Program Manager - Onsite, Nashville Rheumatology & Immunology

Discover Vanderbilt Health: With eight hospitals and over 180 clinics, we are the region’s largest comprehensive academic health system. Vanderbilt Health has a long tradition of providing world-class care to the people of the Mid-South, living out our mission of moving medicine forward through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. Here you’ll find a spirit of collaboration and a supportive community where your expertise is valued, your knowledge expanded and your uniqueness celebrated. We are committed to fostering an environment where talented, compassionate people are united in bringing the most advanced care to our neighbors throughout the region.

Organization:

DE/RH Admin Core

Job Summary:

Organization:
Rheumatology & Immunology

Job Summary:
The Division of Rheumatology and Immunology is seeking a Program Manager to serve as a central operational partner for the division’s research, education, and academic programs. Working closely with the Division Director, Division Administrator, faculty, fellowship leadership, clinical leadership, and institutional partners, the Program Manager will coordinate the systems, schedules, documents, and communications needed to support a growing academic division.

This position is the division’s primary operational point person for research administration and will support both basic scientists and physician-scientists across their research portfolios. The Program Manager will monitor grant activity, coordinating contract and agreement workflows, maintain clear ownership of deadlines and action items, facilitate timely handoffs, and use standardized shared tracking and document-management processes, and ensure timely completion of administrative requirements across the research enterprise.

On-site requirement: The Program Manager is required to work on-site a minimum of four days each week. Additional on-site presence may be required based on faculty or trainee needs, guest visits, division events, space coordination, and other operational priorities. Regular office presence is an essential function of the role because the position coordinates research and education strategy, facilitates real-time communication, and serves as a visible point of contact across the division.

This is an office-centered program-management role. A minimum of four full days per week on-site is required to support research and education coordination, faculty and trainee access, grants-management communication, event and visitor logistics, and day-to-day operational needs. Any remote work arrangement must remain consistent with this minimum on-site requirement and operational needs of the division.

Key Responsibilities:

Research Portfolio, Grants, and Research Agreements

·       Oversee administrative coordination of research portfolios for the division’s basic scientists and physician-scientists, maintaining visibility of active and planned submissions, awards, reporting milestones, financial-review needs, personnel/effort issues, and closeout requirements.

·       Serve as the division’s primary contact person for coordination with T32 leadership, Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) pre-award; OSP post-award and IPA coordination and Clinical Trials Invoicing - while maintaining appropriate communication with the Division Director, Division Administrator and Principal Investigators.

·       Maintain a standardized shared grant tracker with the responsible owner, internal and sponsor deadlines, status, required next action, reporting milestones, and unresolved issues for each sponsored project.

·       Establish and maintain formal reminder and follow-up workflows for grant submissions, Just-in-Time requests, RPPRs and other reports, award actions, effort-related requirements, invoicing or receivable questions, and closeout activities.

·       Support routine review of grant financial and burn-rate status by ensuring that required information and follow-up items are visible to the appropriate PI, Division Administrator, OSP/post-award partners, and other responsible parties. The Program Manager coordinates the process but does not replace institutional financial or compliance authority.

·       Maintain current reusable research documents and shared resources, such as Facilities and Equipment documents, and supporting documents when appropriate, templates, institutional information, and other commonly requested grant materials.

·       Serve as the division's central coordinator for research-related agreements, including MTAs, DUAs, CDAs, service agreements, and other research contracts. Track status, facilitate required institutional reviews and signatures, coordinate communications among investigators and institutional offices, maintain records of executed agreements, and proactively follow up to prevent delays.

·        Coordinate communication among faculty, OSP, financial and invoicing partners, and division leadership; document unresolved items and escalate issues when deadlines, financial issues, or responsibilities are unclear.

·       Develop standard operating procedures for recurring research-administration processes.

·       Coordinate onboarding of new research personnel with respect to project assignments, effort documentation, and required research training.

Research and Education Strategy Coordination

·       Partner with the Division Director and Division Administrator to coordinate operational implementation of the division’s research and education strategy and growth priorities.

·       Communicate at least weekly with the Clinical Director and Fellowship Program Director(s) to identify upcoming needs, deadlines, scheduling issues, faculty or trainee activities, and items requiring division-level coordination.

·       Maintain calendars and calendar invitations for recurring and strategic division meetings, research and education activities, faculty meetings, program reviews, and other assigned events; ensure invitations contain accurate logistics, materials, and updates.

·       Facilitate communication and scheduling for faculty serving as society leads or in major professional-society roles, including coordination of meetings, deadlines, visiting speakers, and division activities related to those responsibilities.

·       Support coordination of trainee and faculty research activities, educational programming, and cross-functional initiatives that require communication among investigators, clinical leaders, fellowship leadership, and administrative partners.

Faculty, Guest, and Division Program Coordination

·       Organize guest, recruiting, and visiting-professor visits, including invitations, itineraries, faculty meetings, conference schedules, rooms, audiovisual needs, meals or related logistics, and communication with hosts and guests.

·       Coordinate division events, retreats, research or education conferences, faculty activities, recruitment-related events, and other special programs from planning through execution and follow-up.

·       Manage division space requests and related coordination, maintaining visibility of office, research, meeting, and shared-space needs and working with the Division Administrator and appropriate institutional partners to resolve requests.

·       Manage reimbursement requests and associated documentation for assigned faculty, guests, trainees, and division activities in accordance with institutional requirements; track outstanding submissions and resolve missing information promptly.

Process Management, Communication, and Continuous Improvement

·       Use standardized workflows, checklists, shared calendars, trackers, and centralized document repositories for recurring research and education processes so that critical information remains accessible to the division rather than dependent on one individual’s email or files.

·       For high-risk or deadline-driven activities, clearly identify who is responsible for preparing, reviewing, approving, executing, and monitoring the action; and confirm completion.

·       Reduce unnecessary waiting, duplicate tracking, repeated follow-up, rework, and time spent searching for documents by maintaining a single reliable source of current process information whenever feasible.

·       Maintain formal transition and handoff documentation when responsibility changes, including open grant actions, deadlines, pending reimbursements, scheduled events, research documents, and unresolved issues.

·       Prepare concise status reports or dashboards for division leadership that identify upcoming deadlines, overdue actions, research-portfolio risks, grant-management issues, and items requiring escalation or leadership decisions.

·       Participate in continuous process improvement and monitor practical measures such as on-time completion of required actions, tracking completeness, overdue items, documentation completeness, and completion of expected financial/burn-rate reviews.

General Administrative Responsibilities

·       Serve as an accessible on-site resource for faculty, staff, trainees, and institutional partners and route questions to the appropriate administrative or institutional resource when specialized authority is required.

·       Maintain confidentiality and appropriately handle sensitive faculty, trainee, research, financial, and personnel information.

·       Attend division and departmental meetings as assigned and complete other program-management responsibilities necessary to support the division’s research, education, and academic missions.

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Preferred Skills & Experience
·       Bachelor’s degree and relevant program-management, research-administration, academic, or health care experience required; equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered in accordance with institutional requirements.

·       Experience in an academic medical center, sponsored research environment, or complex health care organization strongly preferred.

·       Demonstrated ability to manage multiple deadlines and portfolios, coordinate across organizational boundaries, maintain accurate shared tracking systems, and communicate effectively with faculty and institutional partners.

·       Working knowledge of sponsored-research administration and NIH grant processes preferred, including familiarity with common grant documents, pre-award and post-award workflows, reporting milestones, and research financial coordination.

·       Strong organizational judgment, follow-through, attention to detail, interpersonal communication, and ability to identify and escalate risks before deadlines are missed.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Oversees the creation, coordination and execution of the program.
• Provides budgetary management to the program.
• Provides training and guidance for individuals supporting the program.
• Promotes growth and expansion of the program.
• The responsibilities listed are a general overview of the position and additional duties may be assigned.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES
• Program Management (Intermediate): Planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific program goals and objectives.
• Financial Processes (Intermediate): Ability to monitor costs, expenses and revenue as well as the ability to manage those costs and expenses in relation to budgeted amounts.
• Process Improvement (Intermediate): Identifies, analyzes and improves upon existing business processes for optimization and to meet standards of quality.
• Peer Leadership (Intermediate): The ability to show leadership and influence people of equal rank in an effort to accomplish team goals.
• Networking (Intermediate): Build relationships through industry contacts, professional organizations and individuals.
• Quality Management (Intermediate): Developing a systematic process of checking to see whether a process or service is meeting specific requirements.

Our professional administrative functions include critical supporting roles in information technology and informatics, finance, administration, legal and community affairs, human resources, communications and marketing, development, facilities, and many more.

At our growing health system, we support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at Vanderbilt Health for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose.

Core Accountabilities:

Organizational Impact: Executes job responsibilities with the understanding of how output would affect and impact other areas related to own job area/team with occasional guidance. Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Analyzes moderately complex problems using technical experience and judgment. Breadth of Knowledge: Has expanded knowledge gained through experience within a professional area. Team Interaction: Provides informal guidance and support to team members.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues:- Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas.- Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships.- Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences. Delivering Excellent Services:- Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them.- Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions.- Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly.- Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure.- Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area.- Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities. Fostering Innovation:- Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches.- Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges.- Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level:

3 years

Education:

Bachelor's

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth.

Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity.  EOE/Vets/Disabled.