Associate Director, Global Outsourcing & Budget Management

Overview

The Associate Director, Global Outsourcing and Budget Management leads operational delivery of clinical sourcing, contracting, budgeting, and supplier-management activities across global clinical studies. This role translates functional strategy and standards into consistent, inspection-ready execution. You will manage RFP and contracting workflows, investigator-site budget frameworks, supplier performance, and financial reporting, and lead staff to ensure timely, compliant delivery. The Associate Director serves as a primary operational subject matter expert and escalates material financial, contractual, or supplier risks with clear recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day clinical outsourcing, contracting, and budget-management operations across assigned programs and supplier categories in accordance with approved strategy, governance, and decision rights.
• Manage, coach, and develop assigned staff; allocate work, monitor quality and timelines, provide performance feedback, and build team capability.
• Plan and execute RFI/RFP activities, including scope development, bid analysis, supplier due diligence, and cross-functional recommendation development; escalate material selection decisions for approval.
• Prepare, negotiate, route, and execute MSAs, Work Orders/SOWs, Change Orders, vendor service agreements, and consultant agreements in partnership with Legal, Procurement, and business owners.
• Manage contracting and change-control workflows; monitor cycle times; identify scope creep or unplanned exposure; and escalate material deviations or disputes with options and recommendations.
• Develop and maintain study-specific investigator-site budget templates and negotiation parameters for domestic and international sites, ensuring Fair Market Value, coverage-analysis, and billing-compliance requirements are applied.
• Oversee site-budget and contract negotiations, payment terms, exception management, SOX compliance (US), and payment-related issue resolution; monitor performance and implement corrective actions.
• Review CRO site budgets above FMV or within escalation pathways; develop and track CRO (ex-US) site budgets for oversight.
• Review CRO invoices with Clinical Operations for unit cost and/or pass-through items; provide feedback to accounting.
• Oversee invoice audits for accounting; develop systems to track and record GL (General Ledger) coding for all non-PO invoices.
• Support trial and vendor budgeting, forecasting, accruals, reconciliation, audit, and variance-analysis activities by maintaining accurate assumptions, commitments, and supporting documentation.
• Maintain portfolio-level visibility into active contracts, budgets, purchase requisitions, change orders, and supplier commitments; deliver timely dashboards, analyses, and decision-ready reporting.
• Manage operational supplier performance through scorecards, business reviews, action tracking, and remediation; escalate material quality, cost, delivery, or relationship risks through established governance.
• Implement and maintain SOPs, templates, controls, and standardized processes for sourcing, contracting, budgeting, supplier oversight, and billing compliance; support audits and inspections as required.
• Serve as process owner and operational SME for relevant clinical financial, contracting, and payment systems, including Veeva; promote adoption, data quality, and workflow optimization.
• Partner closely with Clinical Operations, Finance/Accounting, Procurement, Legal, Quality, CMC, and other functions to resolve issues, communicate substantive changes, and ensure aligned execution.
• Perform ad-hoc and cross-functional duties/projects as assigned to support business needs and provide developmental opportunities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, business, finance, healthcare administration, or a related discipline required; advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of progressive experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, or related clinical-research operations, including clinical outsourcing, supplier management, budgeting, contracting, or site payments required.
• 3+ years of experience leading teams, people, or complex cross-functional workstreams required.
• Demonstrated experience supporting global clinical studies across multiple phases, including managing RFPs, contracts, site budgets, financial tracking, and supplier-performance activities required.
• Experience with CTMS and clinical financial, contracting, or site-payment systems; Veeva experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with Fair Market Value, coverage analysis, billing compliance, and domestic/international site-budget negotiations preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Strong working knowledge of clinical development operations, supplier-management practices, and contracting and budget-management workflows.
• Proficiency in RFP execution, bid analysis, contract and change-order negotiation, investigator-site budgeting, and supplier-performance management.
• Strong financial and analytical skills, including budgeting, forecasting support, accruals, reconciliation, and variance analysis.
• Knowledge of Fair Market Value, coverage analysis, CPT coding, and applicable billing-compliance requirements.
• Proficiency with CTMS, Veeva or comparable clinical systems, and advanced Microsoft Excel.
• Ability to manage competing priorities, establish operational discipline, and deliver accurate work within defined timelines.
• Strong communication, negotiation, problem-solving, and stakeholder-management skills in a matrixed environment.
• Ability to coach staff, improve processes, promote knowledge sharing, and support a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Sound judgment to resolve routine issues independently and escalate material exceptions with fact-based recommendations.

Compensation & Benefits

• Eligible for a discretionary bonus and equity award.
• Annual base pay range:
  • National Market (all markets unless identified as Premium): $162,000 to $180,000 annually
  • Premium Market (Premium markets include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, & Boston): $188,000 to $209,000 annually
• Benefits (for eligible employees) include:
  • Medical, Dental and Vision Plan Options
  • Health and Financial Wellness Programs
  • Employer Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Company Paid and Voluntary Life/AD&D, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
  • Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan with Company Match
  • 529 Education Savings Program
  • Voluntary Legal Services, Identity Theft Protection, Pet Insurance and Employee Discounts, Rewards and Perks
  • Paid Time Off (PTO) includes 11 Holidays
  • Exempt Employees: eligible for Unlimited PTO
  • Non-Exempt Employees: eligible for 10 Vacation Days, 56 Hours of Health Pay, 2 Personal Days and 1 Cultural Day

Location & Work Schedule

• Work on site or remote as noted in the offer letter.
• Regular work schedule: Monday–Friday, within standard business hours (flexibility available with manager approval).
• Ability to sit/stand in front of a computer for a long period of time.
• Occasional evening or weekend work may be required to support business needs.