Executive Director - Research Administration & Operations

Primary City/State:

Shea Medical Office Building - 10290 N 92nd St Scottsdale, AZ 85258 Category:

Research Operations Shift:

Day Department:

HRI-Administration

 Hours: Monday-Friday 8am-5pm

Location: This is a hybrid role based primarily on-site at the Shea Medical Office Building in Scottsdale, AZ , with some remote work available; candidates outside of Arizona must be willing to relocate.


 Great care starts with great people. (Like you.)

At HonorHealth, you’ll find something special. From humble beginnings in 1927 to one of Arizona’s largest nonprofit healthcare systems, our culture is built on warmth and neighborly kindness. Behind every smile is a highly skilled professional with deep expertise and an unwavering dedication to what matters most — caring for the health and well-being of people and communities across the greater Phoenix area.

Responsibilities:

• 
 JOB SUMMARY
• Under the direction of the Associate Vice President / Chief Operating Officer, Research Institute, the Executive Director, Research Administration & Operations provides executive leadership for the integrated administrative and operational infrastructure that enables the Research Institute to execute its research mission safely, efficiently, compliantly, and sustainably. Leads through Directors and other functional leaders responsible for research financial operations, sponsored projects, research compliance, clinical research operations and designated standard-of-care operations, institutional research/investigator-initiated research infrastructure, business operations and study start-up, research technology and systems, and research pharmacy.
• Partners with the Vice President of Research, Academic Affairs leadership, physician and scientific leaders, and health-system stakeholders to translate research priorities into scalable administrative and operational capabilities. Accountable for the operating model, cross-functional governance, portfolio-level performance and risk, resource prioritization, organizational capability, and transformation across assigned functions. The role supports and operationalizes research strategy established by the Vice President of Research and Chief Operating Officer.
• ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
• Integrated Research Operations and Service Delivery
• Lead the clinical, administrative, financial, regulatory, systems, pharmacy, and business functions as one coordinated operating model.
• The Executive Director leads through Directors and other functional leaders responsible for research financial operations, sponsored projects, compliance and quality, clinical research operations, designated standard of care research operations, institutional and investigator-initiated research infrastructure, business operations, study activation, research technology and systems, and research pharmacy. The leader defines decision authority, service standards, handoffs, escalation pathways, resource priorities, workforce capacity, and corrective action across these functions.
• The Executive Director owns outcomes across the full research lifecycle. Departmental task completion does not satisfy this accountability when the final service result remains delayed, inaccurate, incomplete, or unreliable. The leader removes cross functional barriers, standardizes workflows, resolves handoff failures, and ensures that investigators, sponsors, research participants, and internal partners receive consistent service regardless of division, location, study type, or individual staff member.

The role establishes coordinated grant and research project intake, effective sponsored project governance, reliable study startup and closeout processes, and clear operational ownership throughout execution. Research Support Specialists function as embedded operational partners who coordinate timelines, milestones, communication, dashboards, and implementation while accountable leaders retain ownership of results.

Strategic Alignment and Enterprise Research Integration

Translate HRI strategy, HonorHealth priorities, and academic commitments into scalable research capabilities across the health system.

The Executive Director partners with the Vice President of Research, the HRI Chief Operating Officer, Academic Affairs, Arizona State University, physician and scientific leaders, and HonorHealth stakeholders to convert strategic priorities into operational plans, capacity, infrastructure, controls, and sustainable execution. The role ensures that operational decisions support HRI commitments, scientific priorities, sponsored activity, clinical research, investigator-initiated research, and institutional research initiatives.

The Executive Director creates an operating infrastructure that supports research across HonorHealth regardless of specialty, location, research type, funding source, or organizational partner. This includes expanding research access across hospitals, medical groups, service lines, physicians, and clinical programs. The role represents HRI operational interests in health system planning, governance, audits, major initiatives, academic collaborations, and external relationships as assigned.

The Executive Director maintains one organizational voice. The leader coordinates decisions and communication across HRI, ASU, investigators, sponsors, and HonorHealth partners. The leader engages the right stakeholders early, reinforces approved priorities, and prevents inconsistent guidance or competing operating pathways.

Leadership, Performance Management, and Continuous Improvement

Create a culture in which leaders know their business, use data, own outcomes, communicate clearly, and improve performance with discipline.

The Executive Director leads through validated data and expects every operational leader to understand the operating model, key performance indicators, financial results, risks, trends, aging work, workforce capacity, and improvement plans for the assigned function. Leaders bring analysis, recommendations, decisions, and measurable progress to review. They track commitments, close action items, address backlogs, and intervene before performance gaps become larger organizational concerns.

The Executive Director operates as part of one leadership team and reinforces one organizational message. The leader communicates accurately and proactively, shares risks early, involves affected stakeholders, and resolves issues across functional boundaries. The leader builds trust, service, collaboration, agility, accountability, succession strength, and continuous improvement throughout HRI. The operating expectation is one Institute, one process, one message, and one leadership team.

The Friday Operational Review functions as a decision and performance forum. A monthly operating review evaluates the scorecard, portfolio health, aging work, financial results, capacity, risk, and corrective actions. A quarterly executive review evaluates performance themes, cross functional barriers, resource needs, and progress against Institute priorities. Material risks require immediate escalation through established pathways.

Quality, Compliance, Risk, and Participant Protection

Maintain an operating environment that protects participants, meets regulatory obligations, and identifies risk before it becomes an organizational problem.

The Executive Director provides executive oversight of research compliance, regulatory quality, operational risk, audit readiness, investigational pharmacy, and corrective action. The role preserves appropriate compliance independence while ensuring effective coordination across clinical, regulatory, financial, pharmacy, technology, and sponsored project requirements. Material patient safety, compliance, sponsor, financial, service, and institutional risks must move through established escalation pathways without delay.

The leader establishes clear quality standards, validates the data used to measure performance, and distinguishes HRI errors from external requests or conditions that could not reasonably have been anticipated. Recurring deficiencies require root cause analysis, targeted education, workflow correction, competency reassessment, or other intervention. Corrective actions remain open until evidence confirms sustained improvement.

The Executive Director leads development of a compliant institutional mechanism for studies that require long-term follow-up. The model must preserve participant protections, regulatory oversight, safety reporting, data obligations, and appropriate IRB review while reducing unnecessary administrative burden and improving portfolio accuracy.

Financial, Technology, Infrastructure, and Workforce Stewardship

Align resources, systems, organizational design, and workforce capability with mission, demand, financial sustainability, and institutional risk.

The Executive Director oversees financial performance across assigned operations, including forecasting, revenue integrity, sponsored funding stewardship, expense management, enrollment assumptions, payment schedules, amendments, financial allocation, and investment needs. The leader directs development and maintenance of an HRI research charge master with validated rates for industry sponsored trials, investigator-initiated trials, internally supported research, and other approved categories.

Rates must reflect actual costs, institutional requirements, approved negotiation authority, market conditions, and financial performance.

The Executive Director establishes data governance for CTMS, Florence, Workfront, Epic, and other operational systems. These systems must contain complete, accurate, timely, consistent, and decision-ready information. Technology supports approved business processes and leadership needs. Workfront serves as the consistent communication and workflow platform for study startup and operational reporting.

The role leads organizational design, workforce strategy, succession planning, leadership development, onboarding, and competency management. Staffing and resource decisions must reflect workload, portfolio complexity, service demand, revenue, capacity, compliance, and strategic priorities. Leaders should use existing HRI capabilities before creating duplicative functions. Every operational area must maintain role specific onboarding milestones and competency standards.

EDUCATION

Bachelors in healthcare administration, business administration, finance, research administration, life sciences, or a related field Required

Masters in business administration, healthcare administration, public health, research administration, finance, leadership, or a related discipline Preferred

EXPERIENCE

, Twelve or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience in research administration, healthcare operations, academic medicine, clinical research, research finance, or a closely related field, including substantial responsibility for complex multidisciplinary operations and at least seven years of leadership responsibility Required

Other, Demonstrated experience leading multiple levels of leaders with success integrating distinct functional areas in a complex matrixed healthcare, academic, or research environment. Preferred Preferred

Other, Demonstrated responsibility for significant operating and financial portfolios, budgetary performance, operational risk, workforce and capacity planning, performance management, resource allocation, and large-scale organizational or technology-enabled transformation. Preferred

Other, • Experience partnering with senior executives, physicians, scientific investigators, academic leaders, and institutional stakeholders required; academic medical center, health system, research institute, cancer center, or similarly complex research environment strongly preferred Preferred

• LICENSE AND CERTIFICATIONS
• , ACRP Upon Hire Preferred
• , SoCRA Upon Hire Preferred


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