Research Manager

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research organization at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations.

IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which are cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members.

IHME has an outstanding opportunity for a Research Manager on the Environmental, Occupational, and Dietary (EOD) Risk Factors team as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) study.

POSITION PURPOSE

The GBD is a systematic, scientific effort to quantify the comparative magnitude of health loss due to diseases, injuries, and risk factors by age, sex, and geography over time, and is the largest and most comprehensive effort to date to measure epidemiological levels and trends worldwide. The GBD’s aim is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base to make decisions that achieve better health. This position will support environmental risk factors such as air pollution and climate, dietary risk factors such as vegetable and red meat consumption, and other risk factors on the EOD team.

The Research Manager provides management and supervision within the assigned research teams and portfolio. Working with the research team leader, this individual helps drive effective resource allocation, team building, and coordination that result in the production of estimates and interim deliverables. The individual must be agile in managing complexities and demonstrate the ability to look across competing intellectual and practical considerations to assess trade-offs. The incumbent has high intellectual agility and deft strategic planning skills to push the team to meet high-pressure deadlines for research deliverables. The Research Manager is a key driver in the performance, quality, and efficiency required to routinely produce high-quality, policy-relevant health indicators for their teams.

This position is contingent upon project funding availability, and currently has funding through at least the end of June 2027.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Research command

• Thorough command of the relevant research teams’ intellectual underpinnings, main goals, and the data, methods, and analytic approaches that achieve them. The Research Manager exhibits an astute understanding of the material presented in journal articles, policy reports, and presentations that result from the projects on which they work.
• As a knowledgeable resource on a teams’ intellectual substance, the individual will be integrally involved with helping the teams achieve the goals of their projects in their myriad details. This individual must understand complexities of the analytic process itself while being aware of deadlines imposed as part of the larger research portfolio’s mandate.
• Demonstrate a command of the computational, diagnostic, and data needs of the teams and the associated competencies, skills, and resources required to achieve deliverables.
• Provide input to proposals and make recommendations for resource needs on proposed projects with the team leader.

Team facilitation

• Work with faculty, researchers, and staff to set intellectual agendas and translate them into action plans that can be implemented effectively across multiple project participants.
• Manage workflow components within the team(s), ensuring clear coordination on data identification, transformation, storage, analysis, diagnostics, critique, and presentation. Help to achieve continual improvements to efficiency and performance and ensure timely completion of key milestones.
• For specific projects centered within a given team, monitor allocation of resources and make recommendations to the Team Lead or manager on how to allocate people to achieve the best results.
• Produce and review study materials including project training materials, presentations, and scientific progress reports in consultation with senior researchers and others as needed.
• Expertly carry out communications, relationship building, and project management with faculty and senior leaders from governmental, nonprofit, research, academic, and donor organizations to attain project goals and facilitate productive collaboration.
• Help to manage donor relationships, write donor reports, and prepare presentations.
• Organize and support research team meetings to coordinate deadlines and address issues and/or problems.
• Assist the Team Lead in annual goal-setting and scoping processes. Coordinate consultation with other team members.
• Facilitate assessment of data, methods, and results with colleagues and collaborators.

Supervisory/Management

• Supervise employees to include hiring and training; leading workflow; priority setting; reviewing work and establishing quality standards; conducting regular performance assessments, providing mentorship and professional development for employees, and making recommendations for disciplinary action as needed.
• Identify training needs and opportunities for team members to grow their skills and advance their careers; ensure that the team has the necessary resources to complete their tasks effectively.
• Promote positive morale and positive progress towards objectives across all teams; lead effective and efficient team meetings that are structured, inclusive of consultation and constructive feedback, and result in identifiable next steps for team members.
• Keep team members motivated and engaged, recognizing their achievements, and addressing any issues that may affect morale.
• Monitor individual and team performance, providing feedback, and helping to resolve any performance issues; assist the team in overcoming obstacles, making decisions, and resolving conflicts.
• Ensure that the team adheres to company policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
• Attend required trainings about team leadership, management, and related topics as designated by ODT and the IHME Director.

Other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in public health, business administration, public administration, data sciences, or related field plus 4-5 years of related project management experience in a highly complex scientific environment, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Previous supervisory experience with hiring, developing employees, priority setting, setting quality standards, and performance coaching.
• Previous project management and relationship management experience; organized and detail-oriented, with an ability to work both independently and collaboratively to achieve objectives.
• Demonstrated outstanding intellectual capability and knowledge of global health and development issues. Strong desire and ability to learn intellectual content to facilitate highly complex scientific projects.
• Demonstrated record of oral and written communication skills with multiple audiences required.
• Adept diplomacy and exemplary interpersonal skills required. Must be agile at forming respectful and rewarding relationships with people with different levels of experience and expertise from a variety of cultural, linguistic, and professional settings.
• Exceptional listening skills and ability to relate to, influence, and coach employees of all levels in the organization.
• Experience supervising and developing employees who are high-performing, collaborative, and mission- and goal-oriented.
• Experience in one or more of the following: coordinating computational and analytic processes; designing and giving training in the social sciences; coordinating systematic reviews and other research-related tasks; facilitating research production activities; organizing and assessing data and results on a large scale.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced and collaborative environment to manage multiple priorities while coordinating resources needed to meet deadlines.
• A commitment to working to alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: https://www.healthdata.org/about/mission-vision/DEI

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• Weekend and evening work sometimes required.
• This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the U.S.
• Working internationally is only allowed for IHME sponsored work that requires in-country participation.
• Office is located in Seattle, Washington. This position is eligible to work fully remote in the US; work schedule required to overlap 50% of IHME office hours, between 8am and 6pm Pacific Time, as agreed upon between employee and supervisor.

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

The University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu.