Summary

The Manager, Research Administration - Pre-Award leads the CRA pre-award clinical trial finance function, overseeing the intake, development, and negotiation of study budgets for industry, foundation, and investigator initiated trials. This role manages a team responsible for ensuring accurate, compliant, and financially sustainable budgets aligned with protocol requirements. The position partners with investigators, sponsors, and internal stakeholders to support timely study activation and maximize cost recovery. This role is critical to advancing clinical research operations and supporting innovative therapies for pediatric populations. 

Position is a hybrid role typically working two days a week in office after initial training and onboarding is completed.  Office hours are 8-5pm (+/-1hr) to align with clinical operations.

Employees with CRA certification are eligible for certification pay.

Job Duties

Team Leadership & Operations (20%)

• Directly supervises a team of clinical trial finance professionals responsible for pre-award budgeting activities.
• Establishes workflows, service-level expectations, and performance standards for budget development and turnaround times.
• Manages workload distribution and staff assignments to ensure alignment of study complexity with staff experience levels, prioritizing more complex trials for senior team members while intentionally assigning selected advanced work to junior staff to support structured training, mentorship, and professional development.
• Provides training, mentorship, and continuous performance feedback to staff.
• Ensures consistent adherence to institutional policies, SOPs, and best practices across all pre-award operations

Clinical Trial Budget Development (35%)

• Oversees intake and triage of new clinical trial budget requests.
• Guides development of detailed budgets aligned with clinical protocols and institutional standards.
• Ensures inclusion of all cost components (procedures, research services, pharmacy, ancillary services).
• Validates pricing assumptions and financial methodologies to ensure defensibility and compliance.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Customer Service (15%)

• Serves as a primary liaison between sponsors, investigators, and internal operational teams.
• Leads a responsive, service-oriented approach to support investigators and research stakeholders.
• Collaborates with departments (e.g., Pharmacy, Radiology) to obtain pricing and service inputs.
• Aligns financial feasibility with clinical and research priorities.

Negotiation & Financial Optimization (10%)

• Supports or leads sponsor budget negotiations to achieve fair market value and cost recovery.
• Identifies opportunities to optimize budgets while maintaining study feasibility and compliance.
• Balances financial stewardship with institutional research priorities.

Process Improvement & Reporting (15%)

• Identifies and implements process improvements to enhance efficiency and turnaround time.
• Develops and tracks KPIs (study volume, cycle time, financial performance).
• Provides leadership with financial and operational reports to inform decision-making.

Compliance & Quality Assurance (5%)

• Ensures adherence to regulatory requirements, institutional policies, and sponsor guidelines.
• Maintains audit-ready documentation for all budget development and negotiations.
• Partners with compliance and post-award teams to support seamless study activation. 
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.  Certified Research Administrator certification through the Research Administrators Certification Council (RACC) may substitute for the degree requirement.
• Four years of relevant experience. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree (MBA, MHA) or professional certification (CPA, CCRP)
• Minimum of four years of clinical research finance, budgeting, or research administration experience
• At least two years of supervisory or leadership experience
• Experience in industry-sponsored clinical trials within an academic medical center 
• Experience in clinical trial budgeting, Medicare coverage analysis, and research billing compliance
• Ability to interpret clinical protocols and build detailed financial models
• Strong negotiation, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement capabilities
• High attention to detail and commitment to accuracy and accountability