Research Project Manager

Globl Hlth and Infect Disease-427801

Research Professionals

09/24/2025

10/08/2025

No

Permanent Staff (EHRA NF)

Research Project Manager

EHRA Non-Faculty

20073188

NF0009299

Full-Time Permanent

1

40

North Carolina, US

$82,100 - $140,000

09/29/2025

Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others whom we serve. We accomplish this by providing leadership and excellence in the interrelated areas of patient care, education and research.

Patient care: We promote health and provide superb clinical care while maintaining our strong tradition of reaching underserved populations and reducing health disparities across North Carolina and beyond.

Education: We prepare tomorrow`s healthcare professionals and biomedical researchers from all backgrounds by facilitating learning within innovative and integrated curricula and team-oriented interprofessional education to ensure a highly skilled workforce.

Research: We develop and support a rich array of outstanding health sciences research programs, centers and resources. We provide infrastructure and opportunities for collaboration among disciplines throughout and beyond our university to support outstanding research. We foster programs in the areas of basic, translational, mechanistic and population research.

The UNC HIV Cure Center aims to discover, develop, and implement new treatments leading to the cure for HIV infection. The Cure Center also collaborates with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as with researchers at national and international academic institutions. The HIV Cure Center seeks a Director of Operations (DOO).

The Director of Operations works in partnership with the Director of the HIV Cure Center, Dr David Margolis. The Director of Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for the HIV Cure Center, focused on advancing scientific discoveries into clinical solutions for HIV cure research. This position is responsible for overseeing daily operations, financial management, regulatory compliance, program development, and cross-functional coordination to ensure the efficient execution of the Center’s mission. The Director serves as a key liaison between faculty, research teams, industry partners, federal and other funders, and university administration, facilitating alignment of resources, timelines, and objectives.

A primary initial focus for the DOO will be coordination and management of clinical progression and regulatory compliance for a lead HIV cure drug candidate, the management of internal funds for that effort, and strategic work on potential future investment in this asset. This is a unique opportunity for an individual with entrepreneurial and operational expertise to advance a lead molecule asset into human clinical trials.

The DOO oversees the administration of the grant management system and reporting to ensure appropriate stewardship of awarded funds. The DOO will assist the Director in human resources management of the center, which will include, but not be limited to, recruitment, performance management, training, etc. The Director of Operations will oversee the coordination and management of the Cure Center’s research and clinical portfolio, as well as research collaborations. This includes communication with collaborators, meeting organization and logistics, management of the IP portfolio, and management of agreements.

Relevant post-Baccalaureate degree required (or foreign degree equivalent); for candidates demonstrating comparable independent research productivity, will accept a relevant Bachelor’s degree (or foreign degree equivalent) and 3 or more years of relevant experience in substitution. May require terminal degree and licensure.

The candidate for the DOO position must have: at least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in research operations, program management, or related field, preferably in pharmaceutical and/or biomedical research; demonstrated leadership experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives; experience in HIV research, clinical trials, or translational medicine; strong knowledge of research funding mechanisms, grants administration, and industry partnerships; familiarity with regulatory requirements, compliance frameworks, and intellectual property considerations in translational biomedical research; proven ability to manage budgets exceeding $5M annually; exceptional interpersonal, negotiation, and communication skills.

The Director of Operations (DOO) needs to have experience, be creative, and be a dynamic leader with superior interpersonal and problem-solving skills. The DOO needs to have well-developed attributes of professionalism, leadership, communication (verbal and written), presentation abilities, and exceptional organizational and time management skills. Needs to have the ability to work both independently with little supervision as well as collaboratively in this very dynamic research environment. Needs to have the proven ability to analyze and integrate information from diverse disciplines, as well as a demonstrated ability to master new concepts.

Demonstrated experience in the acquisition and management of funding from a variety of sources, which may include both private and federal. Scientific productivity and expertise with multi-investigator collaborations, previous experience managing an advanced HIV therapeutics research program and/or therapeutic development of clinical assets, and Knowledge and experience with NIH grants and the UNC system regulations.