Director, Research Administration

Job Summary

Kaiser Permanente Northwest-s Center for Health Research (CHR) is seeking an experienced Director of Research Administration to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for the Center-s Finance, Sponsored Programs Administration (SPA), and Facilities teams. The position reports to the Vice President for Health Research. As a key member of the CHR Leadership Team, the Director will help guide a nationally recognized, extramurally funded research center with 2025 annual revenues over $48M.

The ideal candidate brings extensive experience in research finance and accounting; pre- and post-award grant and contract administration across federal, industry, and nonprofit sponsors; and the administration of a not-for-profit research organization. This leader will champion continuous process improvement, foster strong internal and external partnerships, and ensure regulatory compliance across all financial and sponsored research administration functions. This flexible role requires regular on-site engagement.

• Prepares individuals for growth opportunities and advancement; builds internal collaborative networks for self and others. Solicits and acts on performance feedback; drives collaboration to set goals and provide open feedback and coaching to foster performance improvement. Demonstrates continuous learning; oversees the recruitment, selection, and development of talent; ensures performance management guidelines and expectations to achieve business needs. Stays up to date with organizational best practices, processes, benchmarks, and industry trends;
  
  shares best practices within and across teams. Motivates and empowers teams; maintains a highly skilled and engaged workforce by aligning resource plans with business objectives. Provides guidance when difficult decisions need to be made; creates opportunities for expanded scope of decision making and impact.
• Oversees the operation of multiple units within a department by identifying member and operational needs; ensures the management of work assignment completion; translates business strategy into actionable business requirements; ensures products and/or services meet member requirements and expectations while aligning with organizational strategies. Gains cross‑functional support for business plans and priorities; assumes responsibility for decision making; sets standards, measures progress, and fosters resolution of escalated issues.
  
  Communicates goals and objectives; analyzes resources, costs, and forecasts and incorporates them into business plans; prioritizes and distributes resources. Removes obstacles that impact performance; guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly; ensures teams accomplish business objectives.
• Directs post‑award administration by: developing protocols and policies to ensure accuracy of and providing approval of budgets; developing strategic plans to ensure timely and accurate completion of administrative requirements from funders; conducting strategic planning related to the completion of day‑to‑day post‑award activities(e.g., purchasing items; reviewing expenses, effort, and projections; performing reconciliations; invoicing) to ensure the continued success of projects; recommending and revising standards to ensure the completion of post‑award requirements (e.g., annual reports, final reports);
  
  shaping strategic plans for the long‑term success of implementing and maintaining award systems, files, and accounts in alignment with enterprise‑wide strategic goals; recommending and implementing process improvements to reviewing and routing agreements for timely negotiation and execution; and driving the development of strategic goals to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the award closeout process and finalized report submissions to sponsor.
• Directs pre‑award administration by: providing expert consultation on proposal application preparation and submission as needed, providing regional approval for proposal submissions, and may provide approval as Institutional Authorized official, as needed; developing and executing strategic goals for the application of…