Represent the CGLC program in development and fundraising
efforts.
Staff Management:
- Support the co-Directors by maintaining oversight of all
personnel working for the program.
- With center PIs, set individual strategies and establish
standards for hiring, performance appraisal, and competency
assessment. Provide input into personnel compensation and salary
setting decisions. Establish job expectations and methods for
measurement of standards for all personnel.
- Coordinate with Human Resources and administrative leadership
in the development and implementation of policies and procedures
that apply the program.
- Maintain awareness of team engagement; identify and respond to
key challenges and areas of opportunity.
Operations Management:
- The incumbent will work with the co-Directors and CU space
planners to design research space and offices to meet the current
needs of the center, as well as its future needs for fitting-out,
equipping and staffing of new research space in the new Biomedical
Research Building at W167th and Audubon.
- Work with the co-Directors to develop a plan for acquiring and
managing high-end shared equipment (centrifuges, microscopies,
computational equipment), and develop sustainable funding models
for equipment management.
- Work with the co-Directors to recruit new staff at
investigator, scientist and technical levels.
Regulatory/Compliance Oversight:
- Independently draft IRB protocols, IACUC protocols and other
compliance documentation for multiple projects.
- Ensure compliance with all regulatory requirements for animal,
human issue, human data, clinical and computational
research.
- Convey to project team and ensure compliance with institutional
policies and procedures.
- Perform other related duties and responsibilities as
assigned/requested.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in education and experience,
plus five years of related experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- A PhD in a relevant field of neuroscience is strongly
preferred.
- Published scholarly work in a related field.
- Experience with Columbia University Medication Center
administrative systems and processes
- Experience project managing grants and contracts
- Experience with Preaward administration and development.
Other Requirements
- Position requires strong familiarity with key components of the
CGLC research program and long-range vision, such as computational
biology/bioinformatics, molecular biology, cell biology, stem cell
biology, neurobiology, cell and brain imaging, animal and cellular
modelling, and systems biology. Relevant postgraduate experience in
a related position is required.
- Experience with writing scientific components of grant
proposals and reports. Sufficient familiarity with scientific
aspects of research to draft text independently.
- Strong project management experience, preferably experience
overseeing a large, multi-component project. Strong familiarity
with administrative aspects of managing large sponsored research
projects, including knowledge of federal compliance
requirements.
- Strong communications and writing skills.
Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran
Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local
residents.
Keywords: Columbia University, Bayonne , Administrative Director, Administration, Clerical , New York, New Jersey
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