Associate Director, Clinical Category

Scientist.com runs the enterprise scientific marketplaces used by 20+ of the world's top 30 pharmaceutical companies. Clients use Scientist.com to source, contract and pay for outsourced research through a single platform. Suppliers are vetted and contracted once, then available to every client on it. Clinical services are already live on the platform, and clients are buying through it.

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This role will lead the category's next stage of growth. You will shape the category strategy with the SVP of Platform Expansion, deepen adoption with existing clients, bring new ones on board, and build out the supplier network that serves them.

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You will report to the SVP of Platform Expansion. This is an individual contributor role, with a clear path to Director as the category scales. You will lead work across product, account management, business development and marketing. Your time will split roughly equally across category strategy, client adoption and the supplier network.
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Why clinical, and why now? Sponsors are under pressure to shorten development timelines and cut costs across programs that span therapeutic areas, phases and geographies. Clinical teams are rightly cautious about new vendors and new outsourcing models, and they trust people who have done the job. This role needs someone who has sat on the sponsor side, knows how clinical outsourcing decisions get made, and can turn that caution into adoption.

Category Strategy

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• Refine and evolve the clinical category strategy with the SVP of Platform Expansion, based on market insight, client feedback and supplier capability.
• Define the clinical services taxonomy (e.g. patient services and recruitment, site and study execution, clinical and laboratory services, technology and data) to match how clients run studies and buy services.
• Build the value proposition and ROI case for clients compared with traditional vendor relationships.
• Identify new clinical service areas, vendors and innovations to grow the category.
• Coordinate cross-functional category governance and align go-to-market messaging across product, sales and marketing.

Client Adoption

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• Work with clinical operations, procurement and project management leaders at existing and prospective clients to understand their outsourcing needs and what holds back adoption.
• Translate clinical needs into platform requirements, and represent the client in internal strategy discussions.
• Lead pilots and proofs of concept for new clinical services, measure the results and refine the offering.
• Build Scientist.com's credibility in clinical through industry forums, roundtables, case studies and relationships with clinical champions inside pharma organizations.
• Track adoption (service use, spend moving to the platform, satisfaction) and remove barriers to growth within accounts.

Supplier Network

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• Build strategic partnerships with full-service and specialty CROs that will anchor the category, including joint value propositions and go-to-market plans.
• Identify, evaluate and onboard providers that fill gaps in the marketplace, including CROs, technology vendors, patient recruitment firms, bioanalytical labs, imaging centers and statistical analysis providers.
• Support clients quality teams to maintain supplier due diligence on technical capability, quality standards, and regulatory standards in line with their policies.
• Help suppliers present their services in a way that meets client expectations.
• Bring supplier insight on client requirements, procurement preferences and market trends back into category strategy.

Required

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• 4+ years in clinical operations or clinical development at a pharmaceutical or biotech sponsor, for example in clinical project management, clinical operations, clinical QA, or clinical outsourcing and vendor management. This includes a working knowledge of Phase 1 to 4 study design, ICH, FDA and EMA requirements, and GCP and GLP.
• Sponsor-side experience is essential, because the role depends on understanding clinical workflows, regulatory requirements and decision-making from the client's side.
• Breadth across the trial lifecycle, such as study design and protocol development, patient recruitment and retention, site management, bioanalytical and laboratory services, clinical technology and data management, safety and compliance, or CRO contracting. Candidates whose experience sits in a single discipline (e.g. only bioanalysis or only data management) are unlikely to be a fit.
• A track record of evaluating, selecting, contracting and managing clinical service providers, including assessing their capability and regulatory compliance.
• Understanding of how pharma companies structure clinical outsourcing and category decisions.
• Experience leading change inside an organization, including building consensus and moving teams onto new operating models.
• Credibility and influence with senior leaders, clinical teams and procurement.

Nice to have

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• CRO or clinical service provider experience in addition to sponsor experience.
• CCRP, CCRA, ACRP-CP or an equivalent clinical research credential.
• Experience with clinical technology, data management systems or digital health.
• Experience in a marketplace or B2B platform business, ideally in life sciences.
• Experience leading cross-functional programs.

How you work

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• Clear communicator: You turn complex clinical and operational detail into a compelling case for different audiences, in writing and in the room.
• Comfortable with ambiguity: You build pragmatic solutions in a young category where much is still being defined.
• Self-directed: You drive outcomes without close oversight and spot problems before they are raised.