Research Specialist

Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) is seeking experienced, motivated, and dedicated leaders and educators to participate in the design and delivery of an innovative four-year medical school curriculum that engages medical students in active and novel learning.
Job Description:
Job Title: Research Specialist
Reports to: Associate Dean of Clinical Research
FLSA Classification: Exempt
Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (On-site)
Date Reviewed: 10/10/2026
Who We Are
Founded in 2021, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM) is a nonprofit, four-year MD program that will enhance traditional medical education with the arts, humanities, and whole health principles. The school’s culture embraces self-care to empower students to care for their own well-being as well as their patients’. The school’s state-of-the-art medical education facility is located in Bentonville, Arkansas on the Crystal Bridges campus, home to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Heartland Whole Health Institute. The school has been granted preliminary accreditation status by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education.
About The Position
The Research Specialist supports the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine's commitment to ethical, high-quality research by providing research administration, regulatory support, investigator services, and program operations. This position serves as an important point of contact for faculty, students, research staff, institutional committees, external collaborators, sponsors, and federal agencies, helping ensure that research activities are organized, responsive, ethical, and aligned with institutional standards.
This role supports the development and operation of AWSOM's Human Research Protection Program (HRPP), research administration infrastructure, federal and sponsor reporting processes, and investigator-facing tools and workflows. The Research Specialist contributes to a service-oriented research environment by supporting research submissions and committee processes, evaluating regulatory requirements, monitoring research requirements, maintaining accurate documentation, implementing review and oversight activities, and helping investigators navigate regulatory and administrative expectations throughout the research lifecycle.
Success in this role requires strong knowledge of research administration and regulatory requirements, exceptional attention to detail, sound judgment, and the ability to interpret and apply complex regulatory requirements. The role requires a collaborative, service-oriented approach, the ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic environment, and a commitment to supporting ethical and effective research operations.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Research Operations

• Coordinate and manage day-to-day Office of Research operations, exercising independent judgment in prioritizing activities, resolving operational issues, monitoring regulatory obligations, and maintaining research administration processes that support program effectiveness.
• Serve as a subject matter resource to faculty investigators, students, research staff, institutional committees, sponsors, and external IRBs by interpreting complex regulatory requirements, advising on research processes, and recommending appropriate courses of action to ensure adherence to institutional, sponsor, and federal requirements.
• Administer and continuously improve HRPP operations, including oversight of intake processes, workflow design, submission and deadline tracking, reporting, metrics analysis, and development of operational tools, guidance documents, and standard operating procedures to support effective research operations.
• Evaluate regulatory requirements and research risks associated with human subjects and other regulated research activities, determine appropriate review pathways, and provide authoritative guidance regarding institutional, federal, sponsor, and ethical research requirements.
• Facilitate and review protocol development, IRB submissions, amendments, continuing reviews, reportable events, study closures, and reliance activities, ensuring regulatory completeness, identifying issues requiring follow-up, and recommending corrective actions as appropriate.
• Conduct regulatory and administrative review of research submissions, evaluate regulatory and operational risks, determine submission readiness, recommend required modifications, and resolve routine submission issues prior to institutional, committee, or external review.
• Monitor investigator and key personnel research requirements, assess research risks exposure, identify deficiencies, determine appropriate corrective measures, and advise stakeholders regarding resolution strategies to meet applicable research requirements.
• Evaluate protocol deviations, departures from applicable research requirements, participant complaints, and corrective or preventive action plans; assess regulatory implications; recommend resolution strategies; and escalate significant or high-risk matters as appropriate.

Research Administration

• Maintain research calendars and deadline trackers for IRB submissions, federal and sponsor reporting, ClinicalTrials.gov obligations, grant-related regulatory requirements, audits, inspections, and committee review activities.
• Analyze regulatory and sponsor reporting requirements, coordinate preparation of federal and sponsor submissions, review documentation for accuracy and completeness, and advise stakeholders regarding reporting obligations, award conditions, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Provide research administration consultation for grant and award applications by evaluating human subjects protections, consent processes, privacy considerations, data-sharing requirements, regulatory approvals, and post-award requirements.
• Develop and maintain investigator-facing training materials, guidance documents, educational resources, and research communications that support regulatory understanding, promote ethical research conduct, and support institutional research objectives.
• Maintain accurate records in applicable electronic systems, shared drives, project management tools, and regulatory platforms while exercising appropriate confidentiality and discretion.

Program Improvement

• Lead or facilitate quality improvement, monitoring, auditing, and program assessment activities; analyze findings and trends; develop recommendations; and implement process improvements that strengthen research quality and program performance.
• Analyze research operations metrics, identify emerging risks and trends, develop recommendations for leadership, and contribute to strategic decisions regarding research administration and research program enhancement.
• Collaborate with institutional stakeholders, including legal, privacy, conflict of interest, clinical operations, finance, grants administration, and academic leadership, to resolve complex research administration matters, develop operational solutions, and support institutional research objectives.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned to support evolving organizational needs.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in health sciences, life sciences, public health, research administration, healthcare administration, education, business administration, or a related field.
• Certification or eligibility for certification such as Certified IRB Professional (CIP), Certified Research Administrator (CRA), or similar research administration credential, preferred.
• 4 years of experience in research administration, regulatory coordination, research program support, grants support, academic administration, healthcare administration, or a related operational role.
• Prior experience in an academic, healthcare, clinical research, medical school, IRB, HRPP, or grants administration setting, preferred.
• Experience supporting federal grants, multi-site studies, FDA-regulated research, reliance arrangements, or external IRB coordination, preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret and apply research regulations, institutional policies, and sponsor requirements in support of research operations, preferred.
• Familiarity with 45 CFR 46, FDA human subjects regulations, HIPAA privacy considerations, conflict of interest processes, sponsor requirements, or AAHRPP-aligned HRPP standards, preferred.
• Ability to analyze regulatory issues, evaluate research risks, and make independent recommendations regarding research administration processes and requirements.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple workflows, deadlines, documents, and stakeholder requests in a growing program environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate professionally with faculty, students, staff, leaders, external partners, sponsors, and regulatory contacts.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment, maintain confidentiality, follow established procedures, and escalate questions or concerns appropriately.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, calendar and meeting platforms, shared document systems, and project tracking tools.
• Experience with electronic IRB systems, ClinicalTrials.gov, federal reporting systems, CITI or equivalent training systems, or grant management platforms, preferred.

Physical Demands and Work Environment
The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those required by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.
Physical Demands: In the work environment described, position requires utilizing a computer and a telephone for prolonged periods of time and good eye/hand coordination, bending and stretching, and physical stamina to lift and transport a minimum of 10 pounds. Visual acuity to review written materials is required for this job.
Work Environment: Work is performed on-site (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) in a professional, climate-controlled office environment with standard office equipment, including computers, printers, and telephones. This role requires working in an open setting near colleagues. The noise level is typically low to moderate. The role also requires interaction with both the public and internal team members in a professional and courteous manner. Some local travel will be required, and a flexible schedule may be necessary to accommodate business needs, including occasional evening and weekend work hours.
Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment.
All offers of employment are contingent on successful completion (where permitted by state law) of a confidentiality agreement and background check. In addition, the employee must provide proper identification verifying eligibility to work in the United States.