Clinical Research Budget Associate

Overview

This role provides specialized financial and budgeting support for industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical trials. The position develops, analyzes, and negotiates clinical trial budgets, supports strategic and long-range planning for the clinical trials program, and ensures accurate and efficient financial management—contributing to timely activation of studies in an oncology-focused research environment.

Workplace: 100% Remote (must be located in Texas)

Employment type/location: Contract to Hire position based out of Houston, TX

Anticipated application close: Nov 16, 2026

Responsibilities

• Prepare detailed budgets for industry-sponsored clinical trials in collaboration with research planning and development leadership.
• Manage and create budgets for all alliance clinical trials entering the department’s clinical trials portfolio.
• Complete advance setup requests to establish funding accounts for clinical trials and ensure accurate account configuration.
• Review clinical trial protocols, amendments, and ancillary documents to identify discrepancies or unclear information; work with principal investigator teams and sponsors to resolve issues.
• Collaborate with regulatory teams, budget teams, principal investigator teams, and clinical research finance to review preliminary and final coverage analyses; report discrepancies and incorporate recommended changes.
• Assist with strategic and long-range planning for the department’s clinical trials program, including participation in weekly clinical research review meetings and ad hoc protocol review meetings.
• Work with clinical faculty to support clinical trial goals and ensure alignment with financial and operational objectives.
• Conduct quality assurance reviews of budgets created by pre-award staff to confirm that all relevant budgetary items are captured accurately.
• Train new employees on pre-award budgeting duties and provide ongoing training to existing staff on changes to budget processes implemented by clinical research finance and the institution.
• Maintain training manuals and documentation for the budget team to support consistent processes and standards.
• Manage team workload and efficiency by maintaining and updating assignment lists and monitoring progress.
• Collaborate with the protocol processing team to streamline protocol schemas to maximize efficiency of charges and financial workflows.
• Participate in negotiations with industry sponsors and contract research organizations to process new and amended clinical trial budgets.
• Analyze sponsor budget proposals to determine whether proposed funding adequately covers trial costs based on complexity, visit schedules, and reporting requirements.

Requirements

• Experience utilizing OnCore or similar clinical trial management systems for budgeting and tracking.
• Experience in oncology or clinical research environments, particularly with industry-sponsored trials.
• Familiarity with coverage analysis processes and collaboration with regulatory, budget, and clinical research finance teams.
• Experience participating in sponsor and CRO negotiations for new and amended clinical trial budgets.

Compensation & Benefits

Pay range: $35.00 - $45.00/hr

Individual compensation offered within this range will depend on factors including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other job-related considerations.

Benefits (eligibility requirements apply):

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan (pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions)
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Location

100% Remote — must be located in Texas.

Equal Opportunity

The employer is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or other characteristics protected by law.