Senior Director, Research Administration
Senior Director, Research Administration
- 560010
- Columbia University Medical Center
- Opening on: Oct 6 2026
- Grade 107
- Job Type: Officer of Administration
- Bargaining Unit:
- Regular/Temporary: Regular
- End Date if Temporary:
- Hours Per Week: 35
- Standard Work Schedule:
- Building:
- Salary Range: $165,000 - $175,000
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
Reporting to the Department Administrator/COO for the Department of Neurology and the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, the Senior Director, Research Administration will oversee all research administration and financial management in the Department of Neurology, the Sergievsky Center and the Taub Institute and play an integral role in the development of the department’s operating budget, quarterly reforecasts, and year-end fiscal close processes. The incumbent will also be a key member of the Department of Neurology and the Sergievsky Center’s leadership team in developing strategic plans and participating in the faculty recruitment process.
Responsibilities
The Senior Director will supervise a team in overseeing the following activities:
- Department Research Financial Management & Strategic Planning
- Oversees process, timeline and resources required to complete annual budget and quarterly reforecast the Department and affiliated centers and institutes. Maintain back-up documents for budget assumptions. Explain trends, provide variance analysis and support documentation regarding research funds directly with the VP&S budget office. This includes all sponsored project funds, endowment, gifts, internal awards, startups and other designated funds used for research purposes
- Supervises key components related to quarterly and annual fiscal close, including budget variance analysis, revenue tracking and reconciliation, oversight of clearing of payroll suspense, removal of project overruns and indirect revenue sharing with other departments
- Ensures annual compliance of internal service center/core licensing and billing process
- Assists with the development of business plans for new research faculty recruitments and identifies resources (both financial and operational) to support the recruitment of new faculty
- Ensures Departmental financial sustainability across all divisions, centers and institutes, and develops strategies to mitigate losses and deficits.
- Monitors budget projections and actuals, addressing variances in a timely manner.
- Liaises with peers to improve administrative efficiency and processes across the department.
- Support the development and implementation of strategic initiatives across the department and affiliated institutes and centers.
- Develop and provide training and mentoring.
- Pre Award Research Administration Services
- Assists principal investigators (PIs) in the identification of funding opportunities, development, review, submission and renewal of various types of sponsored project proposals from a variety of sponsors including NIH, private foundations and industry; directly manages timelines and the overall progression of work undertaken by analysts teams to ensure the on time completion of high quality, responsive, and compliant proposal applications
- Facilitates grant transfers for NIH and others as needed; includes balance carry- forward funds from other institutions.
- For awarded proposals, liaises with Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) office to ensure timely setup of award, pre award compliance requirements are met and all subawards are established
- Ensures all award reporting requirements (quarterly and/or annual progress and financial reports) are completed according to sponsor and institutional requirements and timeframes
- Tracks pre-award productivity metrics such as number of submissions, awards, success rate, and other relevant measures
- Stays abreast of NIH and other sponsor policies to align knowledge depth of the overall research administration team and coordinates staff development
- Organizes internal awards sponsored by department
- Post Award/Financial Management Services
- Performs budget vs. actual reconciliation of sponsored and non-sponsored funding sources and salary allocations of faculty and staff on both project year and fiscal year basis
- Maintains fiscal year funding overviews/forecasts for faculty and meets with faculty to review on a regular basis
- Oversees development and maintenance of financial resources and templates used by finance team
- Reviews and approves salary allocation transactions and corrective accounting entries (cost transfers, journal entries) entered by analysts
- Ensures departmental adherence to internal sponsored project compliance requirements (i.e. PI expense attestations, cost transfer audit documentation)
- Manages sponsored project effort reporting and certification process; advises and assists PIs in the effort certification process as needed
- Manages internal service center/cores, including rate development and license application and billing and collections for services provided
- Participates in annual budgeting process and quarterly reforecasts through data entry of funding overviews into budget tool
- Assists with fiscal year-end close processes through monitoring of payroll suspense, sponsored project overdrafts and other items as requested
- Maintains complete electronic filing of award documents, including original grant proposal, financial and programmatic reporting, and records that will assist with ongoing grant proposal and reporting requirements (i.e. facilities and resources documents, other support pages)
- Tracks spending of recruitment funds
- Ad hoc projects aimed at rolling out new initiatives or process improvement as it pertains to finance and research administration.
- Perform general administrative functions, and related duties and responsibilities as assigned/requested.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in education and experience, plus seven years of related experience.
Other Requirements
- This is a high-pressure position, as there are many internal and external deadlines. Requires a competent and organized individual that is self-motivated, reliable, conscientious, and able to solve analytical problems, as well as plan independently.
- Ability to work with all levels of staff. Position requires establishing and maintaining relationships within and across departments, as well as servicing the grant and accounting needs of Principal Investigators.
- Proficiency in MS Excel and MS Word.
- Ability to meet deadlines and maintain required confidentiality.
- Knowledge of government and foundation grant administration and PeopleSoft financials required.
- Proven ability to manage complex financial processes and ensure compliance with institutional and regulatory standards.
- Exceptional attention to detail, analytical reasoning, and organizational skills.
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to engage effectively with diverse stakeholders at all levels.
- Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran
- Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.
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