Hiring Department

The Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Job Description

Reporting directly to the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (VCRI), the Research Compliance Officer – Partnerships serves as the division’s dedicated compliance authority for external collaborations. This role bridges the gap between complex federal regulations and the speed required for modern innovation, functioning as the primary Point of Contact (POC) for hospital affiliates and industry sponsors. The Officer is responsible for performing independent, substantive reviews of exempt and expedited protocols (IRB/IACUC), managing the lifecycle of reliance agreements, and driving operational efficiency.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Partner Point of Contact (POC) & Reliance Management: Serve as the dedicated Compliance POC and primary operational link between the Office of Research and Innovation and external partners (including hospital affiliates and corporate sponsors), managing the administrative workflow of IRB reliance agreements and cooperative research authorizations.
• Independent Regulatory Review & Determination: Perform comprehensive, substantive reviews of research protocols (specifically Exempt and Expedited categories) to evaluate ethical design and regulatory adherence; independently issue determinations, request stipulations, and approve protocols in accordance with federal regulations (Common Rule, FDA) and UMKC policy.
• Clinical Trial Acceleration: Expedite the compliance phase for industry-sponsored clinical trials by performing pre-reviews of "straightforward" (exempt and expedited) human subjects’ protocols, ensuring rapid turnaround times to meet sponsor deadlines.
• Integrated Compliance Review (IRB/IACUC): Coordinate the administrative intake and review process for both Human Subjects (IRB) and Animal Care (IACUC) protocols involving external collaborators, ensuring seamless alignment between UMKC policies and partner institution requirements.
• Streamlined "Straightforward" Approvals: Independently manage a portfolio of low-risk, exempt, and expedited reviews, acting as a fast-track channel for non-committee approvals to keep partnership projects moving efficiently.
• Cross-Domain Integrity Support: Work in tandem with Compliance Managers to verify ancillary compliance requirements—such as Biosafety (IBC) and Conflict of Interest (COI)—ensuring that complex, multi-institutional projects meet all federal and university standards before launch.
• Regulatory Documentation & Audit Readiness: Maintain meticulous records of inter-institutional agreements (IIAs) and single IRB (sIRB) documentation, ensuring the university remains audit-ready for federal agencies (FDA, OHRP, OLAW) and industry sponsors.
• Operational Efficiency & Process Optimization: Proactively identify administrative bottlenecks and implement solutions to achieve maximum efficiency in the compliance pipeline, acting as a dedicated problem-solver to ensure a frictionless experience for clinical investigators and industry partners.
• External Partner Training and Onboarding: Develop and deliver training orientation sessions to the external teams and/or PIs, and create partner-specific guidance documents.