Director Global Site Solutions & Study Start Up

Avance Clinical is a specialist Contract Research Organisation supporting biotech and pharmaceutical companies through every stage of drug development. We're known for speed, scientific rigour and genuine partnership — and we're growing globally.

This is an exciting leadership role with end-to-end accountability for how we find, engage and activate clinical trial sites worldwide. You'll lead two critical functions — Strategic Site Solutions and Study Start-Up — through their functional heads, owning global site strategy, country and site feasibility, site engagement, start-up execution and activation readiness.

It's a role with real influence: you'll shape win strategies alongside Business Development, partner with our Centres of Excellence on therapeutic and recruitment strategy, and act as the senior escalation point when timelines, quality or enrolment need decisive intervention.

What you'll do

• Lead the global Strategic Site Solutions and Study Start-Up functions, setting the operating model, decision rights and performance expectations
• Build and execute an integrated global strategy across site intelligence, investigator engagement, feasibility, country strategy and site activation
• Provide executive oversight of pre-award and post-award activity — from opportunity qualification and proposal development through award, start-up and activation
• Own study start-up delivery: site selection to activation-ready, country and site budgets, Clinical Trial Research Agreements, EC/IRB submissions, essential documents and Green Light Form integrity
• Monitor real-time enrolment performance and own the escalation process when accrual falls off track — site-level interventions, contingency activation and recovery plans
• Partner with Business Development on proposal strategy, bid defence and differentiated site solutions
• Establish global KPIs for quality, timeliness, productivity, client satisfaction and profitable growth
• Lead capacity planning, organisation design, succession and leadership capability across both functions
• Drive process harmonisation, CTMS and dashboard adoption, and audit readiness

What you'll bring

• Bachelor's degree in life sciences, pharmacy, nursing, health sciences or a related field
• Minimum 10 years in biotech, pharmaceutical, CRO or clinical trial site environments, including significant senior leadership experience in global study start-up, site strategy, feasibility or clinical operations
• Proven success leading senior managers and geographically dispersed teams in a global matrix
• Deep knowledge of start-up processes, country and site feasibility, regulatory and ethics pathways, clinical trial agreements and activation planning
• Strong commercial acumen — proposals, bid defences, client engagement and planning for profitable delivery
• Track record of leading organisational change, process improvement and scaling global operations
• Advanced knowledge of ICH GCP and applicable global regulatory requirements
• Excellent communication and executive stakeholder management, with the judgement to handle sensitive client and operational escalations
• Willingness to travel (up to 25%)

Why join us:
You'll be joining a CRO where senior leaders are close to the science and the decisions. This role carries genuine scope to redesign how a global business finds and activates sites — with the backing to make it happen.

Apply
Submit your CV and a short cover note outlining your global start-up and site strategy leadership experience. Avance Clinical is an equal opportunity employer; we welcome applications from all backgrounds and will make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process on request.