Senior Director - Department of Medicine

Description

The Senior Director of Research Administration provides strategic and operational leadership for research administration across the Department of Medicine. Reporting to the Vice Chair for Administration, with a close working relationship with the Chair, Vice Chair for Research, and the Vice Chair for Clinical & Translational Research, the Senior Director oversees the infrastructure, processes, resources, and personnel that support the Department's research enterprise.

The Department of Medicine is a complex, multi-disciplinary organization encompassing a broad portfolio of basic, translational, clinical, and health services research across multiple divisions and research programs. The Senior Director will serve as a key strategic partner to departmental and institutional leadership, ensuring that the research enterprise is positioned for growth while maintaining strong financial stewardship, regulatory compliance, operational effectiveness, and exceptional service to faculty.

The Senior Director will lead efforts to strengthen and standardize research administration across the Department, develop scalable infrastructure, improve the faculty experience, optimize research financial performance, and identify opportunities to expand research activity and external funding.

Responsibilities

Strategic Research Administration Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive research administration strategy aligned with the Department's academic, clinical, and research priorities.
• Serve as a senior advisor to departmental leadership on research administration, research finance, sponsored programs, compliance, infrastructure, and operational strategy.
• Partner with the Chair, Vice Chair for Research, Vice Chair for Clinical & Translational Research, Division Chiefs, Division Administrators, research center/program leaders, and institutional leadership to identify opportunities and address barriers to research growth.
• Develop and implement policies, procedures, and organizational structures that support an efficient and sustainable research enterprise.
• Anticipate emerging needs and develop scalable administrative infrastructure to support growth in research volume, complexity, and funding.
• Represent the Department in institutional committees and initiatives related to research administration and sponsored research.

Sponsored Research and Grants Administration

• Provide strategic oversight of pre- and post-award research administration across the Department.
• Ensure effective management of proposal development, submission, award setup, subawards, modifications, closeout, and other sponsored research activities.
• Establish standards and service expectations for grant administration and monitor performance against those expectations.
• Partner with institutional sponsored research offices to ensure timely and compliant submission and management of sponsored projects.
• Identify opportunities to improve proposal development capabilities, including support for large, complex, multi-investigator, multi-institutional, and programmatic submissions.
• Develop strategies to increase external research funding and strengthen the Department's competitiveness for federal, foundation, industry, and other sponsored funding.

Research Finance and Portfolio Management

• Provide oversight of the Department's research financial portfolio, including sponsored and non-sponsored research activity.
• Partner with Finance and departmental leadership to monitor research revenue, expenditures, projections, commitments, and financial performance.
• Establish effective financial reporting and forecasting mechanisms that allow faculty and leadership to understand the financial health of research programs.
• Monitor grant balances, effort commitments, salary support, cost sharing, subawards, indirect cost recovery, and other key financial indicators.
• Identify financial risks and opportunities and develop corrective or strategic action plans.
• Support faculty and division leadership in developing sustainable research programs and understanding the financial implications of research activity.

Faculty and Investigator Support

• Create a high-quality, customer-focused research administration model that allows investigators to focus on scientific and academic priorities.
• Serve as an escalation point for complex research administration issues.
• Develop resources, tools, training, and educational programs to improve faculty understanding of research administration requirements and opportunities.
• Partner with faculty to identify administrative barriers and implement solutions that improve the investigator experience.
• Establish mechanisms for gathering and acting on faculty feedback regarding research administration services.
• Support investigators in navigating institutional policies, sponsor requirements, and regulatory obligations.

Compliance, Risk Management, and Internal Controls

• Ensure departmental research administration practices comply with applicable federal, state, institutional, and sponsor requirements.
• Partner with compliance, legal, IRB, COI, and other relevant offices to address regulatory and operational issues.
• Develop and maintain appropriate internal controls related to sponsored research and research finances.
• Monitor emerging regulatory and sponsor requirements and assess their impact on the Department.
• Lead or coordinate departmental responses to audits, monitoring activities, and compliance reviews as appropriate.

Operational Excellence and Process Improvement

• Evaluate the Department's research administration infrastructure and continuously identify opportunities to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability.
• Standardize processes across divisions where appropriate while preserving flexibility for specialized research programs.
• Establish key performance indicators and dashboards to monitor research administration performance.
• Use data and analytics to identify trends, bottlenecks, resource needs, and opportunities for improvement.
• Lead process redesign and technology implementation initiatives that enhance research administration.
• Promote automation, standardization, and effective use of institutional research systems and technology.

Organizational Leadership and Team Development

• Lead, develop, and oversee departmental research administration staff and, where applicable, matrixed or shared research administration resources.
• Assess organizational structure, staffing levels, roles, and capabilities to ensure alignment with the Department's research portfolio and strategic priorities.
• Establish clear performance expectations, professional development opportunities, and career pathways for research administration staff.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, customer service, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Develop effective partnerships with divisional and institutional research administration teams.

Research Growth and Strategic Initiatives

• Partner with departmental and institutional leadership to identify opportunities for strategic research growth.
• Support the development of new research centers, institutes, programs, and collaborative research initiatives.
• Provide administrative and financial analysis for strategic research investments and business cases.
• Support large-scale initiatives involving multiple investigators, divisions, departments, institutions, or external partners.
• Help identify opportunities to leverage departmental and institutional resources to increase research capacity and competitiveness.
• Develop analyses and recommendations to inform leadership decisions regarding research investments, infrastructure, staffing, and resource allocation.

Core Competencies

• Strategic leadership and organizational vision
• Research administration expertise
• Financial acumen and business judgment
• Data-driven decision making
• Operational excellence and process improvement
• Regulatory and compliance knowledge
• Faculty partnership and customer service
• Relationship management and collaboration
• Change management
• Team leadership and talent development
• Executive communication
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex matrixed academic medical center

Scope and Impact

The Senior Director will have a broad departmental impact and will be expected to operate at both the strategic and operational levels. Success in this role will be measured not only by compliance and effective administration, but by the Senior Director's ability to build an infrastructure that enables the Department of Medicine to grow its research enterprise, improve the investigator experience, strengthen financial performance, and execute strategic research priorities.

The position requires a highly collaborative leader who can navigate the complexity of a large academic medical center, translate institutional requirements into effective departmental practices, and build trusted partnerships with faculty and administrative leaders.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree required (Masters degree preferred)
• 7 years experience in health administration including preferred leadership experience in a health care environment

Employer Description

Strength through Unity and Inclusion

The Mount Sinai Health System is committed to fostering an environment where everyone can contribute to excellence. We share a common dedication to delivering outstanding patient care. When you join us, you become part of Mount Sinai's unparalleled legacy of achievement, education, and innovation as we work together to transform healthcare. We encourage all team members to actively participate in creating a culture that ensures fair access to opportunities, promotes inclusive practices, and supports the success of every individual.

At Mount Sinai, our leaders are committed to fostering a workplace where all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to grow. We strive to create an environment where collaboration, fairness, and continuous learning drive positive change, improving the well-being of our staff, patients, and organization. Our leaders are expected to challenge outdated practices, promote a culture of respect, and work toward meaningful improvements that enhance patient care and workplace experiences. We are dedicated to building a supportive and welcoming environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and advance professionally. Explore this opportunity and be part of the next chapter in our history.

About the Mount Sinai Health System:

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 48,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time - discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients' medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes more than 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics, top 5 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, and top 20 in Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report's "Best Children's Hospitals" ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country's best in several pediatric specialties. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is ranked No. 11 nationwide in National Institutes of Health funding and in the 99th percentile in research dollars per investigator according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Newsweek's "The World's Best Smart Hospitals" ranks The Mount Sinai Hospital as No. 1 in New York and in the top five globally, and Mount Sinai Morningside in the top 20 globally.

Equal Opportunity Employer

The Mount Sinai Health System is an equal opportunity employer, complying with all applicable federal civil rights laws. We do not discriminate, exclude, or treat individuals differently based on race, color, national origin, age, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are deeply committed to fostering an environment where all faculty, staff, students, trainees, patients, visitors, and the communities we serve feel respected and supported. Our goal is to create a healthcare and learning institution that actively works to remove barriers, address challenges, and promote fairness in all aspects of our organization.

Compensation

The Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS) provides salary ranges that comply with the New York City Law on Salary Transparency in Job Advertisements. The salary range for the role is $153723 - $245000 Annually. Actual salaries depend on a variety of factors, including experience, education, and operational need. The salary range or contractual rate listed does not include bonuses/incentive, differential pay or other forms of compensation or benefits.