Director of Finance and Administration 2

Job Description

Our Purpose

Stanford Medicine is leading the biomedical revolution in precision health. We are transforming health care away from after-the-fact diagnosis to prediction and prevention and away from one-size-fits-all medicine to personalized care that empowers people to lead healthy lives. We are leveraging the art and science of medicine to predict and prevent disease before it strikes and cure it decisively if it does.

To achieve our Precision Health vision, we are integrating, building, and leveraging our strengths in fundamental research, the new field of biomedical data science, and nine transformative biomedical platforms. As a learning health system, we will apply these advances in our hospitals and health care delivery systems within Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children’s Health.

Our Values

Fulfilling our promise to humanity requires the engagement of a diverse, creative, and collaborative team of professionals who work together to advance our research, education, and patient care mission. We strive to ensure all employees have meaningful employment experience and support to do their best work. We are looking for leaders who can contribute to a culture of collaboration and innovation by making excellence inclusive.

Our Work

The Department of Epidemiology & Population Health (EPH) advances research and education on the distribution, determinants, and prevention of disease. Through epidemiologic and quantitative methods and interdisciplinary partnerships, EPH generates evidence to improve prediction, prevention, and population health.

EPH is one of the School of Medicine’s 31 academic departments (13 basic science and 18 clinical science departments). The department’s historical portfolio included approximately $32.9 million in annual budget and 111 faculty and staff. The department has a Masters program (57 students) and a PhD program (24 students) as well as other trainees (21 trainees). EPH also houses the Center for Population Health Sciences. The Center for Population Health Sciences improves individual and global health by uniting diverse disciplines to analyze massive, real-world data resources—such as electronic health records and insurance claims covering over 300 million lives. EPH supports research, graduate education, faculty scholarship, and interdisciplinary partnerships that advance Stanford Medicine’s Precision Health vision.

The DFA serves as an Administrative & Business Leader and strategic thought leader, integrating strategy, financial stewardship, sponsored research administration, academic operations, workforce leadership, and business planning. The role partners with the Chair to translate academic priorities into sustainable operating plans, provide forward-looking strategic insight, and improve service delivery.

Reporting Relationships

The Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) has a primary reporting relationship to the Chair of Epidemiology & Population Health and a secondary reporting relationship to the Associate Dean/Chief Financial Officer for the School of Medicine. The DFA advises the Chair and faculty leadership on finance, sponsored research administration, academic operations, workforce planning, and resource priorities; partners with School and University service organizations; and exercises delegated business judgment consistent with the DFA role.

Job Summary

Lead the strategic and integrated financial and administrative operations of EPH in support of its research and education missions. Manage departmental staff and services; advise the Chair on financial sustainability, resource planning, and organizational effectiveness; and ensure compliance and service excellence.

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the EPH Chair, providing forward-looking insight and informed perspective on the department’s long-term direction, priorities, and opportunities; anticipate emerging challenges and translate strategic vision into actionable plans.

• Develop and execute departmental business and operating plans with the EPH Chair, CFO, faculty leaders, and administrative staff, aligning resources with research and education priorities.

• Advise faculty leaders on business and administrative matters; represent EPH’s needs to School and University partners; evaluate operational effectiveness and recommend improvements.

• Assess staffing, facilities, technology, research-administration services, compliance, and other operational needs; recommend changes to the Chair and appropriate decision makers.

• Lead departmental budgeting, forecasting, sponsored research funding analysis, financial controls, and sustainability planning; identify risks and escalate matters beyond delegated authority.

• Develop recommendations and business cases for cost management, resource allocation, process improvements, and strategic investments supporting EPH’s academic priorities.

• Develop and implement business and operational strategies that reduce the administrative and financial burden on the department, streamlining processes, eliminating redundancy, and leveraging School and University shared services to free faculty and staff capacity for research and education.

• Participate actively in University and School of Medicine committees, task forces, and think tanks, contributing EPH’s perspective to institutional priorities; serve as a liaison and collaborator with other departments and schools to share best practices and advance common goals.

• Champion responsible AI adoption within EPH by identifying practical use cases, coordinating staff training and education, and partnering with School and University technology, compliance, and peer-department teams to pilot, evaluate, and scale tools that improve efficiency and service delivery.

• Lead departmental administrative staff through hiring, performance management, coaching, workforce planning, development, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• Guide faculty supervisors on Stanford HR policies and processes in partnership with the designated HR service teams.

• Represent EPH’s research and administrative space needs with School and University partners; recommend solutions within delegated authority.

• Oversee administrative support for graduate education, trainees, faculty, and academic affairs, and related EPH programs, as assigned.

• Implement and monitor compliance with School and University academic, financial, sponsored research, and administrative policies and controls.