Research Program Director III

The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

PHI was distinguished as one of the top 50 "Best Non-Profit Organizations to Work For" by the Non-Profit Times in a national search.

SUMMARY:

The Research Program Director (RPD) provides scientific, strategic, and operational leadership for the MindScope Institute for NeuroAI - a translational research program focused on biomedical informatics, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI) to discover computable biomarkers for neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism, learning disabilities), neurological (e.g., epilepsy), and psychiatric disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression) in children and adolescents. Under PHI fiscal sponsorship, the Director serves as Principal Investigator (PI), key personnel or Co-Investigator on grants; builds and sustains multi-institution collaborations; oversees personnel, budgets, and compliance; and leads responsible, ethical AI innovation for pediatric healthcare.

The RPD reports to PHI's Associate Vice President, Research Programs. The RPD will be credentialed as a PHI Principal Investigator.

This is a part-time 11% FTE position that has a work schedule of 4.4 hours per week, with the possibility of increasing FTE depending on funding availability. This is a remote position that is expected to work during core business hours for the Pacific Time zone.

Full pay range for this position: $86.16 to $135.88 per hour ($179,214 to $282,621 per year based on 100% FTE.) The typical hiring range for this position is from $86.16 (minimum) to $111.02 (midpoint) per hour. The starting wage is determined using a variety of factors, such as the candidate's knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as internal equity consideration and budget availability.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following:

• Lead scientific strategy and execution of MindScope's research portfolio; ensure alignment with sponsored award objectives and PHI policies.
• Plan, organize, and direct research program activities; develop annual strategic plans and milestones.
• Build and manage multi-institution collaborations, subawards, and vendor relationships; negotiate scopes of work and deliverables.
• Supervise, mentor, and develop program staff, trainees, and contractors; foster an inclusive, mission-driven culture.
• Oversee fiscal management: build and monitor budgets; ensure allowability, allocability, and reasonableness; meet reporting requirements.
• Lead grant development and fundraising; prepare competitive proposals to NIH, DoD (CDMRP), foundations, and philanthropic sources; manage award lifecycles.
• Ensure compliance with IRB/HIPAA, data governance, data use agreements, and reproducible research practices.
• Design, validate, and deploy data pipelines, analytics, and software tools; promote rigor, transparency, and clinical utility.
• Advance ethical, safe, and trustworthy AI, including work on consciousness and moral agency to inform guidelines for agentic/autonomous AI in medicine.
• Disseminate findings via peer-reviewed publications, presentations, open science artifacts, and stakeholder communications.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Minimum Qualifications

• 10 years of related research experience, including at least 7 years as a manager.
• Master's degree in a public health related field, or substitute with a bachelor's degree plus two additional years of related experience.

Other Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership of multi-site research programs, including successful management of personnel, budgets, and compliance.
• Expertise and experience in a specific area of public health, including proven scholarship in pediatric neuroscience/psychiatry, neurodevelopment, epilepsy, or related fields, supported by a strong peer-reviewed publication record.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify critical issues, develop options, and design process solutions, coupled with expertise in AI/ML for biosignals (e.g., EEG) and clinical informatics, including experience translating analytics into public health and clinical research or practice.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; stakeholder engagement; creative problem solving and negotiation skills.
• Familiarity with business practices, including fiscal management, personnel and payroll, and contracting along with experience developing and managing operational budgets.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and responsible/ethical AI in healthcare.

Preferred Qualifications

• Track record of federal and other funding as PI or key personnel.
• Doctorate.

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) STATUS

This position is classified as exempt based on the job duties. However, based on the FTE, salary level of the employee, or federal/state/local laws, the employee may be classified as nonexempt.

The Public Health Institute is committed to a policy that provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and to make all employment decisions so as to further this principle of equal employment opportunity. To this end, the PHI will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are offered employment and employees are treated during employment without regard to these characteristics.

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