Overview
DLH seeks a dynamic, scientific, and operational leader for a pivotal role in our Public Health & Scientific Research operating center with both client-facing responsibilities and internal corporate oversight. The client-facing role is a Project Director (PD) for a major, long-standing federally funded cohort study investigating environmental and genetic risk factors for cancer and other chronic diseases. The PD responsibilities will be approximately 40% level of effort; the PD is responsible for end-to-end contract execution: leading multidisciplinary teams, collaborating directly with government Principal Investigators, and ensuring delivery of complex, protocol-driven research activities across participant engagement, biospecimen management, data operations, and outcome validation. The PD works closely with the study Program Manager and Scientific Advisor to guide study strategy, operational excellence, and scientific contribution throughout all phases of this nationally recognized research program. The PD role is coupled with internal responsibilities within DLH (60% LOE) to provide thought leadership in the public health research sphere, mentor junior staff, develop new business, and serve as a primary interface with DLH leadership, ensuring strong contract stewardship across financial performance, staffing, and coordination with Finance, HR, and Contracts.
Leadership Expectations
Successful leadership and strategic vision are exemplified by:
- Providing direction to internal and external teams
- Maintaining mature, collaborative relationships with federal stakeholders
- Communicating effectively and authoritatively with senior agency executives, scientific partners, and internal leadership to align project execution with evolving research objectives
- Driving operational excellence, ensuring complex study deliverables are met, and resolving challenges to achieve high performance, data integrity, and participant retention
Primary Project Director Responsibilities (40%)
- Oversee all aspects of daily contract operations, acting as the executive liaison and primary representative to federal clients and agency leadership
- Proactively communicate project status, risks, issues, and mitigation strategies to ensure transparency and accountability across all contract activities
- Lead and supervise multidisciplinary teams responsible for the following:
- Design, implementation, and analysis of detailed follow-up protocols, multi-mode survey data collection, and preparation of analytic datasets
- Development and implementation of culturally competent participant retention and engagement strategies to sustain high response rates and maximize longitudinal follow-up
- Data cleaning, quality assurance, and management of multiple concurrent data streams
- Biospecimen collection, processing, tracking, and repository operations in partnership with laboratory leadership, ensuring compliance with all safety and quality regulations
- Health outcome validation activities, including medical record abstraction and procurement of pathology reports
- Collaborate with Scientific Subject Matter Expert to operationalize scientific initiatives and epidemiologic guidance across all phases of cohort study operations, including study design, protocol development, and field execution
- Ensure compliance with all federal research regulations (IRB, HIPAA, Certificates of Confidentiality), as well as rigorous adherence to confidentiality, data privacy, and ethical standards
- Lead strategic planning and process improvement initiatives to drive continuous operational innovation and contract performance
- Oversee Program Manager's execution of project budget development and adherence, staffing plans, schedules, and resource allocation for optimization and sustainability of contract deliverables
Primary Internal Responsibilities (60%)
- Represent DLH at scientific conferences, on committees, and through authorship of manuscripts and presentations to enhance organizational visibility and scientific reputation
- Maintain situational awareness of advancements in epidemiology, biomedical research, and data science to ensure the program remains at the forefront of the field
- Recruit, mentor, and guide staff, fostering a culture of professional growth, operational excellence, and adherence to the highest ethical standards
- Support business development by identifying new contract and grant opportunities, leading or contributing to proposal development, and positioning DLH as a leader in cohort-based public health research
- Provide epidemiologic or management support to other public health programs as needed
Qualifications
- 10–15 years' progressively responsible experience (post-training) as a Principal Investigator, Project Director, or equivalent leadership on complex epidemiologic or public health research programs, with demonstrated success in longitudinal study design, execution, and operations
- Doctorate (PhD, DrPH, ScD) in epidemiology, public health, biostatistics, or a closely related discipline. Individuals with a Master's degree in these fields will be considered if sufficient experience with programmatic leadership is clearly demonstrated.
- Subject matter expertise in chronic disease (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease, aging) required; additional subject matter expertise desired in environmental health, genetics, or omics.
- Direct experience in federal research contract management and client interaction at the senior level
- Demonstrated ability to mentor, supervise, and inspire multidisciplinary teams in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment
- Exceptional strategic planning, executive communication, and scientific writing skills
- Demonstrated record of peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and involvement in scientific societies or national associations
- Project management certification (PMP or equivalent)
- United States citizenship required per federal contract terms
- Location: Research Triangle area preferred but not required. Willingness to travel is required if outside the preferred geographic location.
Benefits
DLH Corp offers our employees an excellent benefits package, including Personal Time Off (PTO), medical, dental, vision, supplemental life with AD&D, short and long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, parental leave, legal services, and more. We want our employees to save for their future; therefore, we offer a 401(k) Retirement Plan, which includes a matching component. DLH is dedicated to your career development, providing training to help drive success, with access to our best-in-class e-learning suite for formal and informal learning, professional and technical certification preparation, and education assistance at accredited institutions.
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