Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance

ORAU is conducting the search on behalf of the University of Texas at Arlington for a permanent, fulltime Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance in Arlington, TX.

The Assistant Vice President for Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance is a senior leader responsible for designing, refining and implementing efficient and scalable processes. The role partners closely with leaders across the Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) and the campus to deliver coordinated, high-quality services that protect the institution while enabling research growth, innovation, and compliance with sponsor and regulatory requirements. Key responsibilities include providing leadership, operational oversight, and stewardship across the full lifecycle of pre-award services, non-financial post-award management, agreements management, and regulatory integrity. The Assistant Vice President plays a critical role in advancing the institution's research mission by fostering a culture of research excellence, operational efficiency, regulatory integrity, and customer service for faculty and investigators that support the growth, assurance, and sustainability of UTA's research enterprise.

Leadership and Organizational Management
• • Lead multidisciplinary team to develop ways to increase grant submissions and successful awards.
  • Establish, standardize, and assess workflows and other documented processes that ensure organizational capacity scales with growth in research volume, complexity, and risk.
  • Define key performance indicators (KPIs) related to compliance, risk, cycle times, audit readiness, and service effectiveness.
• Strategic and Functional Oversight
  • Pre-Award Strategy: As part of large proposal capture and development efforts, advises overall proposal strategy including early shaping of contractual elements of the RFP and strategic pricing of competitive submissions.
  • Pre-Award Services: Ensures consistent service delivery, appropriate capacity, and timely, high-quality proposal submission support.
  • Post-Award Management: Ensures successful negotiation of successful awards; ensures compliance, efficient financial and performance management of sponsored projects while reducing administrative burden on faculty.
  • Agreement Management: Provide oversight to the negotiation and execution of research agreements to protect institutional interests, enable partnerships, and confirm alignment with legal, risk, and commercialization strategies.
  • Regulatory Integrity: Lead institutional research compliance and integrity programs to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, manage emerging risks, and promote a culture of ethical and responsible research conduct.
• Governance, Metrics, & Continuous Improvement
  • Establish governance structures, escalation pathways, and decision frameworks in scope services.
  • Track KPIs that establish clear accountability and performance expectations.
  • Build trusted relationships with central administrative offices and external partners to drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance efficiency while maintaining strong compliance controls.
  • Identify strengths and areas for continuous improvement; oversee the implementation of action plans.
• Compliance Management
  • Ensure ORI policies, processes, and controls align with federal, state, sponsor, and institutional requirements.
  • Serve as ORI's senior authority on research-related regulatory compliance, risk management, and operational integrity.
  • Represent UTA in sponsor interactions, audits, site visits, and regulatory inquiries as appropriate.
  • Establish and maintain a cohesive risk and compliance framework spanning post-award administration, agreements, and operational integrity.
  • Advise the VPRI on institutional risk exposure, compliance posture, and mitigation strategies.
• Training & Awareness
  • Develop, implement, and monitor compliance policies and procedures providing guidance and training to researchers and research staff.
  • Provide training and education on compliance with research and sponsored program best practices.
  • Partners with research security, information security and campus compliance to develop and implement certifications as required by award conditions and/or obligations.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in public administration, business administration, finance, higher education, law, or a related field.
• Seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, compliance, finance/accounting, contracts, or related fields.
• Three (3) years of progressive leadership responsibility and supervisory experience creating scalable, auditable business functions in a research-intensive environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree or equivalent experience.
• Experience working with regulatory compliance at an institutional/enterprise level in an academic setting/higher education, health center or school of medicine.
• Ten or more years of progressively responsible experience in research administration, compliance, finance/accounting, contracts, or related fields.
• Five (5) or more years of progressive leadership responsibility and supervisory experience creating scalable, auditable functions in a research-intensive environment.
• Experience working with large, enterprise-wide financial and reporting systems.
• Experience working directly with grants administration teams and contract negotiation.
• Experience in policy development, and oversight role at an institutional level.
• Membership experience in appropriate professional organizations such as SRA, NCURA, FDP, COGR, etc.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of federal and state regulations governing research and sponsored programs and proficiency in administering provisions of 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance) and Federal Acquisition Regulation.
• Knowledge creating customer-focused services with business processes, data modeling, etc.
• In-depth understanding of laws and regulations that impact sponsored research projects.
• Demonstrated ability to lead crossfunctional initiatives and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team environment.
• Strong analytical with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• High level of discretion, judgment, and integrity.
• Able to work independently with minimal supervision and make sound decisions with minimal information available.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and multitask on a variety of projects.