Careers

Description:

                                                     Research Program Manager

Are you interested in helping to improve the healthcare of our United States Veterans through meaningful work in a collaborative environment? The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Cooperative Studies Program (CSP) is a nationally renowned program that produces innovative solutions to Veteran and national healthcare problems through multi-site research studies.

The Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center (ERIC), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is recruiting a Program Manager to work with an experienced and growing group of researchers committed to high-quality epidemiologic investigations addressing Veteran health issues. The Center is 1 of several epidemiologic centers within the Cooperative Studies Program of the VA Office of Research and Development.

The Center is recruiting a full-time position that will provide leadership in the management of large, national epidemiologic research studies within the ERIC as well as smaller-scale, investigator-initiated studies. The Program Manager will work closely with the Associate Center Director, Research Operations, to assure the success of several observational epidemiologic studies addressing environmental/occupational exposures, pharmacotherapy, and genetics/genomics. This position will be part of a dynamic team that supports research activities for all Center studies. This position is based in Seattle, WA.

Key Duties:

• With the Associate Center Director (ACD), manages research operations and teams for a large, complex, and dynamic center
• Supervises research project leads, by inspiring and motivating them to perform at their best; identifies potential challenges and points of friction and works to find solutions to maximize employee engagement, productivity, and efficiency
• With Center leadership, participates in strategic planning and implementation of policies, best practices, and systems to meet the Center’s research goals and mission; identifies opportunities to expand or shift course to remain a competitive research center and to ensure the success of Center research projects and initiatives; communicates with Center and CSP leadership about resources, priorities, and projects
• Creates, implements, and maintains professional development and training plans and opportunities, and employee appreciation programs and activities
• Assists with the management of the Center’s hiring program; supervises volunteer screening and onboarding
• Serves as an interim manager on newly assigned studies and initiatives.
• Works with the ACD to ensure the Program’s research quality management framework is integrated into all aspects of the Center’s work
• Stays up-to-date on Federal rules and regulations and VA, ORD, CSP, and local VA policies and procedures as they relate to research, privacy, and data sharing; oversees Center regulatory processes; assists with responses to complex and nuanced regulatory inquiries, including responding to research incidents and preparing for audits
• Fosters collaborations on research best practices across the Center, the Program, and ORD by participating on committees and working groups
• Identifies how the VA’s transition to a new electronic health record (EHR), and the resulting EHR data, will impact the Center’s research studies; identifies mitigation strategies and opportunities for improvement before, during, and after the transition

Qualifications:

Required:

• Minimum of a bachelors-level degree in a scientific field
• At least 8 years of successful research management experience
• Record of leadership and team building in a research environment
• Self-starter with demonstrated ability to effectively lead and manage complex research projects
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to collaborate with a diverse group of people with a wide range of professional backgrounds and expertise
• Ability to adapt to evolving and competing priorities and timelines
• Adept in troubleshooting and problem-solving 
• Experience building internal tracking systems that support attention to detail and quality control
• Ability to understand and clearly communicate complex research regulations and procedures
• Knowledge of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, Common Rule, and other human subjects and data/information security protections
• Knowledge of research concepts, best practices and procedures, and regulatory requirements
• Experience with customer service
• Proficient in standard Microsoft Office products
• Knowledge of REDCap and Access

Preferred:

• Masters-level degree in a scientific or related-field
• Extensive experience managing multiple large-scale research studies including oversight of instrumentation development, data collection, and general operations
• Successful, long-term experience managing multiple teams in a research setting
• Institutional knowledge of VA research operations

Candidates must be US citizens. Depending on the candidate’s experience, the target salary will be in the GS-11 to GS-13 range according to the Office of Personnel Management General Schedule table at opm.gov.

Please send a cover letter and resume to SeattleCSPEC@va.gov. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled; however, materials received by 10/01/2021 will be considered first.

For more information about the Seattle ERIC, please see seattle.eric.research.va.gov.

Diversity enriches research and promotes the best healthcare. We are committed to building and sustaining an equitable and inclusive environment for our Center. We encourage individuals whose backgrounds or interests align with this commitment, as well as individuals from all backgrounds that are underrepresented in research, to apply.