Senior Clinical Site Budget Specialist

Overview

The organization is seeking a Senior Clinical Trial Budget Specialist to develop, deploy, and administer standardized approaches for suppliers, contracts, and budgets supporting clinical trial operations. The role builds clinical trial budgets for negotiation and provides budget and administrative policy guidance to clinical operations teams. The senior specialist may mentor, coach, and train less experienced budget team members.

Responsibilities

• Guide and support clinical operations teams in the site budgeting process for the organization’s trials, including investigator-initiated trials; prepare, negotiate, and execute clinical trial budgets, service contracts, and agreements
• Identify opportunities to improve clinical trial business processes and recommend and draft Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and templates
• Monitor budget timelines, provide regular updates to trial stakeholders, and recommend tactics to achieve clinical program milestones
• Provide reports/analysis of trends in negotiation of budgets and agreements to management
• Triage incoming protocols for coverage analysis and budget build
• Perform detailed coverage analysis for clinical trials using Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Policy, National Coverage Determinations (NCDs), Local Coverage Determination (LCDs), Drug Compendia, etc.
• Develop, review, and negotiate clinical trial budgets
• Partner and communicate with Legal, Finance/Accounting, and Clinical Operations teams
• Develop and maintain study-specific site budget templates and negotiate budget and contract parameters
• Assist with budgeting, forecasting, auditing, and variance management activities
• Respond to coverage analysis, billing compliance, and budget-related questions
• Serve as a subject matter expert to select methods to address billing compliance issues and negotiate budgets
• Educate others on budget processes and billing compliance as needed
• Provide mentoring, coaching, and training to less experienced members of the budget team
• Perform ad-hoc and cross-functional projects as assigned to support business needs and provide development opportunities

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years’ progressive experience in budget and contract development
• 4+ years’ experience in clinical research

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with contract negotiations
• Experience with domestic and international research studies

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Knowledge and expertise in Clinical Trial Management Systems and Excel for budget development and negotiation
• Advanced skills in Excel
• Knowledge in coverage analysis and CPT coding
• Sound judgment, problem solving, matrix management, and collaboration in selecting methods to resolve issues
• Knowledge of the drug development process and cross-functional responsibilities
• Ability to influence various teams without direct reporting structure
• Extremely flexible, highly organized, and able to balance and quickly shift priorities
• Excellent project and process management skills with a track record of accomplishing tasks and delivering results
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; strong customer-service orientation; ability to work effectively with all levels of the organization and a wide range of clients
• Ambitious and driven, with a keen interest in improving processes and development both as a team and personally
• Understands supplier management and billing/regulatory compliance guidelines
• Proven ability to handle highly confidential information
• Experience using Veeva CTMS and payments

Compensation & Benefits

• Discretionary bonus and equity award eligibility
• Annual base pay range:
  • National Market (all markets unless identified as Premium): $126,000 (entry-level qualifications) to $140,000 (highly experienced) annually
  • Premium Market (Premium markets include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, & Boston): $136,500 (entry-level qualifications) to $150,000 (highly experienced) annually

Benefits (for eligible employees):

• 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/perks
• Paid time off (PTO): 11 Holidays
  • Exempt employees: Unlimited PTO
  • Non-exempt employees: 10 vacation days, 56 hours of health pay, 2 personal days, and 1 cultural day

Location & Work Environment

• This position works either onsite or remote as noted in the offer letter.
• Regular work schedule: Monday–Friday during standard business hours; flexibility available with manager approval.
• Must possess mobility to work in a standard office setting and to use standard office equipment, including a computer.
• Ability to lift and carry materials weighing up to 20 pounds.

Application Window

• The application window is anticipated to close on 60 days from when it is posted, or sooner if the position is filled or closed.

Equal Employment Opportunity

• The organization is an equal opportunity employer and provides equal employment opportunities to qualified individuals without regard to race, gender, color, disability, national origin, age, religion, union affiliation, sexual orientation, veteran status, citizenship, gender identity and/or expression, or other status protected by law.

AI Use in Recruiting

• AI tools may be used to assist with sourcing and identifying potential candidates and to improve recruitment outreach efficiency.
• No preference is given to applicants sourced or identified by AI tools.
• AI is not used to screen, evaluate, rank, assess, or make hiring decisions; all applications are reviewed by human recruiters and hiring managers.