Associate Director of Research Operations

Job Summary

The Associate Director of Research Operations will be part of the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University. In this role, the Associate Director will manage administrative operations for CEPR’s analytic team, including allocating staff across projects, recruiting and onboarding, coordinating with project directors, managing data use agreements and institutional review board submissions, and ensuring compliance with data use agreements and human subjects protections.

• Ensure new project proposals are clear in scope and appropriately resourced.
• Build and maintain a system for allocating staff, managing workloads, and meeting project timelines.
• Inform hiring and pipeline management decisions.
• Partner with Directors of Research, Project Directors, and PIs to allocate staff, flag overburdened staff, and model tradeoffs when priorities conflict.

• Maintain a compliance calendar and coordinate adherence to requirements including data use agreements, IRB protocols, funder reporting deadlines, and data privacy standards.
• Coordinate with Harvard IT on computing needs.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures related to data handling, access controls, and use restrictions; serve as a point of escalation for compliance questions and incidents.

• Coordinate recruitment logistics, onboarding infrastructure, and 30/60/90‑day frameworks.
• Lead offboarding for departing staff, including knowledge transfer, access revocation, and project close‑out processes.
• Maintain a living library of SOPs, process guides, and onboarding materials; develop and enforce documentation standards and facilitate team trainings.
• Develop and manage early career pipeline opportunities, including internships and pre‑doctoral programs.

• Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in research operations, program operations, project management, or a closely related field.
• Experience working in or in direct support of quantitative social science research.
• Demonstrated success designing and managing operational systems—such as intake workflows, allocation models, or documentation ecosystems—in a research, academic, policy, or similarly complex environment.
• Strong systems‑thinking skills and comfort designing solutions for scale.
• Experience with project management platforms and workflow tools; comfort evaluating and adopting new operational platforms.
• The position is currently a hybrid position with 3 days in the Cambridge office and 2 days remote.
• This position is a term appointment for one year from the date of hire, with a strong possibility of continuation.

• Advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., social science, public policy, information science, research administration).
• Experience with university‑based research processes, including familiarity with sponsored research, IRB administration, and academic PI workflows.
• Familiarity with research compliance frameworks (data use agreements, funder requirements, data privacy).
• Experience in resource management or staff allocation.
• Familiarity with project management tools such as Asana and no‑code or low‑code automation tools.
• Exceptional organizational skills and judgment about prioritization under competing demands.
• Strong communicator with experience coordinating across researchers, PIs, administrative staff, and leadership.
• Experience supervising or formally mentoring at least one staff member.

• Appointment End Date:
  One year from start of hire.
• Standard Hours/
  
  Schedule:
  
  35 hours per week.
• Compensation Range: $130,000 - $133,000 commensurate with experience.
• Visa Sponsorship:
  Harvard University is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position.
• Pre‑Employment Screening:
  Identity and Education.

This position has been determined by school or unit leaders that some of the duties and responsibilities can be effectively performed at a non‑Harvard location. The work schedule and location will be set by the…