Academic Program Manager

Job description

Job Function Summary
Involves managing a significant, independent academic or research program. Formulates program strategies and goals. Plans, directs and controls program budget and other related resources.
Generic Scope
Spends the majority of time (50% or more) achieving organizational objectives through the coordinated achievements of subordinate staff. Establishes departmental goals and objectives, functions with autonomy. Manages the accountability and stewardship of human, financial, and often physical resources in compliance with departmental and organizational goals and objectives. Ensures subordinate supervisors and professionals adhere to defined internal controls. Manages systems and procedures to protect departmental assets.
Custom Scope
Independently manages and provides technical direction in conjunction with faculty director for a complex academic or research program of high visibility. Develops the long-term vision and goals, policies and procedures, as well as managing ongoing operations of program(s) and oversees a fairly large operational budget to achieve objectives. Responsible for recruiting and retaining industry leaders to partner with research program in achievement of center goals. Develops and manages a membership program for industry partners. Oversees, through subordinate Academic Program Management Officers, all strategic elements of program administration including establishing program partners. Uses highly specialized expertise in research or academic specific concepts and objectives.
Under general direction of the QBI Director, the Director, QBI-Oncology and Development Strategy establishes, directs, and sustains QBI's oncology research and partnership enterprise. Receives assignments in the form of broad institutional objectives and determines the strategy, methods, and resources required to achieve them. Formulates program policy, priorities, and operating standards for the oncology portfolio.
Holds primary accountability for the program's strategic direction, financial sustainability, personnel, and external partnerships. Secures multi-year funding from philanthropic, federal, and industry sources. Originates and negotiates industry-sponsored research agreements and multi-year research collaborations and advances them through applicable University approval and execution processes. Recruits, supervises, and develops scientific and program staff. Manages program budget and allocates resources across a multi-project portfolio.
The Oncology and Devt. Strategy Director serves as QBI’s principal representative and senior relationship leader with pharmaceutical and biotechnology executives, foundation and philanthropic leaders, governmental organizations, and prospective commercial partners in oncology. The Director independently evaluates opportunities, establishes partnership priorities, and makes recommendations regarding portfolio direction and resource allocation, exercising substantial judgment in matters involving scientific strategy, financial investment, institutional priorities, and external relationships. The Director advises QBI executive leadership on oncology portfolio strategy, investment, and growth and serves as QBI’s principal program representative in strategic partnership discussions involving significant financial, scientific, and reputational considerations for the University.
The Director is responsible for building a durable, high-impact oncology enterprise that advances QBI’s scientific mission, expands its external partnerships and funding base, and creates opportunities for translational research and development.
Department Overview
Who We Are
Established in 2016 the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) is a world class institution focused on breakthrough scientific discoveries and medical treatments based upon highly innovative science and on diverse global cross-sector partnerships, conducted at an unprecedented scale. The institute is comprised of 139 affiliated laboratories. QBI also boasts a robust media, outreach and events presence as the glue that brings all the programs and people together.
What We Do
We are transforming the way science is done by creating and supporting collaborative cross-functional groups who work towards solving some of today’s biggest scientific challenges. QBI has a successful track record in high impact scientific accomplishment and in securing multi-million dollar grants. QBI and UCSF are pioneering a new model of translating science into medicines that fully leverages complementary knowledge and expertise between academia and industry.
How We Work
We work to transform the way science is done. The institute also passionately believes in building a more equitable scientific environment across the globe and toward this goal has built partnerships around the world including in the US, Europe, Africa, China and the Caribbean. We are a very competitive team, and the phrase “not my job”, is not in our philosophy nor in our vocabulary. We believe in working together in-person at the office to foster a culture of creativity and collaboration. As we expand, we continue to look for people who have the ability to think outside the box.
About the existing QBI Team
The QBI team responsibilities range from running the operations of the institute to managing specific science projects and programs. We have people who focus on advocacy, industry relations, international collaborations and the coordination of matching different labs with financial opportunities to work together.
Scientific Program Direction and Insitutional Leadership
Manages the design and development of major research or academic program components and oversees execution of funded programs. Identifies and develops continuance of funding from multiple external sources.
• Establishes QBI-Oncology as a program; directs its scientific strategy, operational execution, and long-term sustainability.
• Formulates program policy, portfolio priorities, and evaluation standards; determines which projects advance, continue, or conclude.
• Defines priority areas for oncology research and translation, including cancer signaling, systems biology, protein interaction networks, therapeutic resistance, and precision oncology.
• Originates new research directions and scientific programs within the oncology portfolio, developing the scientific hypotheses and translational rationale that define them.
• Directs the scientific execution of the research portfolio, setting experimental and analytical strategy and reviewing scientific output across projects.
• Chairs the QBI-Oncology steering committee; reports portfolio performance to QBI executive leadership quarterly.
• Holds accountability for program milestone delivery; resolves scientific, operational, and partnership barriers to execution.
• Advises the QBI Director and executive team on resource allocation, and institutional partnership strategy.
• Cultivates relationships across UCSF departments and institutes, the UC system, and the Bay Area technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem to advance QBI-Oncology's scientific and commercial objectives.

Development and Revenue Generation
Develops and executes strategic plan for financing program activities and ensuring ongoing sustainability of program.
• Manages team to direct the program's development strategy and holds primary accountability for growing its funding base at multi-million-dollar scale.
• Cultivates and stewards relationships with philanthropic funders and foundation principals; develops and submits major proposals.
• Originates and negotiates industry-sponsored research agreements and multi-year collaborations, in coordination with UCSF Innovation Ventures and the Office of Technology Management, and advances them through applicable University approval and execution processes.
• Serves as scientific and business lead on oncology industry partnerships, including agreement scoping, milestone definition, budget negotiation, and partner management.
• Ensures through subordinates that the technical scope, cost structure, and reporting obligations of all program agreements are maintained; serves as the program lead for translating agreement requirements into program strategy.
• Assesses program resource needs and funding gaps, and advises the QBI Director on investment priorities and long-term financial planning to support program strategy and sustainability.

Personnel and Resource Management
Ensures through subordinates varied and competing requirements associated with managing an innovative program in a university and / or government environment.
• Recruits, hires, supervises, and develops 2–4 scientific and program staff; determines staffing strategy and conducts performance management.
• Directs the research of program scientists, setting project priorities, reviewing data and interpretation, and determining scientific next steps.
• Directs cross-functional teams spanning faculty investigators, research staff, computational biologists, proteomics scientists, clinicians, grants administrators, development officers, and innovation staff.
• Advises the QBI Director on program budget planning and resource needs, providing recommendations regarding the allocation of resources across projects, core facility utilization, personnel, and external advisory and vendor relationships.
• Directs cross-functional teams spanning faculty investigators, research staff, computational biologists, clinicians, grants administrators, and innovation staff.
• Provides leadership oversight of staff interfaces with contract research organizations, academic partners, and federal and philanthropic agencies.
• Establishes program operating infrastructure and an external advisory board of 3–5 senior scientific and industry advisors.

Scientific and Commercial Assessment
Plans, directs and controls program budget(s) and manages financial, HR, technical and other supporting resources.
• Directs the program's assessment function, evaluating research assets for translational and commercial potential against the external oncology landscape.
• Determines go/no-go criteria and directs strategy on target selection, indication prioritization, and resistance biology.
• Develops and recommends intellectual property strategy for program-derived assets in coordination with the Office of Technology Management, including disclosure review and licensing assessment.
• Advances assets toward commercialization pathways, including licensing and company formation, with UCSF Innovation Ventures and other entities.
• Directs scientific communications and external positioning that establish QBI-Oncology's institutional visibility with academic, industry, and philanthropic audiences.
• Decisions made independently by this position include: program scientific direction and priority areas; which projects advance, continue, or conclude; hiring and performance management of program staff; allocation of program budget and resources; selection and prioritization of funding and partnership opportunities; and terms proposed in partnership and sponsored research negotiations, subject to standard University execution authority.

Required Qualifications
• Expertise in proteomics, network biology, or related quantitative approaches to therapeutic discovery.
• Demonstrated experience directing research programs and establishing scientific and strategic direction independently.
• Demonstrated experience in commercial or investment assessment of biomedical assets, including scientific diligence, competitive landscape analysis, and evaluation of therapeutic programs for partnership or investment potential.
• Demonstrated experience managing relationships with pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or investment organizations at the executive level.
• Demonstrated success securing research funding from competitive philanthropic, federal, or industry sources.
• Experience supervising staff and managing program budgets.
• Advanced knowledge of oncology therapeutic development, including target discovery, translational research, and the drug development pathway.
• Advanced negotiation, consensus-building, and executive communication skills, including ability to represent complex science to commercial and philanthropic audiences.
• Minimum of six years related experience.
• Minimum of five years project lead, supervisory, or management experience.

Preferred Qualifications
• Experience negotiating industry research agreements or licensing transactions; familiarity with technology transfer and company formation.
• Demonstrated success establishing a research program, function, or organization from inception.

Required Education
• Terminal degree in a related area (PhD, JD, MD, etc.) and / or equivalent experience / training required.