Associate Director, Site Alliances and Strategy

Overview of Role:

The Associate Director, Site Alliances and Strategy is responsible for developing and maintaining strategic relationships with select clinical trial sites, site networks, and emerging clinical research partners, while contributing to broader Clinical Operations strategy and operational improvement initiatives. This role supports high-quality trial execution, portfolio scalability, and organizational effectiveness by connecting site insights with internal planning, process optimization, performance management, and change implementation. The position serves as a key interface across external sites and internal cross-functional stakeholders, ensuring site engagement and operational strategies align with portfolio priorities, business needs, and inspection-ready trial conduct.

The ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, brings strong clinical trial operations experience, and has a demonstrated ability to build trusted external relationships, influence across matrixed teams, and translate site insights into strategies that reduce burden, improve enrollment, and strengthen long-term sponsor-site partnerships.

Role and Responsibilities: 

• Develops and executes site alliance strategies; Building and maintaining strong strategic relationships with key clinical institutions, investigators, research staff, and site leadership to strengthen sponsor-site collaboration
• Leads start-up optimization with internal and external site Study Start-Up teams, driving faster, simpler execution through early engagement, MSAs, standardized budgets and contracts, and streamlined processes.
• Serves as a primary Clinical Operations interface and escalation point for site alliance matters, partnering with study teams, CROs, vendors, and functional leaders to resolve operational issues, reduce site burden, and identify opportunities to improve external partner performance and value.
• Partners with cross-functional stakeholders, including Clinical Operations, Medical Affairs, Clinical Science, Regulatory, Quality, Data Management, Pharmacovigilance, and external partners, to align site engagement activities with study and Summit priorities.
• Develops approaches to identify, onboard, educate, and cultivate new sites that support current and future portfolio needs.
• Develops and monitors KPIs, dashboards, and relationship health measures to evaluate site engagement effectiveness, support data-driven decisions, and improve operational predictability.
• Contributes site and network insights to portfolio planning, resource forecasting, and operational prioritization to support scalable, predictable study execution.
• Contributes to cross-functional Clinical Operations strategy and transformation initiatives that improve study delivery, scalability, and execution excellence.
• Identifies opportunities to simplify clinical trial processes, improve site and patient experience, and streamline study activities across the clinical trial lifecycle.
• Identifies and advances process efficiencies, vendor optimization opportunities, and operational standardization initiatives; develops recommendations and business cases that improve quality, timelines, and cost effectiveness.
• Champions a culture of collaboration, accountability, learning, and continuous improvement, and may coach or mentor Clinical Operations colleagues supporting site alliance and strategic initiatives.
• All other duties as assigned.

Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in life science, nursing, pharmacy, medical laboratory technology, or other health/medical-related area required; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years of direct or indirect clinical trial operations experience, including clinical trial execution, site management, site engagement, or sponsor oversight responsibilities.
• 3+ years of experience in a site-facing clinical trial role, such as trial manager, CRA, site engagement lead, or equivalent role strongly preferred.
• Experience hiring, developing, mentoring, or actively managing team members directly or through a matrixed structure preferred.
• Experience building and managing strategic relationships with clinical trial sites, site networks, investigators, and external research partners at both strategic and operational levels.
• Strong working knowledge of ICH-GCP, health authority expectations, clinical trial conduct, sponsor oversight, and inspection readiness requirements.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally, as required, to support site relationship management, sponsor oversight, and key business needs; anticipated travel up to 25–30%.

Preferred Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills:

• Strategic, solutions-oriented professional who creates structure, sets direction, and drives execution in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Demonstrates sound judgment and operational leadership, with the ability to anticipate risks, establish priorities, and implement effective mitigation strategies.
• Recognizes when risks to quality or delivery require timely escalation to strategy leadership and communicates the issue, potential impact, and recommended actions.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and relationship management skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with senior internal and external stakeholders, escalate key issues, and present concise recommendations to leadership.
• Broad expertise across clinical trial operations, including site start-up, enrollment, site and patient experience, sponsor oversight, and the drug development lifecycle.
• Ability to influence, build alignment, and support accountability across cross-functional, matrixed, and external stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated ability to translate data, KPIs, and site insights into strategic recommendations and measurable operational improvements.