Senior Research Operations Manager Cancer Service Line Supportive Services

Benefits: All full-time university staff are eligible for
VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health
benefits, paid annual and holiday leave granted up front, generous
tuition benefits, retirement planning and savings options,
tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts,
well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development
and advancement, and more.

• Continuing education for undergraduate and graduate tuition for

a maximum of 6 credits per semester;

• Professional development opportunities encouraged and offered

for employees as part of annual career development, e.g.
certifications, seminars, courses, annual conferences,
mentorship;

• 28 Vacation Days, 12+ State Holidays, and 4 Days to

volunteer;

• Medical, Dental and Vision Health Benefits to meet the needs of

employees and their eligible family members from the Commonwealth
of Virginia as well as optional FSA;

• Participation in the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) and other

retirement saving options;

• Parental and Caregiver Leave, Short Term Disability (STD),

Disability Insurance, Voluntary Long Term Care Insurance, and
Employee Assistance Program.

Unit: Massey Comprehensive Cancer Ctr MBU

Department: Massey Central Admin

Department Summary: Massey Comprehensive Cancer
Center

Mission: To reduce the state cancer burden for all Virginians by
addressing the confluence between biological, social, and policy
drivers through high-impact, cutting-edge research; person-centered
care across the continuum, from prevention through survivorship;
community integration; and training the next generation of
community-centric researchers and healthcare professionals

Vision: To be a premier community-focused cancer center leading the
nation in cancer health equity research and ensuring optimal health
outcomes for all

Why
Richmond?

Duties & Responsibilities:

The Senior Operations Research Manager provides senior-level
operational leadership for the Cancer Service Line research
portfolio, with primary support for survivorship, palliative care,
cancer genetics, integrative health, food and nutrition
initiatives, and external partnerships. Reporting to the Medical
Director of Cancer Service Line Supportive Services, the position
develops and sustains the regulatory, project-management, data,
grant, and evaluation infrastructure needed to advance high-quality
clinical, health-services, implementation-science, and
community-engaged research.

This role functions as a senior project director and subject-matter
expert. It exercises independent judgment on complex operational
and compliance matters; leads long-range planning; manages
concurrent studies and sponsored initiatives; and converts program
data into actionable findings, executive reporting, scholarly
products, and opportunities for continued funding. The position
works across clinical departments, Massey Comprehensive Cancer
Center, institutional research offices, analytics teams, community
organizations, sponsors, and other external collaborators.

Job duties include but are not limited to:

• Research strategy and infrastructure — 20%: Design,

implement, and continuously improve standardized research
operations across the Cancer Service Line. Establish project
charters, work plans, standard operating procedures, governance
structures, study start-up processes, regulatory and milestone
trackers, quality controls, communication plans, and closeout
procedures. Conduct post-project learning reviews and disseminate
best practices.

• Research portfolio and regulatory oversight — 20%:

Coordinate the full lifecycle of investigator-initiated, sponsored,
quality-improvement, and program-evaluation projects. Facilitate
protocol development, IRB submissions, amendments, continuing
reviews, adverse-event workflows, monitoring readiness, and
regulatory correspondence. Promote compliance with VCU
requirements, Good Clinical Practice, and applicable FDA, NIH,
OHRP, sponsor, and privacy requirements.

• Sponsored programs and financial stewardship — 15%: Lead

operational planning for grant applications and funded awards,
including scopes of work, timelines, staffing plans, deliverables,
reporting calendars, budget development and monitoring, purchasing,
effort and resource allocation, and risk escalation. Partner with
pre-award and post-award offices to support accurate submissions,
compliant spending, timely reporting, and sustainability
planning.

• Data, analytics, and evaluation — 15%: Develop

data-capture plans, research databases, data dictionaries,
participant-tracking systems, and program-evaluation frameworks.
Collaborate with Epic and institutional analytics partners to
translate clinical workflows and service-line data into reliable
dashboards, quality metrics, outcome reports, and research
datasets. Apply quantitative and qualitative methods appropriate to
the project and communicate limitations early.

• Project and people leadership — 10%: Lead

multidisciplinary project teams and facilitate effective team
meetings. Define responsibilities, task lists, schedules,
dependencies, and short- and long-term resource plans. Supervise or
provide functional direction to research and program staff; support
hiring, onboarding, training, performance management, protocol
competency, and accountability for results.

• Partnerships and community engagement — 10%: Serve as an

operational liaison among supportive services, Massey research
infrastructure, clinical departments, university offices, sponsors,
and community partners. Support multi-site studies, collaborative
agreements, patient- and community-engaged research, and
initiatives addressing nutrition, food access, health disparities,
and other determinants of cancer outcomes.

• Scholarly dissemination — 5%: Support and contribute to

abstracts, manuscripts, conference presentations, grant narratives,
annual reports, and other dissemination products. Help faculty and
teams convert operational and clinical program results into
rigorous, publishable scholarship.

• Strategic reporting and change management — 5%: Prepare

concise briefings, presentations, decision memos, and executive
reports for Cancer Service Line leadership and other stakeholders.
Identify changes in scope, timeline, resources, technology, or
compliance requirements; assess operational impact; and lead
appropriate mitigation and change-management activities.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications

• The ideal candidate must have a PhD or have completed their PhD

in health administration, biomedical sciences, or a related field,
within 12 months of their hire date or at least seven years of
progressively responsible experience in clinical research
operations, academic research administration, sponsored program
management, health program operations, or an equivalent combination
of education, training, and experience.

• Demonstrated responsibility for full-cycle research operations,

including protocol development, IRB processes, human-subject
protections, regulatory documentation, study activation,
monitoring, data collection, and study closeout.

• Experience managing complex sponsored initiatives, including

budgets, purchasing, resource allocation, compliance, milestone
tracking, and sponsor or institutional reporting.

• Demonstrated project-management expertise, including

development of work plans, schedules, budgets, communication plans,
risk controls, and change-management strategies for multiple
concurrent initiatives.

• Experience supervising, training, mentoring, or providing

functional leadership to research or program personnel.

• Experience with research data management, program evaluation,

and quantitative or qualitative analysis; ability to collect,
interpret, and communicate findings to clinical, community, and
senior leadership audiences.

• Strong written and oral communication skills, demonstrated

through grants, technical or executive reports, presentations,
manuscripts, or peer-reviewed publications.

• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively

across clinical, academic, administrative, analytics, and community
settings while fostering respect, professionalism, and civility
among people with varied backgrounds and experiences.

• Prior experience with grant submissions and peer-reviewed

publications.

• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of

respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty,
staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a
commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in health sciences or a related field;

candidates who are actively enrolled and expected to complete the
degree within six months of hire may be considered.

• Research or program-operations experience in oncology, cancer

supportive services, survivorship, palliative care, cancer
genetics, integrative health, nutrition, food access, or health
disparities

• Experience in an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center or

academic medical center and familiarity with cancer-center research
and accreditation environments.

• Experience with Epic, REDCap or comparable clinical research

platforms, institutional analytics tools, statistical software, or
dashboard development.

• Record of peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, abstracts,

conference presentations, or substantive contributions to funded
research.

• Experience establishing and maintaining partnerships with

community-based organizations, healthcare vendors, advocacy groups,
or national professional organizations.

• Formal training in biostatistics, program evaluation,

implementation science, or project management; PMP certification is
preferred but not required.

• Advanced proficiency in Spanish or another language relevant to

patient- and community-engaged research is valued but not
required.

Salary Range: Starting at $119,000.00 Commensurate with
experience.

VCU is committed to hiring veterans! VCU will include a veteran’s
period(s) of military service in the calculation of their annual
leave accrual rate. This may provide veterans with an increased
leave accrual!

Please let us know if you were referred by a current Massey
employee to ensure we honor our commitment to the Employee Referral
Program.

Position will remain open until filled. Applications received
by October 28th, 2026 will be given priority
consideration.

FLSA Exemption Status: Exempt

Hours per Week: 40

Restricted Position: No

ORP Eligible: Yes

Flexible Work Arrangement: Hybrid

University Job Title: 91927 - Open

Contact Information: MasseyHR@vcu.edu
Contact Name:
Callie Darling