The University of Ottawa Heart Institute does not use artificial intelligence (AI) in its recruitment process. All hiring decisions are made through human review and evaluation.
Two (2) year contract.
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) is launching a national-scale, longitudinal research program aligned with the One Million Canadian Hearts (1MH) initiative, which aims to screen one million Canadians for cardiovascular disease risk factors. This ambitious program seeks to prevent heart disease by bringing expertise to the community, collecting vital population-level data, and intervening early, before the onset of critical cardiovascular events.
A hallmark of the UOHI Strategic Plan and priority of the Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation, the 1MH Program will work alongside the screening initiative to systematically gather, integrate, analyze and learn from diverse data sources. The goal is to advance our understanding of cardiovascular disease risk across diverse populations and translate insights into improved prevention and models of care. This program represents a unique opportunity to build a world-leading research platform and dataset to positively impact the lives of patients across Canada and around the world.
We are seeking an experienced Senior Research Program Manager to support the design, launch, and operationalize this transformative research program. Reporting to the Chief Scientific Officer and 1MH Research Steering committee, this role is responsible for translating the research vision and strategic directions set by the Executive Steering Committee into a comprehensive, executable research plan. The Senior Research Program Manager works in close and ongoing partnership with the Medical & Scientific Director, who provides scientific leadership, clinical insight, and strategic guidance for the 1MH Research Program. Scientific leadership for the 1MH Research Program is provided by the Medical & Scientific Director, who plays a central role in shaping research priorities, ensuring scientific rigor, and guiding clinical relevance across all program activities.
The Senior Research Program Manager will synthesize the research priorities and program framework established through the Executive committee and working groups, develop detailed implementation plans, timelines, budgets, and workflows. This role will act as a central integrator across 1MH projects, and, over time, contribute to enabling alignment and integration with other key initiatives, playing a critical role in operationalizing the research program, coordinating across teams and partners, managing interdependencies, and enabling researchers and partners to deliver on program objectives in alignment with broader UOHI’s strategic research priorities in prevention, care, innovation, and equity.
While the 1MH Research Program is the primary focus of this role, the Senior Research Program Manager will also contribute to advancing other priority research initiatives across UOHI as the program evolves, in alignment with institutional priorities and emerging needs.
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Synthesize the research vision, priorities and guidance established by the Executive Steering Committee into an integrated research plan outlining the strategy and implementation plan for the 1MH Research Program.
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Acts as a key operational partner to the Medical & Scientific Director in the stewardship of scientific and research quality, ensuring that operational planning, sequencing, and execution consistently reflect scientific priorities, clinical insight, and methodological best practices established by the Medical & Scientific Director.
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Develop and maintain detailed project plans, including scope, milestones, deliverables, and performance indicators.
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Manage the full research project lifecycle, including design, methods development, implementation, data collection, data analysis and knowledge sharing.
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Coordinate research activities across teams, sites, and partners to ensure alignment with priorities and efficient resource utilization.
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Develop and manage project timelines and budgets, monitor expenses, coordinating contracts and approvals, and managing vendors, contracts and agreements in collaboration with research administration.
- Identify potential risks, operational dependencies, and resource constraints and implement mitigation strategies to keep the overall program and individual projects on track.
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Contribute to selecting strategic research initiatives, providing program management expertise and operational support beyond 1MH as required.
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Work in close partnership with the Medical & Scientific Director to operationalize the scientific vision of the 1MH Research Program.
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Ensure continuous alignment between research operations and the scientific priorities, direction, and clinical considerations articulated by the Clinical & Scientific Director.
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Proactively engage the Medical & Scientific Director on key decisions, risks, and sequencing considerations that may impact scientific quality or clinical relevance.
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Support the Medical & Scientific Director in preparing scientific materials, briefings, and recommendations for executive, governance, and external forums.
- Ensure that scientific and clinical considerations are appropriately surfaced, documented, and advanced through governance structures, with the Medical & Scientific Director playing a key role in review, guidance, and escalation of scientific matters.
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Support the development and maintenance of governance structures, including the Research Advisory Committee, working groups, and external partnerships, including coordinating meetings, agendas, documentation, and follow-up on action items.
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Coordinate research ethics submissions, amendments, renewals and reporting related to broad consent and data use.
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Support the optimization of research intake triage, prioritization, and tracking using research management tools (e.g., REDCap, Dacima, Florence, etc.).
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Navigate institutional and health-system processes (e.g., MOUs, data sharing, service agreements, site letters, medical directives) to enable research operations in non-traditional settings (e.g., community and partner sites).
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Identify operational bottlenecks and collaborate on workflow improvements to improve efficiency and scalability.
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Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs), workflows, documentation and best practices to enable consistent, repeatable, scalable research execution across teams.
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Support local site onboarding, training, and capacity building for participating sites and partners.
- Support the evolution of scalable processes, tools, and workflows that can be extended beyond 1MH to enable broader research program delivery across the Institute.
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Work with clinical, data, privacy, and legal teams to support the development, implementation, and ongoing evolution of broad consent, research ethics, regulatory compliance, and SOPs.
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Facilitate the integration of screening data with clinical, imaging, genomic, and social determinants of health data.
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Support secure and appropriate data access for research teams while ensuring data quality, governance, access control, and compliance with primary and secondary use policies.
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Manage operational aspects of the research participant pool, including recruitment logistics, participant tracking, incentives, and ongoing data review and optimization/cleaning in collaboration with research and administrative teams.
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Coordinate participant engagement and outreach efforts, including collaboration and partnership meetings with researchers, patient partners, and cross-functional teams/stakeholders.
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Support partnership activities with local, regional and national academic institutions, hospitals, primary care providers, industry, government, and not-for-profit organizations.
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Serve as the primary operational liaison between research units, research administration, clinical teams, data teams, external collaborators, patient partners, and other stakeholders.
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Collaborate with Researchers, research administration, clinical research compliance, core facilities, UOHI leadership, communications, and other internal units to gain insight into workflow to avoid duplication of efforts and increase integration and synergy across the program.
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Prepare high-quality briefing materials, reports, and presentations for audiences ranging from senior leadership and boards to funders, patients and the public.
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Track program progress, outputs, and assets to support research reporting, program evaluation, and impact assessment efforts.
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PhD or MD/PhD in a relevant field with clinical or translational research experience in an academic health research environment.
- Minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in research project and program management, preferably within complex multi-site health research initiatives projects involving regional or national partners.
- Demonstrated success moving complex initiatives forward through influence, negotiation, facilitation, and consensus building across disciplinary, institutional, and organizational boundaries.
- Demonstrated experience in:
- Large-scale research project and/or program implementation and management.
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Research ethics, consent models, and regulatory compliance.
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Budgeting, contracts, and operational logistics.
- Strong project management, organizational, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration experience.
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Comfortable working with minimal supervision in ambiguous, evolving environments to ensure research continues to scale.
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Project management training or certification (e.g., PMP).
- Formal training and experience in participant-facing clinical or population health research, including informed consent and data/biospecimen collection.
- Knowledge of Canadian research funding agencies, health systems, and privacy legislation.
- Experience working with underserved, equity-deserving, or Indigenous communities using participatory or community-engaged research approaches.
- Experience working on longitudinal or population-based studies.
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Familiarity with research metrics reporting and research impact assessment.
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This position is primarily on-site with occasional flexibility to work from home.
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This position may require national travel.
We are Canada's largest and foremost cardiovascular health centre dedicated to understanding, treating, and preventing heart disease. We deliver high-tech care with a personal touch, shape the way cardiovascular medicine is practiced, and revolutionize cardiac treatment and understanding. We build knowledge through research and translate discoveries into advanced care. We serve the local, national, and international communities as we pioneer a new era in heart health.
Please email your cover letter and CV in PDF format to [email protected].
Include the competition number in the email subject line and clearly state the position you are applying for. Applications missing the competition number may be delayed in processing.
File names:
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Lastname_Firstname_CoverLetter.pdf and
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Lastname_Firstname_CV.pdf
Applications from Indigenous persons, members of racialized minorities, persons with disabilities, women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as from all qualified candidates with the skills and knowledge to productively engage with equitable, diverse and inclusive communities are strongly encouraged.
According to government policy, all qualified candidates are invited to apply; however, preference will be given to Canadians and permanent residents. When submitting your application, please indicate if you are legally entitled to work in Canada.
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute is committed to ensuring barrier-free selection processes and work environments. Accommodations will be provided in all parts of the hiring process relating to any specialty requirements. Please notify us of any accommodations that you require – any information you provide will be handled respectfully and in complete confidence.
The successful candidate will be required, prior to the start of employment, to complete mandatory organizational training available online, and provide the following: an official piece of photo identification and a satisfactory Criminal Record Check and proof of COVID-19 vaccine.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those invited for an interview will be contacted.
