Senior Program Manager

Job Summary:

The Department of Biostatistics is a very busy and diverse department focused on research and teaching. Our 70+ faculty are leaders in the development of statistical methods for clinical trials and observational studies, studies on the environment, computational biology, and genomics/genetics. We offer degree programs in biostatistics, computational biology and data science; currently, more than 180 students are enrolled in these programs. Our team invites applications for a Senior Program Manager position in the National Studies on Air Pollution and Health group (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nsaph/). The position will be under the supervision of Principal Research Scientist, Dr. Danielle Braun, in Biostatistics.

The Senior Program Manager is a key administrative and strategic partner to the Principal Investigators in NSAPH focused on environmental and public health applications and state-of-the-art causal inference and data science methodologies.

The Senior Program Manager will oversee day-to-day operations, coordinate complex multi-investigator projects, lead pre-and post-award scientific and administrative activities, and ensure compliance with institutional and federal regulations.

A separate Grants Manager has primary responsibility for financial management; the Senior Program Manager will collaborate closely with the Grants Manager and other central offices to align programmatic, scientific, and administrative needs with financial and compliance requirements.

Job-Specific Responsibilities:

Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Program & Project Management

• Coordinate and manage the operational aspects of the lab’s research portfolio, including multiple NIH grants (e.g., R01, R21, U24) and non-NIH grants (NSF, AWS, etc) in biostatistics, data science, and environmental/public health

• Develop and maintain project timelines, milestones, and deliverables for methodological and applied projects; monitor progress and proactively identify risks and mitigation strategies.

• Plan and facilitate regular project, lab, and working-group meetings (e.g., methods development teams, data analysis

• teams, multi-site collaborations), including agenda setting, documentation, and follow-up.

• Support multi-PI, multi-site collaborations involving epidemiologists, environmental scientists, clinicians, computer scientists, and policy partners, including coordination of subawards, data use agreements, and communication workflows

• Develop and implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) for research processes, data management, and internal communication

• Serve as primary liaison between the research group and school/university administrative offices (e.g., research administration, HR, finance, IRB, IT)

Regulatory Compliance & Research Integrity

• Ensure all research activities comply with federal, state, sponsor, and institutional policies, including human subjects protection, data security, conflict of interest, and responsible conduct of research.

• Oversee preparation, submission, and maintenance of IRB protocols, amendments, continuing reviews, and reportable events

• Develop and deliver training and guidance for investigators and staff on compliance requirements, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) where applicable, and ethical research conduct

• Monitor adherence to data use agreements (DUAs) and other compliance related contracts. 

• Conduct periodic internal audits or quality checks to identify and address compliance risks 

Grants & Contracts Support (Administrative)

• Coordinate the scientific and administrative preparation of NIH grant applications and progress reports (RPPRs), working closely with the PIs, co-investigators, departmental pre-award staff, and the Grants Manager

• Coordinate and assemble proposal components (e.g., specific aims, research strategy, statistical analysis plans, data management and sharing plans, letters of support, biosketches, facilities/resources)

• Track deadlines and ensure timely submission of new grants, progress reports, Just-in-Time materials, and renewals. Collaborate with the Grants Manager and Office of Sponsored Programs on:• Budget development and justification (providing programmatic input and staffing plans)

• Subaward setup and monitoring from a programmatic perspective

• Monitor effort distributions, personnel support, and scope of work for alignment with scientific aims, communicating needed changes to the PIs and Grants Manager

• Coordination with Grants Manager, Departmental, and Central offices by serving as the primary programmatic liaison between:• the lab and Grants Manager for all financial aspects, budget changes, projections, and sponsor reporting

• the Department Administration and HR for all appointments, reappointments, visa-related coordination

• the Office of Sponsored Programs for all submissions, subcontracts, and compliance

• the various Compliance offices for IRB, data privacy, conflict of interest for research-regulatory needs

• the University Research Computing and Data Sciences for onboarding, offboarding, and communicating policies

• Provides the Grant Manager with timely information on staffing plans, anticipated changes in effort, timeline shifts, and major scope changes so that budgets and financial projections can be updated accordingly 

• Participate in regular check-ins with the Grants Manager and relevant administrators to review portfolio status, upcoming deadlines, and operational needs 

Operations, Data Governance & Compliance

• Oversee administrative operations of the lab, including onboarding/offboarding

• Ensure compliance with NIH and institutional policies for human subjects, data-use agreements, privacy/confidentiality

• (including HIPAA where applicable), and data management and sharing

• Maintain organized records of protocols, approvals, data-use and collaboration agreements, training certifications, and conflict-of-interest disclosures

• Assist with preparation for audits, coordinate logistics, briefing materials, and presentations, in collaboration with the Grants Manager where financial information is required

Personnel & Training Support

• Support recruitment, hiring, and appointment processing for research staff, data analysts, statisticians, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate trainees, in partnership with HR and departmental administration

• Help define roles, expectations, and workflows for project teams

• Coordinate training in lab procedures, compliance requirements, and administrative processes; support mentoring activities and professional development (seminars, methods workshops, coding collaboratives)

• Contribute to a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance culture that supports diverse trainees and staff in biostatistics and public health

Communication, Dissemination & Outreach

• Serve as a central point of contact between the PIs/lab and institutional offices, collaborators (e.g., schools of public health, environmental health, medicine), community partners, and sponsors for programmatic and scientific matters

• Coordinate dissemination activities, including maintenance of lab and project websites and public-facing summaries of methods and findings

• Support preparation of manuscripts, methods papers, software documentation, and presentations (e.g., reference management, formatting, figures, reproducible reports, and ensuring compliance with public access policies)

• Help organize talks or workshops as needed

• Represent the research group on school or university committees related to research operations, compliance, or strategic initiatives

The Senior Program Manager will also perform other duties as necessary.

PLEASE NOTE: This position has a term appointment of one year from date of hire with the possibility of extension. It also requires occasional early morning or evening meetings to accommodate collaborators in different time zones or sponsor deadlines.