Assistant Director

ADMIN SUPV 2 (007375)

UCPath Position ID: TBD_65

Position Description History/Status

Approved Date:

7/31/2026 1:13:09 PM

Date Last Edited:

7/31/2026 1:12:43 PM

Last Action Effective Date:

Organization Details

Business Unit (Location):

LACMP

Organization Code:

1300O

Organization:

LETTERS AND SCIENCE                    

Division Code:

1350D

Division:

L&S SOCIAL SCIENCES                    

Department:

121500 - CALIFORNIA CNTR FOR POPULATION RESEARCH

Position Details

UCPath Position Number:

TBD_65

Position Description ID

171812

UC Payroll Title:

ADMIN SUPV 2 (007375)

Personnel Program

Professional and Support Staff (PSS)

Salary Grade:

Grade 23

Job Code FLSA:

Exempt

Union Code (Collective Bargaining Unit):

99: Non-Represented (PPSM)

Employee Relations Code:

C: Supervisor - Not Confidential

Employee Class (Appt Type):

2 - Staff: Career

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)

1

SUPERVISION

UCPath Reports to Position Number:

40664680

Reports to Payroll Title:

Academic Title

UCPath Department Head Position Number:

40664680

Department Head Payroll Title:

Academic Title

GENERAL DIRECTION - Indicates that the incumbent receives guidance in terms of broad goals and overall objectives and is responsible for establishing the methods to attain them. Generally the incumbent is in charge of an area of work, and typically formulates policy for this area but does not necessarily have final authority for approving policy.

006206

Rsch Adm 3

1

007304

Sys Adm 3 TX

1

004722

Blank Ast 3 CX

1

POSITION SUMMARY

The Assistant Director serves as the chief administrative (CAO) and financial (CFO) officer for two extramurally-funded research centers: the California Center for Population Research (CCPR) at UCLA and the UCLA California Census Research Data Center (CCRDC). CCPR and CCRDC are housed in the Social Sciences Division with a large contingent of active participants from other units, including satellite research centers at USC and UCI. The budget for both centers comes from contracts and grants (current portfolio over $22 million) which must be sought out or renewed on a continual basis. In addition, CCPR is the intellectual home to the Master of Professional Data Science (MPDS) program, a self-supporting graduate professional degree program (SSGPDP), which prepares students for data-intensive careers in industry, government, and the nonprofit sector.

The incumbent is responsible for all financial planning for the two centers and the MPDS, including overseeing the budgets at all satellite and partner locations, ensuring satisfaction of all reporting requirements with UCLA, UCOP, NIH, and the Census Bureau, as well as ensuring adherence to all policies, procedures and practices of each satellite and partner locations. The Assistant Director monitors expenditures, utilizing University systems.

The Center has 26 administrative and research staff members and more than 30 graduate student researchers and over 30 research consultants at U.S. and foreign institutions. The incumbent works with the directors and other faculty administrators to establish and execute short and long-term plans, including the pursuit of continued funding, as all of the extramural funds require re-application, and the success of the MPDS program. 

The Assistant Director oversees the academic personnel process, including, but not limited to recruitment, preparation of dossiers, and committee reports. The Assistant Director supervises staff that oversee departmental space and equipment inventory and oversees the department's seminar, workshop, and event scheduling. The Assistant Director provides leadership in the planning of all special events, retreats, lectures, and conferences.

As a leading NIH supported population research Center, CCPR is both a cooperative of UCLA faculty and graduate students who carry out basic and applied research and training in demography, as well as a training center hosting research scholars, postdoctoral scholars and graduate student researchers. CCPR provides research and training for well over 200 faculty, graduate students and researchers at any given time, and administers three separate interdisciplinary training programs with reporting requirements to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as UCLA.

CCRDC is a facility for research analysis of confidential census data. It operates under contract with the U.S. Census Bureau. There are two satellite census research data centers at USC and UCI but managed by the Assistant Director through CCRDC. At CCPR the Assistant Director oversees operations of five infrastructure cores with a total combined faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and staff of approximately 200.

Strategic Planning and Operation

1. Lead and manage strategic planning of the Center, while maintaining oversight of the Center's day-to-day operations through the supervision of administrative staff. Provide consultation and counsel to the Directors, faculty and staff on managerial and operational issues. (E)

2. Constantly review and refine operational procedures to improve customer service and productivity. Provide leadership for work efficiency while maintaining compliance with internal and external policy and procedures. (E)

3. Provide strategic oversight of the Center’s physical and financial resources through delegated operational management. (E)

4. Ensure compliance with all state and federal guidelines, while interpreting local procedures and policies with administrators from more than 6 professional schools and 10 departments on a daily basis to orchestrate CCPR's collaborative research activities and outreach programs. (E)

5. Analyze and oversee the Center's new initiatives and proposals; identify and incorporate divergent and competing programmatic demands for resources to develop a cohesive and consistent operation practice. (E)

6. Establish and maintain cooperative working relationship with various UCLA administrative offices, extramural funding agencies, foundations, the U.S. Census Bureau and international research organizations. (E)

7. Respond to a variety of requests and inquiries from faculty, students, Dean's office, and University administrators, staff, and the public. (E)

8. In consultation with the Director, manage the department's academic calendar. Schedule executive committee meetings, Director’s meetings, both standing and ad hoc, and attend as requested. Assist with preparation of pertinent materials and provide minutes of meetings as appropriate. (E)

9. Oversee departmental program files, creating databases as needed to manage information, sequence of required actions, and resolutions of programmatic issues. (E)

10. Oversee the collection, analysis, and reporting of maintain statistics on a variety of topics including seminar and workshop attendance, faculty research funding, awards, academic publications, etc. prepared by staff. Prepare and provide reports to the Director’s and Dean's office on an ad hoc basis. (E)

11. Oversee the collection, validation, and submission of infrastructure grant data prepared by staff for NIH, other sponsors, and University reporting. 

12. Provide strategic oversight of departmental communications, publications, newsletters, website content, and social media activities. (E)

13. Oversee the preparation of a variety of reports and other documents relating to department self reviews and strategic planning. (E)

14. Provide administrative leadership in the development and implementation of new academic programs and ensure approved changes are reflected in official publications and online resources. (E)

15. Provide executive oversight of departmental events such as lectures, conferences, receptions, symposia, faculty retreats, seminars, etc., ensuring staff coordinate all logistical, financial, travel, facilities, and communications activities. (E)

16. Serve as staff advisor at CCPR faculty meetings and other committee meetings on non-academic issues and on academic issues involving financial or administrative support. Provide input on administrative feasibility and cost of proposed courses of action and develop and recommend alternatives. (E)

17. In conjunction with Director and Associate Directors, determine policies, develop long range plans, and address the most difficult issues facing CCPR. Identify and raise issues to be acted upon. Assume primary responsibility for providing data, analysis, and perspective on the personnel, financial, space and other administrative factors involved. Participate in the ultimate decision on a course of action; implement the administrative changes necessary to carry out the decision. (E)

18. Provide administrative oversight for planning, budgeting, staffing, participant selection, and implementation of the Summer Institute through supervision of program staff. (E)

19. Identify and address organizational changes required by the evolving nature and continued growth of CCPR. (E)

20. Work closely with the Director to establish development priorities and provide administrative leadership for their implementation through the direction and oversight of staff responsible for alumni engagement, donor cultivation, and related events. (E)

21. Serve as the administrative liaison to the MPDS Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) and the MPDS Advisory Board of industry professionals. Translate committee priorities into operational plans by directing staff responsible for program administration, committee support, meetings, events, and implementation of strategic initiatives.

25%

Personnel Administration

1. Oversee all aspects of Human Resources management for academic and staff personnel of the Center, including research staff recruitment, staffing plan, compensation, benefits, employee discipline and relations. (E)

2. Oversee staff responsible for pre-hire worksheet to determine the nature of the work relationship for Center's various research personnel, including research consultants and independent contractors. Different policies and laws apply to independent consultants and contractors. (E)

3. Ensure compliance with legal and administrative procedures to safeguard the University and its employees. Review independent consultant/contractor form to determine any potential conflict of interest. (E)

4. Ensure independent consultant/contractor insurance requirements to protect the interests of the University; Responsible for departmental risk management when obtaining insurance waiver for Center's research consultants/contractors. (E)

5. Interface with various University governing bodies, such as the Academic Planning and Budget office, Insurance and Risk Management, College of Letters and Sciences, Office of Contracts and Grants Administration, Extramural Fund Management, as well as 17 academic departments and 9 professional schools to coordinate the Center's research activities and ensure policy compliance. (E)

6. Provide advice and consultation to the Directors on a wide range of human resource issues from faculty search and joint offer appointments to staff recruitment. (E)

7. Provide direct supervision and training to staff members and maintain general oversight of Center's research staff and graduate student researchers. Assess skills, evaluate performance and review workload distribution to ensure operational needs. Write and review job descriptions and foster team work to maintain high morale. (E)

8. Oversee staff responsible for staff, predoctoral scholar, postdoctoral scholar, visiting scholar, and research fellow appointments and benefits to ensure campus and union policy compliance; administer faculty summer salary payment and course buyout/release process, ensure policy compliance. (E)

9. Supervise staff responsible for processing of academic appointments for visiting professors, visiting scholars, visiting researchers, and international students. Interface with various campus departments to ensure and provide the administrative support to our visitors in order to create and maintain the image and practice of a prestigious research University. (E)

10. Manage departmental staff: recruit, hire, train, assign work, write performance evaluations, request merit increases and reclassifications, resolve complaints and discipline and discharge casual and career staff positions, involving the Assistant Dean of the Social Sciences Division, the Director of Human Resources for the College and Campus Human Resources as appropriate. (E)

11. Oversee the submission requests for hires above base, reclassification, and equity increases for department staff positions. Oversee the job descriptions, analyses of comparable positions, rationale for request and any other relevant information. Make recommendations for incentive awards to the Director. Assess staff needs for professional training; enroll staff in appropriate training classes. (E)

12. Oversee MPDS student affairs functions administered by MPDS staff—including admissions, orientation, academic advising, and career/placement services—ensuring service quality and adherence to degree requirements and University policy.

20%

Training Program Management

1. Supervise CCPR's academic programs offering financial support and tuition and fees to multiple students. Requires expert knowledge of funding mechanisms; university, funder, and SSDP guidelines, rules, and restrictions; as well as a depth of knowledge of UCLA and department policies and procedures. (E)

2. Develop training program proposal submission procedures to ensure multiple training proposals submission with the same deadline involving multiple professional schools and more than 4 academic departments. Each proposal requires large-scale data collection and analysis from diverse record-keeping systems. (E)

3. Coordinate with various academic departments and consult with CCPR Training Committee for trainee selection process. Create an administrative infrastructure and provide management oversight of the training programs by directing financial services, facilitating academic traineeship appointment to enhance academic department's recruitment of graduate students. (E)

4. Ensure compliance with NIH and UCLA regulations for graduate traineeship programs in collaboration with Graduate Division. (E)

5. Partner with the MPDS Faculty Director on curriculum administration, course scheduling, instructor and TA appointments, and program marketing and outreach efforts.

6. Oversee MPDS student affairs functions administered by MPDS staff—including admissions, orientation, academic advising, and career/placement services—ensuring service quality and adherence to degree requirements and University policy.

20%

Financial Administration

1. Oversee contracts and grants financial management support to the Center's research community for sponsored projects funds through supervision of research administration staff. Manage Center's endowment of research fellowship. (E)

2. Provide expertise, guidance and consultation on extramural funding mechanisms to more than 100 faculty members and postdoctoral scholars across 17 departments and 9 professional schools. Play a leadership and critical role in an evolving and complex grants and contracts management. (E)

3. Review financial data to identify potential financial risk and develop financial strategy in a highly volatile federal budget environment due to sequestration and frequent shifts in priorities in federal funding agencies. (E)

4. Interface with variety of University administrative offices for contracts and grants management: Office of Contracts and Grants Administration, Extramural Fund Management, Office of Insurance and Risk Management, Social Sciences Division, Office of Academic Planning and Budget, General Accounting, Purchasing, Travel and Payroll, Office of Intellectual Property, Material Transfer, Office of Research Administration Office of the Human Research Protection Program, and Graduate Division. (E)

5. Administer and interpret a variety of federal and state policies, regulations, University policies and procedures, award documents and contract agreements to determine allowable expenditures, payment provisions and financial reporting requirements. (E)

6. Continuously refine contracts and grants processes in alignment with stakeholder needs and in compliance with federal, State and the University policies. Identify innovative process improvements to success in a competitive research funding environment. (E)

7. Establish and audit research expenditure record-keeping system and procedures to be fully prepared for federal audit. Review and authorize consultants' payments, including payments to international collaborators. (E)

8. Oversee the preparation of annual research progress reports and financial report, as well as IRB renewal applications to ensure timely delivery and quality and conformance with federal and other sponsor regulations and University policy. (E)

9. Oversee subcontracting process for collaborative research activities between CCPR researchers and researchers from other institutions including international organizations. (E)

10. Coordinate with UCLA Audit and Advisory Services Department to ensure documentation for site visits and audits by funding agencies. (E)

11. Institute, manage and review financial controls for salary and operating expenditures to prevent overdrafts in department operating budget as well as sponsored projects. Review problems with fund managers as appropriate and recommend timely resolution. (E)

12. Utilize the QDB, PAN and Bruinbuy Plus systems as required to monitor expenditures, place orders, verify payments, and project expenses. (E)

13. Oversee MPDS budget planning and financial management—including tuition revenue, staffing costs, and operating expenses—in coordination with MPDS staff, the MPDS Faculty Director, and the Department of Economics, and prepare related reports for the Academic Planning and Budget (APB) Office. (E)

20%

Restricted Data Administration

1. High level negotiation of restricted data service agreement with U.S. Census Bureau and German Federal Employment Agency to ensure compliance with the Federal Data Protection Act for the U.S. government and the analogous act for the German government. Protect the interests of the University and protect the University against any potential legal sanctions. (E)

2. Develop procedures for acquiring and protecting administrative data with identifying information from other countries based on expertise with U.S. Census and German federal data. (E)

3. Oversight of California Census Research Data Center (CCRDC) and 3 satellite centers at USC, UCI and UCSB (coming soon). CCRDC operates by contract with the U.S. Census Bureau and subcontracts with USC, UCI. (E)

4. Administer all aspects of U.S. Census Bureau contracts and subcontracts to ensure financial arrangement and monitoring to meet Federal requirements. (E)

5. Administer individual user agreements for use of restricted data from various data providers to ensure adequate resources from CCPR and compliance with data providers' requirements, as well as UCLA policy and procedure. (E)

6. Design and develop confidential data access application procedures to ensure confidentiality and legal protections of federal data. Supervise staff monitoring compliance and provide training for people outside of CCPR. (E)

15%

•

Performs other duties as assigned.

•

Complies with all policies and standards.

•

Complies with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Principles of Community.

•

This position description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's Degree

Bachelor's degree in related area and/or equivalent experience/training

Required

Demonstrates creativity and innovation. Develops new insights into situations and applies innovative solutions; creates a work environment that encourages creative thinking and innovation; designs and implements new programs, policies and procedures.

Required

Creates and sustains a culture that encourages staff to provide service that is essential to high performance. Demonstrates a commitment to public service and influences others to adopt that same commitment.

Required

Formulates effective strategies consistent with the business plans of the Center. Examines issues and employs strategic planning with both a short-term and long-range perspective in keeping with the needs of the Center. Determines objectives and sets priorities while identifying potential opportunities.

Required

At least 7 years professional experience in financial and administrative leadership position in a campus-wide interdisciplinary research unit with complexity consisting of extensive-function cores. Exhibiting management and interpersonal skills by facilitating interdisciplinary interaction.

Preferred

Demonstrated knowledge and experience in restricted and confidential data access management. Develop procedures and policy to ensure campus integrity and privilege from preventing abridging the confidential data.

Required

Thorough knowledge of NIH Grants Policy, NSF Grants Policy, federal Acquisition Regulation, Office of Management and Budget Circulars (A-21, A110, A-133), Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and UCLA Financial systems to ensure proper financial management of sponsored research funds.

Required

Extensive experience in managing multi-million dollar operating budget consisting of unrestricted funds, sponsored research federal grants, contracts, private sector grants and contracts and gifts funds.

Required

Knowledge and experience managing all aspects of academic apprentice personnel and payroll in a research unit. Ability to oversee and implement staff employment and academic joint appointment. Knowledge and experience handling course buyouts and summer salary from research grants.

Required

Ability to establish and maintain cooperative and mutually supportive working relationships with faculty, administrators, staff, other campus units and sponsored agencies and foundations.

Required

Demonstrated experience in leading and managing major projects, effectively establishing and defining goals and objectives, setting timelines, priorities and assessing progress toward achievement. Exhibiting the ability to motivate and guide others toward accomplishment.

Required

Demonstrated ability to supervise a diverse workforce, organizing workflow to accomplish objectives, delegating responsibilities, identifying training needs and evaluating subordinate effectiveness. Resolving conflicts in a positive and constructive manner by fostering a cooperative and effective work environment.

Required

Experience as a manager with knowledge and skills to assess staffing needs, write job descriptions, evaluate employee performance, provide direction and staff training. Skill in analyzing information, problems, situations, policy or procedures to identify the root problem and formulate alternatives for resolution. Ability to communicate effectively via verbal and written communications with faculty, senior administrators, federal agencies and other University administrators.

Required

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS AND/OR CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Background Check: Continued employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory background investigation.

Live Scan Background Check: A Live Scan background check must be completed prior to the start of employment.

E-Verify Check: The position is funded by federal contracts/subcontracts requiring UCLA to notify job applicants that an E-Verify check will be conducted and the successful candidate(s) must pass the E-Verify check.

Age Requirement: Candidate(s) must be 18 years or older to be eligible to be hired.

CANRA: The position is designated as a mandatory reporter under CANRA. The employee must sign the "Statement Acknowledging Requirement to Report Child Abuse".

LOCATION AND PHYSICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, MENTAL (PEM) REQUIREMENTS

Environment and Work Location Information

Environment Type:

Non-Clinical Setting

Location Setting:

Campus

Location:

Public Affairs Building

Standing/Walking

X

Sitting

X

X

Bending/Stooping

X

Squatting/Kneeling

X

Climbing

X

Lifting/Carrying/Push/Pull 0-25 lbs

X

X

Lifting/Carrying/Push/Pull 26-50 lbs

X

Lifting/Carrying/Push/Pull over 50 lbs

X

Physical requirements other

X

Chemicals, dust, gases, or fumes

X

Loud noise levels

X

Marked changes in humidity or temperature

X

Microwave/Radiation

X

Operating motor vehicles and/or equipment

X

Exposures other

X

Sustained attention and concentration

X

X

Complex problem solving/reasoning

X

X

Ability to organize & prioritize

X

X

Communication skills

X

X

Numerical skills

X

X

Mental demands other

X

X

Classification 3:  Position in which exposure to blood, body fluids or tissues is not part of the position description. The normal routine task involves no exposure to blood, body fluids or tissues and the employee can decline to perform tasks which involve a perceived risk without retribution.