Senior Project Manager

GENERAL SUMMARY/ OVERVIEW STATEMENT:

The Center for Aging and Serious Illness (CASI), a research unit within the Mass General Mongan Institute and Division of Palliative Care and Geriatric Medicine, seeks a master's or doctoral-prepared professional with experience in multi-site projects to serve as the Project Director for Health Care Delivery Science Programs. This dual-role position involves (1) serving as Project Director for comparative effectiveness trials focused on older adults with complex care needs; and (2) overseeing a national learning network dedicated to advancing home-based primary care for homebound older adults.

The Project Director will work with a multidisciplinary team from Massachusetts General Hospital and partner with institutions across the U.S. to improve patient and caregiver outcomes for high-risk older adults (ages 65+) with chronic and serious health conditions. Responsibilities include the oversight of research study administration, research program operations, training staff, and directing study recruitment staff at other sites.

The ideal candidate will be dedicated to improving care delivery for older adults, who has excellent organizational and communication skills, and who has prior experience in planning, overseeing, and effectively implementing large-scale projects and/or pragmatic clinical trials in the healthcare sector. The incumbent must be able to lead teams across multiple settings and have the demonstrated ability to address complex challenges in environments with diverse stakeholder groups. They must have knowledge of health systems with a focus on outpatient and community settings. They will have exemplary organizational and project management skills, verbal and written communication skills, knowledge of multi-site clinical trials organizational and regulatory requirements, experience developing and communicating study protocols within a multi-team operation, and the ability to direct and oversee the creation of study protocols and adherence to all regulatory requirements.

The Mass General Hospital Division of Palliative Care & Geriatric Medicine is committed to providing the highest quality care to our patients and their families in a respectful, efficient, and safe environment; to communicate openly and directly; and to recognize and value the contributions of every individual. We are dedicated to advancing the diagnosis and treatment of disease through research and education. We strive for innovation, work as a team, and lead by example.

Please submit a resume and a cover letter describing your training and experience in clinical research and/or clinical research education program support.

For more information regarding our research center, please visit https://www.mghagingandseriousillness.org/

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Research Program Management:

• Work with clinical trial leadership and research assistants alike to manage two large study programs, orchestrating competing priorities, deadlines, and workload in a group with 20+ investigators and stakeholders.
• Supervise, coach, and develop research assistants, including:
  
  
  
  • Provide daily oversight and direction.
  • Meet at least weekly with the research team.
  • Facilitate career development opportunities.
  • Lead annual performance review processes.
  
  
  
  
• Work with the research team to recruit new team members as needed and facilitate recruitment efforts at collaborating sites including job description development, posting employment opening advertisements in setting-appropriate channels, screening applicants, and interviewing selected candidates.
• Meet regularly with programmatic leadership to discuss strategic planning, opportunities to enhance operations, and management approaches.
• Ensure research integrity, including data documentation and data management, by developing best practices, provide ongoing training, and monitoring for adherence.
• Monitor personnel resource allocations and advise research leadership on factors affecting delivery of milestones.

Administrative Management:

• Coordinate all administrative aspects of multiple data, programmatic, and clinical sites.
• Plan for and meet project goals, deliverables, tasks, timeline, and research team.
• Throughout project duration, plan, track, and report on project tasks, responsible parties, timelines, etc.
• Delegate project tasks among project teams
• Proactively take steps to help others move forward, whether it is planning project-specific meetings, getting people to make decisions, bringing in additional resources, etc.
• Ensure research quality by closely monitoring adherence to research protocols.
• Serve as a liaison between team members at various US collaborative research sites.
• In conjunction with other relevant staff, coordinate and monitor Institutional Review Board applications and reporting for sites, including all applicable review dates and deadlines to prevent lapses in approval.
• Serve as the liaison between the MGB Human Subjects Research Committee and the Single IRB (sIRB) and ethics boards to ensure complete, accurate, and consistent regulatory submissions.
• Create and maintain project management platforms (AirTable)
• Support design of data collection processes, data collection forms, extraction and uploading of datasets, and creation of reports in collaboration with the Data Coordinating Center.

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES REQUIRED:

Planning, Organizing and Coordinating

• Skilled in identifying opportunities to improve efficiency of research operations and subsequently execute improvements.
• Time management skills with the capability to prioritize among multiple requests from multiple individuals and the ability to change direction in response to a fluctuating work environment.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy in managing timelines, budgets, and study milestones.
• Ability to monitor site performance and address site-specific issues proactively to ensure smooth operations.

Team Management

• Ability to work successfully in a collaborative environment.
• Ability to manage diverse teams with different skillsets, work styles, and professional roles.
• Capable of training and mentoring team members in best practices for clinical trial operations and regulatory compliance.
• Experience in managing remote teams and ensuring consistent communication and accountability across sites.
• Results Oriented and Initiative DrivenHigh personal work standards and sense of urgency about results
• Ability to anticipate the needs of the group in a fast-paced environment.
• Problem-solving ability, including the ability to gather information, identify resources, and imagine alternatives.
• Skilled at assessing trial progression and identifying necessary adjustments to ensure project success.
• Demonstrates initiative and identifies key priorities, even in ambiguous situations with limited direction.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and within short time constraints.
• Consistently demonstrates a positive, "can-do" attitude.
• Persistent focus on achieving or exceeding project goals, maintaining high productivity standards even in a challenging environment.

Communication Skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Expertise in cross-functional communication
• Ability to clarify and distill complex issues to a variety of stakeholders with varying expertise.
• Cognizant and respectful of cultural differences in communication approach
• An ability to build strong relationships, read a room, and influence people at all levels.
• Ability to represent the CASI with the utmost professionalism and ability to build strong relationships inside and outside the team.

Analytical Skills and Problem-Solving Skills

• Intellectual curiosity and willingness to learn.
• Strong data management and analytical skills for tracking study performance, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Rigorous academic and/or professional background including clinical or research work.
• Basic familiarity with health outcomes/epidemiology research and/or clinical trials

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:

• The candidate will be responsible for providing daily supervision, guidance, and expertise for research staff.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY:

• Develop and implement complex multi-site, multi-year budgets with Center Director and Co-Investigators.
• Collaborates with grants management to monitor project expenses and projections
• Completes documentation and submits charges for reimbursement in a timely manner.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree required.
• Doctoral degree highly desirable
• Experience/training in health service research and/or implementation science highly desirable

Highly preferred for applicant to include both a resume and cover letter

Massachusetts General Hospital is an Affirmative Action Employer. By embracing diverse skills, perspectives and ideas, we choose to lead. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, military service, genetic information, and/or other status protected under law. We will ensure that all individuals with a disability are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.