**Internal Only** Associate Director

19528BR

Office of Research

Position Overview

The Associate Director leads the Office of Contract Negotiations, including supervising Contract Officers and acting as a part of Research Administration leadership. The office creates and/or negotiates award agreements including all terms and conditions prior to acceptance by the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (KUCR), performs the preparation and negotiation of subrecipient agreements, reviews material transfer agreements, data use agreements, and other research-related agreements, and provides overall subject matter expertise related to agreements to support sponsored research administration at KU-Lawrence.  Contract Negotiations annually manages about 1200 agreements for about 300 public and private sponsoring agencies. This is a key position in the management of sponsored awards at the University of Kansas.

Job Description

40%- Contract Negotiation for Sponsored Projects
-Act as Principal point of contact for sponsored contracting activities for KU Lawrence campus.
-Act as primary negotiator for highly sensitive and extremely complex research agreements, including funding agreements, data sharing agreements, data licenses, non-disclosure agreements for use of proprietary information and material transfer agreements between the university and external sponsors.  Interprets applicability of statutes and regulations contained in a wide-variety of award documents.
-Advise and recommend institutional acceptance or non-acceptance to designated authorized signatory.

40%- Operational Unit Leadership
- Provide supervision and strategic and operational leadership to an office of four full-time staff members. This group handles all sponsored contracting activities and related material transfer and confidential disclosure agreements for KU Lawrence campus, including issuing subcontracts to external organizations and negotiating contracts coming to KU investigators/researchers.
-Hire, supervise, evaluate and train contract negotiation staff members in methods of successful negotiation and direct staff in the resolution of complex contractual difficulties.
- Coordinate the work of the Contracts unit with other Office of Research (OR) departments to meet agency-imposed deadlines.
- Monitor the negotiation activities of KU Lawrence campus to provide consistent application of research policies, a coherent strategy for acceptance of award terms, protection of the university and corporation from undue risk, and attainment of optimal contract terms for research efforts.  Works with General Counsel Office to help achieve consistent application of research and university policies.
- Provide advice and expertise to KU/OR/KUCR on the administration of contracts and grants and works with Executive Director of the Center for Technology Commercialization on related technology transfer issues that are presented in research agreements.
- Work closely with faculty, staff, and central administrators of the university as well as with representatives of the federal government, private sponsors, and subrecipients.  Ensures contractual consistency with needs as articulated by researchers.

15% - Process and Policy Development and Improvement
-Exercise discretion and independent judgment to formulate and implement policies and procedures in critical research administration areas such as insurance, liability, indemnification, risk assessment, dispute resolution, and intellectual property rights.
-Assist in setting policy to distinguish between appropriate service activities and fundamental or applied research activity at the university.
-Provide input for review and advice for editing current KU and KUCR policies, procedures, and proposed changes for best practices.
-Monitor national developments in research administration, contribute to national working group initiatives for improvements to standard forms and documents, and disseminate information to staff and other research units.

5%- Other Duties as Assigned
-Represent the university at external meetings and OR/KUCR at meetings across campus
-Lead or participate in special projects as assigned by Assistant Vice Chancellor of Research.

Position Requirements

This position will work a hybrid schedule of remote work and on-site work at the Lawrence campus as deemed by the supervisor.

Required Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

Contact Information to Applicants

Alicia Reed [email protected] 785-864-7231

Additional Candidate Instruction

Please include the following with your completed online application:

Advertised Salary Range

Commensurate with experience

Application Review Begins

22-Jul-2021

Anticipated Start Date

16-Aug-2021

Primary Campus

University of Kansas Lawrence Campus

FLSA Status

Administrative

Employee Class

U-Unclassified Professional Staff

Job Family

Administrative/Management-KUL

Conditions of Employment

Contingent on Funding

Work Location Assignment

Telework

Disclaimer

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university's programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, [email protected], Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses).