Project Director, Cancer Research

About Us

DLH delivers improved health and national security readiness solutions for federal programs through science research and development, systems engineering and integration, and digital transformation. Our experts in public health, performance evaluation, and health operations solve the complex problems faced by civilian and military customers alike by leveraging advanced tools – including digital transformation, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud enablement, modeling, and simulation, and more.

DLH is dedicated to the idea that “Your Mission is Our Passion” and brings a unique combination of government sector experience, proven methodology, and unwavering commitment to innovation to improve the lives of millions.

DLH seeks a dynamic, scientific, and operational leader for a pivotal role in our Public Health & Scientific Research operating center with both client-facing responsibilities and internal corporate oversight. The client-facing role is a Project Director (PD) for a major, long-standing federally funded cohort study investigating environmental and genetic risk factors for cancer and other chronic diseases. The PD responsibilities will be approximately 40% level of effort;

the PD is responsible for end-to-end contract execution: leading multidisciplinary teams, collaborating directly with government Principal Investigators, and ensuring delivery of complex, protocol-driven research activities across participant engagement, biospecimen management, data operations, and outcome validation. The PD works closely with the study Program Manager and Scientific Advisor to guide study strategy, operational excellence, and scientific contribution throughout all phases of this nationally recognized research program.

The PD role is coupled with internal responsibilities within DLH (60% LOE) to provide thought leadership in the public health research sphere, mentor junior staff, develop new business, and serve as a primary interface with DLH leadership, ensuring strong contract stewardship across financial performance, staffing, and coordination with Finance, HR, and Contracts.

Successful leadership and strategic visionare exemplifiedby:

• Providing direction to internal and external teams
• Maintaining mature, collaborative relationships with federal stakeholders
• Communicating effectively and authoritatively with senior agency executives, scientific partners, and internal leadership to align project execution with evolving research objectives
• Driving operational excellence, ensuring complex study deliverables are met, and resolving challenges to achieve high performance, data integrity, and participant retention

• Oversee all aspects of daily contract operations, acting as the executive liaison and primary representative to federal clients and agency leadership
• Proactively communicate project status, risks, issues, and mitigation strategies to ensure transparency and accountability across all contract activities
• Lead and supervise multidisciplinary teamsresponsible for the following:
  • Design, implementation, and analysis of detailed follow-up protocols, multi-mode survey data collection, and preparation of analytic datasets
  • Development and implementation of culturally competent participant retention and engagement strategies to sustain high response rates and maximize longitudinal follow-up
  • Data cleaning, quality assurance, and management of multiple concurrent data streams
  • Biospecimen collection, processing, tracking, and repository operations in partnership with laboratory leadership, ensuring compliance with all safety and quality regulations
  • Health outcome validation activities, including medical record abstraction and procurement of pathology reports
• Collaborate with
  
  Scientific
  
  Subject Matter Expert to operationalizescientificinitiativesand epidemiologic guidance across all phases of cohort study operations, including study design, protocol development, and field execution
• Ensure compliance with all federal research regulations (IRB, HIPAA, Certificates of Confidentiality), as well as rigorous adherence to confidentiality,…