Research Training Specialist

Overview

The Research Training Specialist supports student training efforts of the Harvard Cancer Consortium CURE Program, a research training program serving high school and college students which place students in research internships across the HCC network of institutions and partners. The Research Training Specialist coordinates program operations, communications, and student/mentor experience management and serves as an operations lead for recruitment, onboarding and compliance, student support, logistics, systems/data stewardship.

This role manages high-volume program administration and provides direct student support, including real-time troubleshooting, coaching, and escalation of concerns. The Specialist is the primary staff member for local recruitment across Boston and Greater Boston and, during the summer program, serves as the primary relationship manager for approximately one-third of the cohort, including mentor check-ins, local site visits, progress monitoring, and conflict resolution in partnership with program leadership.

Special Working Conditions:
Hybrid schedule with evening and occasional weekend responsibilities and programming.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Outreach, recruitment, and pipeline management: Create plan and lead student recruitment (school/community visits, presentations, recruitment and outreach materials, inquiry response), coordinate outreach logistics and maintain outreach activity logs, pipeline tracking, and ensure timely prospective-student communications.
• Admissions coordination and candidate experience : Coordinate application review, interview, and selection logistics (scheduling, confirmations, interviewer coordination, candidate communications, tracking) and maintain accurate applicant and cohort records.
• Onboarding, compliance, and student status administration : Own onboarding checklists, deadline management, and completion tracking for required documentation and trainings; maintain organized and confidential student records; coordinate onboarding steps with internal and external partners and process/track student status changes (e.g., sponsored to paid) to ensure alignment across systems and trackers.
• Timekeeping and operational transactions : Serve as delegated approver for student timecards, monitoring submissions, resolving common issues, and supporting on-time processing in alignment with program and institutional requirements.
• Systems/data stewardship and operational reporting : Steward operational data across key tools (Salesforce, Canvas, Smartsheet, Microsoft 365, SurveyMonkey, and related trackers), maintain standardized processes and data quality, track attendance/assignments/milestones, and generate routine dashboards and metrics summaries for program staff and leadership.
• Student support, coaching, and management : Provide front-line support to students and mentors, including real-time troubleshooting, coaching, and expectation-setting; document actions/outcomes and triage/escalate sensitive or high-risk concerns in partnership with program leadership. Serve as primary relationship manager for an assigned subset of summer students, including routine check-ins, progress monitoring, site visits/virtual check-ins, and conflict resolution and follow-up.
• Communications, evaluation support, and continuous improvement : Draft and distribute student-facing communications and maintain distribution lists and communication calendars; support first-pass evaluation planning and administration; identify operational gaps and support implementation/documentation of improvements (SOPs, templates, checklists), including event/conference logistics and support for additional program components as assigned; coordinate core components of the student lifecycle (recruitment through completion), ensuring accurate tracking, deadline management, and a consistent and equitable participant experience across program cycles.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage high-volume scheduling, multiple concurrent deadlines, and cyclical peak workload periods.
• Ability to manage confidential information with discretion and sound judgment; consistent, accurate recordkeeping practices.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including the ability to coordinate effectively with mentors, school/community partners, and internal cross-functional teams in a matrixed environment.
• Proficiency with common enterprise tools (e.g., CRM, LMS, timekeeping, survey tools, and Microsoft 365); ability to learn new systems quickly and apply standardized data practices.
• Ability to produce accurate operational reporting (e.g., participation metrics, pipeline activity, onboarding compliance status) and draft basic evaluation summaries (descriptive trends, strengths/opportunities) for leadership review.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including drafting student-facing messages, instructions, and operational content with consistent tone, clarity, and version control.
• Strong project coordination skills (planning, sequencing tasks, tracking dependencies, anticipating issues, and following through to closure).
• Demonstrated ability to build rapport and credibility with high school and/or college students; coaching mindset with strong active listening skills and appropriate boundary-setting.
• Demonstrated experience in student-facing program operations, training/education administration, student services, advising/coaching, or comparable coordination work.
• Ability to assess risk, document appropriately, and escalate concerns promptly and professionally.

Minimum Job Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required. STEM or Health Sciences, Business Administration, Management, or related field preferred.
• 1 year of experience in administrative, program or project coordination. 3 years related experience preferred.
• Experience in student-facing program operations, training/education administration, student services, or student advising/coaching strongly preferred.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

None

Patient Contact:

None

Special Working Conditions:

Hybrid schedule with evening and occasional weekend responsibilities and programming.

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are committed to having faculty and staff who offer multifaceted experiences. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and compassionate professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.

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Pay Transparency Statement

The hiring range is based on market pay structures, with individual salaries determined by factors such as business needs, market conditions, internal equity, and based on the candidate’s relevant experience, skills and qualifications.

For union positions, the pay range is determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

$53,700.00 - $63,500.00