Program Manager, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs @ Van Andel Research Institute
Van Andel Institute (VAI) is home to over 500 scientists, educators and staff — each one of us connected to the work we do and driven by an urgent desire to improve health and enhance lives. VAI deeply values our postdoctoral fellows, and we are reimagining the traditional postdoc experience to ensure our postdocs receive the very best training and support. VAI is seeking a Program Manager to lead its Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA).
As the Program Manager, you—with support from the other People Development team members—are responsible for ensuring the OPA meets its mission to recruit and support the next generation of research leaders through rigorous, personalized postdoctoral training.
Your key areas of responsibility will include:
- Working with the Director of People Development to create and execute the OPA’s strategic plan, including the Office’s direction and goals. VAI’s goal is to be nationally recognized for providing the very best training and support for postdocs.
- Advocating for postdocs, especially through collaborating with VAI leadership and Human Resources to guide institutional policies on postdocs.
- Developing, planning, managing and evaluating career and professional development training programming and resources for our postdocs. Teaching and facilitation responsibilities will be shared among People Development team members. As a small institution, collaboration is key to our career and professional development program.
- Creating fellowship application resources, working with postdocs and faculty to strategize and choose appropriate fellowships, reading applications and administering our fellowship incentive program. This is a key resource for our OPA. Over 25% of VAI postdocs have external fellowships and traineeships, compared to 13% nationally.
- Providing strong support for postdocs throughout their time at VAI. This will include forming a relationship with each postdoc, welcoming and onboarding new postdocs, and providing 1x1 advising on career development, interpersonal conflicts, and fellowship applications and job searches.
- Facilitating the Institute’s postdoc recruiting efforts, including attending on- and off-site events, meeting with prospective postdocs, collaborating with faculty and with the talent acquisition team, and leading our biannual Postdoc Preview signature event.
- Supporting our Postdoc Association by working with our Postdoc Leadership Committee to plan and run our research-in-progress seminar series, social events and the VAI postdoc mentoring award.
- Leading and managing VAI’s Inspire Fellowship Program to include serving as a member of the program’s steering committee, arranging appropriate professional development for Inspire Fellows, managing the program’s budget, and evaluating the program.
- Setting and managing the OPA’s budget.
- Collecting, analyzing and reporting institutional data related to postdocs. This will include our annual reporting to the National Science Foundation and to the Coalition for Next Generation Life Sciences.
- Establishing and maintaining positive relationships with OPA stakeholders, including VAI operations and scientific leadership, VAI Graduate School staff, faculty and staff, and with appropriate external collaborators.