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Are you ready to empower academic excellence and shape the future of post-secondary education? SAIT is seeking a Director, Office of Academic Research to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for SAIT’s academic research enterprise. In this role, you'll establish, grow, and sustain the institutional capacity for academic research, scholarship, and research compliance, while enabling faculty and academic units to pursue high-quality, ethical, and impactful research. The Director is accountable for institutional performance in academic research capacity, compliance and readiness, including risk mitigation and reputational stewardship.
Reporting to the Associate Vice President, Academic, the Director leads the Office of Academic Research Services (OARS), which provides services and supports across the academic research lifecycle, including research development, ethics and governance, compliance, research integrity, and faculty development related to scholarship and research. OARS has a dual mandate for academic research development, faculty scholarship and research capacity building and institutional research stewardship, including ethics, integrity, research data management, compliance, governance and reporting. With this dual mandate, the director will work closely with the Vice President Academic, Teaching & Learning Commons (TLC), Applied Research & Innovation Services (ARIS), academic schools, and central service units, to ensure alignment between institutional strategy, academic priorities, and external funding and regulatory requirements.
The role plays a key leadership function in advancing a research-informed academic culture at SAIT and strengthening the institution’s reputation, readiness, and accountability in academic research. The Director is a key member of the Unified Research Council, SAIT’s institution-wide coordinating body for research activity, and contributes strategic leadership, policy insight, and institutional perspective to support alignment and decision-making across the research enterprise.
How you'll contribute
- Strategic Leadership & Office Development: Shape the vision, service model, governance, and growth of OARS while aligning initiatives with institutional academic and research priorities. Lead the design and evolution of OARS including building capacity, establishing standards and performance measures, and overseeing institutional structure, staffing and management
- Academic Research Services & Faculty Enablement: Lead and advance academic research support by delivering advisory services, provide access to internal and external funding programs, and the development of initiatives that enable faculty participation and equitable access. Collaborate and strengthen partnerships, and grow research capacity and funding opportunities
- Research Ethics, Governance, Research Policy & Compliance Oversight: Senior leadership and oversight of research ethics, integrity, and governance, ensuring compliance with Tri-Agency, TCPS2, and institutional requirements while coordinating across ethics, data governance, and compliance. Serve as a key advisor to the Vice-President, Academic and contribute to SAIT-wide research priorities
- Institutional Collaboration, Stakeholder Engagement, & External Engagement: Lead the development and implementation of SAIT's academic research framework, advancing research priorities and alignment with program quality while fostering strong partnerships with government, industry and funding bodies
- Operational Management & Continuous Improvement: Guide strategic resource planning and budget oversight for academic research, while driving continuous improvement of research policies, systems, and service delivery
What you bring
- Doctorate or equivalent combination of advanced scholarly, research, or professional experience is required
- 5-7 years of progressive experience in academic research, research administration, higher-education leadership, or related field
- 2-5 years of demonstrated experience providing strategic leadership in a post-secondary environment, including leading cross-functional or institution-wide initiatives
- Minimum 3-5 years in a senior leadership role
- An equivalent combination of experience and education may be considered
Capabilities
- Strong strategic and systems thinking with the ability to translate institutional priorities into actionable plans
- Deep understanding of academic research culture, faculty roles, and post-secondary governance
- Demonstrated ability to balance academic freedom with compliance, risk management, and institutional accountability
- Excellent communication and relationship management skills, including the ability to advise senior and executive leadership
- Proven ability to influence, negotiate, and lead change across complex organizational environments
- High level of judgment, professionalism, and integrity
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