Director of Proposals - 136173

The Director of Proposals is independently responsible for the strategic leadership, oversight, and operational management of both the General Campus and Health Sciences Proposal Teams, which serve a broad range of academic divisions, schools, departments, programs, centers, and institutes.

The Director manages teams of proposal officers who review, approve, and submit sponsored research proposals and related pre-award actions on behalf of UC San Diego Principal Investigators (PIs). The Director ensures all proposal activity complies with institutional, federal, and state requirements, and that internal workflows-such as the Kuali Proposal Development (PD) system-are effectively managed to support timely and accurate submissions.

The Director also provides work direction to the Health Sciences Proposal Team, overseeing priorities, managing escalations, and ensuring service standards are met. The role involves management of workload distribution, proposal processing systems, and staff performance, with an emphasis on data-driven decision-making and continuous process improvement.

The Director is a key member of the Sponsored Project Office (SPO) leadership team and works in close collaboration with the Assistant Vice Chancellor / Executive Director of SPO, the Director of Sponsored Research Business Systems and Innovation Strategies, and the Senior Director of SPO Award. This includes advising on and executing high-level decisions related to risk management, policy deviations, intellectual property, and institutional priorities in research administration.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensure proposal activity meets all regulatory, sponsor, and institutional requirements. Coordinate risk mitigation strategies in collaboration with researchers, department leaders, and senior administrators. Serve as the point of escalation for complex or sensitive proposal issues.

• Manage institutional use and adoption of the Kuali PD system and JIRA Workload Management System, ensuring proposals are routed, reviewed, and submitted in compliance with applicable deadlines and standards. Monitor and improve system workflows, coordinate with business systems staff, and troubleshoot system-related issues affecting proposal submissions.

• Review and discuss exceptions to UC San Diego and UC systemwide indirect cost and administrative policies. Provide policy recommendations to the AVC/Executive Director for further consideration by the appropriate campus or UC Office of the President authorities.

• Provide work direction to the Health Sciences Proposal Team and oversight to the General Campus Proposal Team. Manage hiring, performance evaluations, and professional development. Resolve staffing issues, promote team collaboration, and ensure alignment with SPO's strategic goals.

• Serve as a campus expert on federal and sponsor-specific pre-award policies. Participate in UC system-wide discussions, representing the interests of UC San Diego SPO Pre-Award function. Collaborate with UCOP and other campuses to harmonize practices and policies.

• Lead training and outreach efforts to departments and research units. Utilize proposal metrics and department feedback to inform the development of support services and identify emerging needs. Promote transparency, consistency, and responsiveness in SPO's pre-award services.

• Represent SPO in internal and external audits, providing documentation and defending policy interpretation and implementation. Lead development of corrective actions when necessary and ensure audit findings are addressed.

• Contribute to SPO's strategic planning, setting staffing levels, productivity and benchmarks, and operational priorities, aligned with KPIs. Ensure efficient use of resources, streamline processes, and promote innovation in pre-award service delivery.

• Bachelor's degree in business, public administration, life sciences, economics, engineering, or related field-or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.

• In-depth knowledge of the organization's operational, personnel, and financial transactions and systems related to administration of contracts and grants. Expert knowledge of federal and sponsor-specific pre-award regulations (e.g., Uniform Guidance, FAR, NIH/NSF policy statements) and deep understanding of institutional research policies and their application across federal, industry, and academic sponsors. Demonstrated ability to stay current on evolving sponsor guidance, federal regulations, and institutional policies and apply them in practice. Familiarity with intellectual property, cost principles, conflict of interest, and export control (ITAR/EAR) requirements. Experience addressing audit findings and implementing corrective actions.

• Demonstrated ability to negotiate mutually beneficial agreements. Proven ability to review, interpret, and negotiate complex proposal terms and conditions in line with institutional and sponsor policy. Skilled in developing or revising contractual language to ensure institutional protections are met while enabling research. Demonstrated understanding of legal considerations in pre-award agreements, including subawards, multi-party collaborations, and non-standard sponsor terms

• Knowledge of industry best practices. Demonstrated in-depth knowledge of contract law, including legal principles governing research agreements, with an emphasis on federal patent, copyright, trademark, business, and tort law. Proven working knowledge of the research lifecycle and the technical and legal considerations that impact the protection, management, and institutional use of intellectual property in a sponsored research context.

• Demonstrated ability to work independently; excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to effectively engage with a diverse range of stakeholders, including researchers, department administrators, executives, legal counsel, and external sponsors. Ability to convey complex regulatory or contractual issues clearly and diplomatically, adapting tone and format to the audience. Demonstrated skill in managing sensitive or escalated issues with professionalism and tact.

• Service orientation, strong management skills, leadership, sound judgment and decision making, critical thinking and creative problem solving. Strong leadership, supervision, and team-building abilities, with experience managing a diverse and high-performing team. Demonstrated experience hiring, developing, and mentoring staff, promoting collaboration and continuous improvement. Commitment to service excellence, sound judgment, and advancing organizational goals through equity, inclusion, and strategic alignment with key performance indicators (KPIs).

• Demonstrated skills using common desktop / web applications; understanding of research enterprise databases. Proficiency in enterprise-level contract and grant systems (e.g., Kuali Proposal Development), workload tracking systems (e.g., JIRA), and institutional reporting tools. Strong command of Microsoft Office tools; experience using databases and data analysis software (e.g., Access, SQL, Tableau) to assess performance metrics, streamline operations, and inform decision-making. Ability to troubleshoot system issues in collaboration with business systems teams.

• Ability to communicate clearly verbally and in writing to multiple constituencies. Proven ability to prepare concise, accurate, and persuasive written materials, including policy interpretations, institutional guidance, and internal communications. Strong legal and analytical writing skills with demonstrated capacity to review and summarize complex proposal and policy language. Ability to represent the office in formal communications with faculty, sponsors, and leadership.

• Experience developing and delivering professional presentations, trainings, and workshops to both technical and non-technical audiences. Ability to design and tailor content to meet the needs of department stakeholders, sponsors, and leadership. Comfortable leading presentations at institutional, systemwide, and national forums.

• Occasional evenings and weekends may be required.

• Job offer is contingent on satisfactory completion of a Background Check.

• This position involves access to technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Any job offer made will be contingent upon the applicant's capacity to serve in compliance with U.S. export controls.

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