Internal Only Assistant Director of Research Facilities

Position Overview

The Assistant Director of Research Facilities serves as the primary liaison to align research infrastructure strategy and execution between the KU Office of Research and KU Operations. The Assistant Director provides strategic direction and oversight to guide research-facility management across campus, ensuring consistent standards and effective space utilization, promoting operational excellence, providing strategically informed facility planning, and facilitating collaboration across departments, central services, and research units. This position reports to the Vice Chancellor for Research and collaborates with key contacts across several university functions to drive long-term planning and infrastructure development aligned with KU's research mission.

Job Description

30% Strategic Oversight and Facility Coordination

• Serve as primary point of contact and strategic liaison between all research-related Facility Managers, KU Operations Leadership, and the KU Office of Research.
• Develop and implement operational standards and procedures where appropriate to establish consistent service levels across all research facilities across campus.
• Represent the Office of Research in collaborative communication and planning between KU Operations, Research Facility Managers, EHS & IT units.
• Provide coordination and support to facilitate major research instrumentation installation and coordinate asset inventory and management.
• Coordinate lab closeout procedures, tracking, and communication between the units, Office of Research, and KU Operations.

30% Infrastructure Planning and Capital Projects

• Serve as the primary strategic conduit between the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Operations, Facility Managers, and Space Planning, ensuring facility operations and research strategy inform each other.
• Serve as subject-matter expert on research-facility operations, advising the KU Director of Space Management during space-evaluation walk-throughs and related or similar discussions.
• Collaborate with campus partners to ensure that planning, management, and investment of research facilities include appropriate input and communication with office of research and to address compliance, funding and strategic planning considerations.
• Assess infrastructure needs and develop long-term strategies for space utilization and equipment.
• Support emergency preparedness and continuity planning for research facilities.

30% Research-Space Inventory

• Lead holistic research-space inventory tracking on behalf of the KU Office of Research and coordinate with Space Management as needed for compilation of data.
• Coordinate with Facility Managers and KU Operations leadership to address research-space inventory challenges and changes.

10% Other Duties as Assigned

• Participate in Office of Research strategic initiatives and cross-functional projects.
• Assist with budget planning and resource allocation for facility operations.

Required Qualifications

• Master's degree or Bachelor's degree and three (3) years of related experience.
• Five (5) years of experience in facility operations or building management.
• Experience working with building systems, compliance standards, and safety regulations as evidenced in application materials.
• Excellent written communication as demonstrated in application materials.
• Previous experience that required strong cross-functional collaboration skills across multiple teams or locations, as shown in application materials.
• Experience in a research or academic environment as evidenced in application materials.
• Experience in a supervisory role as shown in application materials.

This position requires a formal degree in the cited discipline area(s) to ensure that candidates have advanced knowledge, analytical skills and professional competencies necessary to perform the duties of the position. The level of degree is commonly recognized as the standard qualification for similar roles in the public and private sector, ensuring that the university remains competitive with industry aligned practices, enhances collaboration with external partners, and supports the delivery of services and programs that meet professional and market-driven expectations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing research and/or laboratory facilities as shown in application materials.
• Experience with federal and state regulations related to research infrastructure as evidenced in application materials.
• Experience with asset management and inventory as shown in application materials.
• Previous experience working with environmental health and safety practices in research settings as evidenced in application materials.

Additional Candidate Instructions

In addition to the online application, the following documents are required to be considered for this position:

• Cover letter describing how you meet the required and preferred qualifications.
• Resume.
• List of three (3) professional references.

Only complete applications will be considered.

Application review begins Wednesday, November 12, 2025. For consideration, please apply no later than Sunday, November 2, 2025.

Contact Information to Applicants

Amber Roberts Graham

Advertised Salary Range

starts at $85,000

Application Review Begins

Wednesday November 12, 2025

Anticipated Start Date

Sunday December 7, 2025

Apply to Job

Posting Information

• Posting ID: 31627BR
• Department: Office of Research
• Primary Campus: University of Kansas Lawrence Campus
• Assignment: Hybrid
• Reg/Temp: Regular
• Employee Class: U-Unclassified Professional Staff
• Review Begins: 12-Nov-2025

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