Project Manager 1 Peer Review

Appointment Type: Full-Time Regular (FTR)

Location: Oak Ridge, TN

*Salary Range: $73,195 – $101,821

PURPOSE: As a Project Manager 1 Peer Review, this position will apply project management expertise to all aspects of managing assigned Peer Review Community of Practice projects including planning, organizing, budgeting, cost control, time schedules, quality assurance, sponsor communications, and staff coordination. The project manager is responsible for ensuring all department and Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) procedures, policies, and regulations are met and maintained within the project. Additionally, the project manager actively manages program development activities for assigned projects. This position participates with other managers and other ORAU staff in planning and developing activities for the department and the broader ORAU organization.

The project manager will be responsible for coordinating a wide range of virtual, in-person, and/or hybrid peer review and scientific meeting activities – postal reviews, panel reviews, workshops, advisory committees, and principal investigator meetings for multiple customers and will serve as point of contact for at least one major customer office.

Personnel Coordination:

• Provides leadership to multiple staff within the department that conveys project directions and assists staff in maximizing their contributions; establishes clear expectations for staff and provides constructive feedback on performance; coaches/mentors/directs staff to develop their potential and enhances productivity and effectiveness; establishes work schedules and priorities; deals directly with any performance problems (refers unresolved issues to supervisor); and ensures that staff understands and follow procedures, policies and guidelines, and regulatory requirements.
• Works collaboratively with other project managers, resource associates, associate managers, and senior managers to ensure adequate staff and resource coverage for all project activities.
• Brings all staffing and resource concerns to the attention of the associate and/or senior manager.
• Clearly communicates requirements of all delegated tasks to ensure all project team support members have clarity of work to be performed.

Project Management:

• For work supported by two or more primary sponsors with similar projects, plans activities and resources to meet customer requirements and agreed upon deliverables; promotes customer focus and meeting customer needs; organizes activities to meet business objectives; maintains frequent customer contact to assure work is acceptable and timely; and identifies and solves problems to maintain and enhance quality customer satisfaction.

Professional and Technical Performance:

• For complex research reviews and other scientific meeting projects, maintains and applies knowledge on the coordination of in-person, virtual, and/or hybrid peer reviews and scientific meetings.
• Understands the policy and directives of the sponsor groups related to reviewer search, conflict of interest and confidentiality, overall peer review procedures, and documentation.
• Understands the overall research cycle per customer organization and applies knowledge to provide technical assistance in each part of the research cycle.
• Provides expert peer review and other scientific meeting support guidance to customers, communicating resource constraints when necessary, and recommending support tools based on customer expressed needs.
• Expert in planning and coordinating in-person, virtual, and/or hybrid research reviews – postal and panel - and scientific meetings including set-up and operation of PeerNet and Portfolio Analysis and Management System (PAMS) and maintaining knowledge and experience with virtual technologies/tools to include facilitation support.

Financial Management:

• Manages to contract specifications and limitations including budget, labor categories, and contracted rates, and scope.
• Prepares budgets and controls expenditures in accordance with the contract requirements and specifications, providing agreed upon deliverables and incorporating department and ORAU requirements.
• Manages the scope of the contract and recognizes and manages scope creep.
• Approves programmatic expenditures as specified in the Delegation of Approval Authority.
• Advises the associate director and/or program director on any funding or expenditure issues.
• Tracks commitments and expenditures at the activity level and reports monthly on the status of overall activity funding and expenditures.

Program Development:

• Demonstrates knowledge about the project, department, and ORAU competencies and promotes teaming within ORAU.
• Supports and contributes to advancing peer review capabilities with AI-driven tools and innovative thinking.
• Identifies and establishes working relationships with potential new customers and new personnel within the customer base.
• Provides input to statements of work and field work proposals.
• Participates on teams to prepare proposals for new work.

Communications:

• Maintains close communications with senior managers and program director on quality assurance, staffing for research review activities, issues and developments related to personnel, sponsors, and other operational activities.
• Provides input to department annual planning and setting of near and long-term goals and objectives.
• Works closely with counterparts in ORAU Business Operations to ensure smooth operations and timely delivery of products.

Bachelor's degree in business, scientific, technical, education or related field and 4-6 years of job-related experience. An equivalent combination of education and experience requiring similar knowledge, skills, abilities, and performing duties as described may be substituted for the minimum requirements.

• Experience leading the planning and coordination of peer and merit reviews for competitive research grants or formalized reviews of work products is preferred.
• Experience taking customer requirements for a peer or merit review and tailoring PeerNet and other technology tools to meet the needs of the review is preferred.
• Experience establishing a productive meeting environment and managing the on-site or virtual review process including giving presentations (face-to-face and virtual) to reviewers and sponsors on review procedures, coordinating and facilitating final report/deliverable writing, and mitigating and managing conflict of interest within the review.
• Experience developing and managing reviews in all phases of the design and conduct of postal and panel review meetings – design review processes, establish a productive meeting environment, deal with conflict of interest, design and deliver reports, and provide logistical assistance.
• Knowledge of the peer review process in order to advise customers and apply it to different review types, required review outcomes, customer’s goals, and contract types.
• Ability to adapt processes to each customer’s policies and directives. In some instances, the project manager serves as the review subject matter expert and advises customers on how to implement and construct their peer review program.
• Knowledge of conflict of interest (COI), non-disclosure agreements (NDA) and confidentiality as they apply and impact each phase of the peer review is preferred.
• Ability to manage complex projects.
• Ability to manage budgets, scope, schedules, milestones, and deliverables.
• Ability to understand the overall research cycle per customer organization and apply knowledge to provide technical assistance in each part of the research cycle.
• Knowledge in planning and coordinating in-person, virtual, and/or hybrid research reviews – postal and panel - and other scientific meetings, and in the set-up and operation of PeerNet and other web-based systems used to support peer reviews is preferred.
• Experience and skill to use and support a variety of virtual conferencing tools.

*The candidate’s starting salary will be determined upon hire and ORAU will use salary survey data, internal comparators, and the candidate’s qualifications to determine salary.

TOTAL REWARDS:

ORAU has a strategic approach to providing total rewards to employees through a fair, equitable, and competitive total compensation package. The goal of our total rewards system is to integrate compensation, benefits, work-life balance, performance, recognition, development, and career opportunities to attract, engage, and retain the talent required to achieve ORAU’s business objectives. The benefit component of our total rewards program supports business goals by offering the following benefits based on employee eligibility:

• Legally required benefits
• Group Health insurance including: Medical, Prescription, Dental, and Vision
• Retirement plan contribution matching
• Disability insurance
• Group life insurance
• Travel Accident Insurance
• Section 125 reimbursement accounts
• Other voluntary employee paid benefit and insurance offerings

The ORAU total reward package also promotes work-life balance. Mindful of the need for employees to care for themselves and their families, ORAU offers the following additional work-life benefits based on employee eligibility:

• Telework
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Paid Holidays
• Flexible work schedules or compressed work weeks
• Occupational Health and Wellness Programs
• Employee Assistance Program