Assistant/Associate/ Full Professional Researcher – Spine Research Program Full-time

Assistant/Associate/ Full Professional Researcher – Spine Research Program

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is recruiting a Professional Researcher to lead and advance a growing Spine Research Program. This position will play a central role in developing and managing an innovative research portfolio spanning spine surgery outcomes, health economics, and value-based care. This is an academic appointment with administrative responsibilities, designed for a highly experienced investigator who will be eligible to serve as Principal Investigator (PI) on funded research projects, subject to OSR and sponsor approval, while also providing strategic leadership for program operations and research prioritization.

The Professional Researcher will provide leadership to research staff and oversee the planning, implementation, and day-to-day operations of the Spine Research Program. The incumbent will work closely with faculty, clinicians, and internal and external collaborators to ensure the successful execution and growth of the program's research mission.

Key responsibilities include:

• Eligibility to serve as Principal Investigator (PI) on competitively funded research projects, subject to OSR and sponsor approval, and contributing to the development of new, externally visible research initiatives
• Leading the design and execution of novel research methodologies and analytical frameworks that advance spine surgery outcomes research, health economics, and value-based care.
• Leading the development, implementation, and maintenance of analytical and data infrastructure supporting spine research, including outcomes analytics, health economics, and automation of data pipelines across clinical and administrative datasets.
• Overseeing a high volume, multi-project research portfolio involving concurrent prospective, retrospective, and industry-sponsored studies across spine surgery and health services research.
• Developing research goals, timelines, and milestones; monitoring progress and outcomes
• Providing strategic oversight of regulatory, compliance, and grant development activities in collaboration with regulatory specialists
• Leading and mentoring research staff and fostering a collaborative, high-performing research environment
• Working closely with surgeons and faculty to design studies and advance research projects from idea conception through data analysis, manuscript preparation, and publication
• Supporting scholarly dissemination of research findings through abstracts, presentations, and related academic outputs
• Communicating research progress and findings through regular presentations to UCSF Spine leadership, faculty, trainees, and external collaborators.
• Representing the Spine Research Program to internal and external partners, including funding agencies, professional organizations, industry collaborators, and through national and international scientific conferences.
• Participating in peer review and scientific evaluation activities, including review of manuscripts, abstracts, or research proposals.
• Supporting continuous improvement of research processes and infrastructure
• Contributing to the long-term strategic development of spine research infrastructure, including databases, registries, and analytic platforms that enable sustained scholarly output, external funding and national research collaboration.

Reappointment contingent upon funding

Required Qualifications:

• MD, PhD, or equivalent doctoral degree in medicine, health services research, epidemiology, health economics, public health, biomedical sciences, biostatistics, or a related discipline
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing a department level research program, with responsibility for overseeing multiple concurrent research projects from conception through publication, grant preparation, and regulatory processes (e.g. IRB)
• Demonstrated experience designing, leading, and coordinating competitively funded research programs, including federal, societal, and industry sponsored grants
• Eligibility to serve as Principal Investigator
• Excellent organizational, leadership, and communication skills
• Demonstrated leadership experience directing multidisciplinary research teams and mentoring trainees and junior investigators who contribute to peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
• Demonstrated experience collaborating with industry partners on clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, and investigator initiated studies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience managing complex, multi-project research programs
• Experience in spine research, health services research, health economics, or value-based care
• Experience performing advanced data extraction and analysis using tools such as SQL and R, including querying electronic medical records and developing automated pipelines for outcomes and health economics research
• Track record of publications and successful grant funding

The Professional Researcher supervises two or more employee and is responsible for full oversight for staffing, performance management, and daily operations.

See Table 13A for the salary range for this position. A reasonable estimate for this position is $94,700 – $252,200.