Assistant Director for the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship

Department
 

Schmidt Futures Fellows Program

About the Department
 

The Office of Research is hiring an Assistant Director for the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship program funded by Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt. The Assistant Director will lead the program in several key functions, including faculty leadership support in programmatic activities, development of partnerships across all Divisions and the National Laboratories, coordination of postdoctoral recruitment and hiring across academic departments, and overseeing program staff and the operational infrastructure.

Job Summary
 

The Office of Research is hiring an Assistant Director for the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship program funded by Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt. The Assistant Director will lead the program in several key functions, including faculty leadership support in programmatic activities, development of partnerships across all Divisions and the National Laboratories, coordination of postdoctoral recruitment and hiring across academic departments, and overseeing program staff and the operational infrastructure.

The Assistant Director will work directly with the Faculty Director and Co-Directors to support postdoctoral scholars in their research, outreach and education activities. The position will also report to the Assistant Provost for Research to ensure broad institutional support and coordinated resources for the program from the Office of the Provost.

The Assistant Director will manage recruitment and appointment processes, faculty committees and the Advisory Board, program and events development, and reporting activities. The Assistant Director will oversee 0.25 FTE of a events management specialist who will manage the Program’s events, 0.25 FTE of a communications specialist who will manage the website, newsletter, blog, press releases, etc., and 0.5 FTE open code support specialist. Familiarity with postdoctoral scholar programs, university research structures and requirements, career mentorship in academia is preferable, as well as a background in academic research. This at-will position is wholly or partially funded by contractual grant funding which is renewed under provisions set by the grantor of the contract. Employment will be contingent upon the continued receipt of these grant funds and satisfactory job performance.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with faculty leadership and the Provost Office to plan and develop programmatic activities, timelines, deliverables, and operational frameworks to meet grant objectives.

• Develop and manage budget for the Schmidt program’s activities (communications, website, events, training, etc.).

• Collaborate across Divisions and the Provost Office and the National Laboratories for postdoctoral recruitment, evaluation, and hiring of joint appointments.

• Support faculty outreach and committee membership activities (preparing agendas, tracking Fellows’ progress, preparing reports).

• Develop, monitor, and manage project schedules in collaboration with faculty leadership to ensure work is completed efficiently, making necessary adjustments and directing project resources.

• Manage institutional support with the Provost Office: programming with UChicagoGRAD; seed funding management and joint appointments process with the Office of Research; compute and training with the Research Computing Cluster, etc.

• Work with the Data Science Institute staff to develop synergistic research and training activities.

• Support the Executive Committee functions (agenda, decision implementation, updates).

• Oversee the communications staff activities (website, newsletter, press releases, etc.).

• Proactively disseminate project information to internal and external stakeholders.

• Maintain evaluation metrics of the program.

• Has a deep understanding when interacting with faculty, researchers and staff for committee work or information.

• Sets and communicates program priorities and performance standards and assesses operations using these criteria. Plans and conducts quality assurance reviews and recommends changes as appropriate.

• Analyzes program budgets and recommends or makes budgetary recommendations.

• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications
 

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

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Work Experience:

Minimum requirements inclu