Senior Advisor

Who We Are

Simon Fraser University is a leading research university, advancing an inclusive and sustainable future. Our purpose – the essence of SFU – is to create and connect knowledge, learning and community for deeper understanding and meaningful impact. We are committed to fostering excellence, innovation, belonging and community in all that we do.

SFU’s Institutional Strategic Awards (ISA) leads strategies and initiatives that increase research capacity, income, and visibility by supporting prestigious, high-value funding programs and projects. ISA provides support for pre-award research development, proposal strategy, stakeholder engagement, institutional commitments, limited submissions, and post-award project management for complex initiatives involving multiple teams, partners, and funders. The Senior Advisor, Health will be part of ISA’s Research Development team and will support SFU’s emerging health research portfolio, including major opportunities linked to the Stephens Family School of Medicine.

Our culture is collaborative, strategic, responsive, and focused on helping researchers build ambitious, fundable programs.

The Senior Advisor, Health will provide strategic research development leadership for SFU’s emerging health research portfolio, with emphasis on major, complex, and institutionally significant funding opportunities. The role will help build interdisciplinary research programs that advance health systems, primary care, digital health, implementation science, population health, translational research, infrastructure-enabled discovery, and innovations that improve care delivery and community health. Working across Faculties, the School of Medicine, research platforms, partners, and institutional units, the Advisor will support opportunity assessment, team formation, proposal strategy, narrative development, partner engagement, and coordinated submission planning.

This position will help SFU convert emerging health strengths into competitive, collaborative funding initiatives with tangible benefits for health-system improvement and community impact.

The ideal candidate holds a doctoral degree in a health-related, biomedical, health systems, population health, clinical, digital health, neuroscience, or other relevant discipline, with six years of related experience in research development and administration. They are a strong writer, strategic thinker, and skilled project coordinator who can shape complex health research ideas into compelling funding applications. They can work effectively with multiple investigators across Faculties, institutions, health-system partners, and research support teams, and bring sound judgment, diplomacy, and initiative to proposals supporting research, training, infrastructure, and partnerships.

Full Job Description

Doctoral degree in Science, Applied Sciences, Social Sciences, Health Science, or a related/relevant discipline, and six years of related experience in research development and administration at a Canadian university, funding agency or related agency; experience in writing and coordinating multidisciplinary research award proposals with multiple collaborators for a variety of funding sources (public and private); or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Good knowledge of strategic research priorities at institutional, agency, and government levels.
• Ability to develop strategies for complex, high-value funding competitions and coordinate multidisciplinary, multi-investigator proposals.
• Excellent leadership skills and ability to work directly with faculty from multiple disciplines, senior leaders, institutional units, partners, and funders.
• Excellent writing, editing, presentation, and communication skills, including the ability to summarize complex information in clear, succinct language.
• Excellent strategic and project management skills, with the ability to coordinate projects and resources, prioritize competing demands, and meet critical deadlines.

At SFU, our goal is to ensure our people are valued and supported by promoting a healthy work-life balance, professional growth…