Director of Research Administration/Director of Clinical Trial Contracts and Grants

Overview

About Jaeb Center for Health Research

The Jaeb Center is a nonprofit entity in Tampa, FL whose primary focus is serving as a Coordinating Center for multi-center clinical trials. For more information on the Jaeb Center's current projects please visit our website at www.jaeb.org.

About the Role

Jaeb Center for Health Research is hiring a senior leader to take ownership of our research contracting, study and clinical trial budgeting, and grants administration teams. This is a hands-on role for someone who can personally review and negotiate complex sponsor and vendor contracts, oversee grants administration and compliance across pre- and post-award activities, manage our Single Audit compliance and response, and lead a team through meaningful process and technology change, including the adoption of AI tools.

We're looking for someone who has conducted this work directly, specifically negotiated contract terms,  managed pre- and post-award grants administration and compliance, and led teams in these areas.

Please note: this is a research administration leadership role, not an attorney or general counsel position. Strong, hands-on contract negotiation experience is essential, but candidates should also bring direct research administration and clinical trial experience — a law degree or legal experience alone, without that background, will not meet the minimum requirements of this role.

What You'll Do

Contracts Leadership

• Serve as our senior-most contracting authority, personally reviewing and negotiating complex or non-standard terms in an environment without in-house legal counsel.
• Lead and directly supervise our contracts team, modernizing workflows and introducing AI tools (e.g., automated contract comparison, a clause-library-driven agent to reduce reliance on static templates).
• Lead the team through meaningful process and technology change with steady, consistent, emotionally intelligent supervision.
• Maintain and continually refine our contract negotiation playbook and escalation standards.

Grants Administration & Federal Compliance

• Lead and directly supervise our grants team, overseeing pre- and post-award administration, federal award compliance (including Uniform Guidance), and financial reporting.
• Serve as final reviewer on grant submissions and as our subject-matter authority for federal award compliance.

Workforce & Effort Planning

• Lead and provide supervisory oversight of our workforce/effort planning function, including forward-looking staffing/capacity planning and current-period effort/FTE reporting, and serve as trained backup for this work.
• Help bring greater efficiency to this process, including through the use of AI.

Single Audit

• Serve as the primary point of contact for the external audit team on our organization's Single Audit.

Study & Clinical Trial Budget Development

• Lead our study and clinical trial budget development function, building full, end-to-end budgets for consulting projects, deliverables, and multi-site clinical trials — including study supplies, shipping, site and internal effort, IRB costs, and contracting costs — by reading and interpreting the protocol directly.
• Mentor and supervise team members in developing protocol-interpretation and budgeting skills.

What You'll Bring — Required

• Bachelor's degree and 10+ years in research administration, including 5+ years in a leadership/supervisory role.
• Direct, hands-on experience negotiating sponsor and/or vendor contracts — ideally in an environment without in-house legal counsel, requiring independent judgment on risk and terms.
• Background in a CRO, nonprofit research organization, academic research administration office, or similar environments.
• Strong financial/quantitative skills, including federal grants financial compliance and Uniform Guidance (experience does not need to be with NIH or other HHS agencies specifically).
• Demonstrated experience leading a team through process change and technology adoption, including comfort using AI tools for practical efficiency gains.
• Proven ability to lead and support a team with diverse personalities and interpersonal dynamics, providing steady, fair, and consistent leadership.

What You'll Bring — Preferred

• Master's degree (MBA, MPA, MPH, or related field).
• Experience with NIH or other HHS-funded awards specifically.
• Direct experience building the full, end-to-end budget for a multi-site clinical trial from a protocol — not just individual site budgets and not just administering or reviewing budgets built by others.

Compensation & Benefits

The base salary range for this position is $120,000–$170,000, commensurate with degree and experience. Total compensation, including our excellent benefits package, ranges from approximately $150,000–$212,000.

Work Environment

This is a fully remote (home-based) position. Core hours are generally 8 a.m.–5 p.m. ET or CT. Travel requirements are very limited.

How to Apply

Candidates may apply by submitting a cover letter outlining current interests and relevant experience, a curriculum vitae (resume), and an application to careers@jaeb.org

EOE M/F/V/D/DFWP