Penfield Search Partners
Contact: Linda Aronova – laronova@penfieldsearch.com
Job Description: As Associate Director, Clinical Trial Patient Recruitment & Retention (PR&R), you will be in the Clinical Trial Solutions & Innovation team to support the Clinical Trial Teams (CTTs) and Compound Development Teams (CDTs) in development of patient recruitment projection and defining recruitment & retention strategies and tactics, which are site and patient centric.
You will report to Director, Team Lead Clinical Trial Solutions & Innovation. You will explore and implement innovative patient recruitment and site engagement strategies in close collaboration with both internal and external stakeholders including company’s strategic partners and specialized patient recruitment vendors. You will have a high impact on choice of tactics in a company where risk willingness is considered a necessity.
Innovation and an agile mind-set are key to company, and we want you to show initiatives and come up with good ideas on improving patient recruitment and engagement for our global clinical trials, with knowledge of the relevant regulatory requirements and data driven trends. Through innovation and strong competences, you and your colleagues will start with the right recruitment strategy, define follow-up as well as modifications on an ongoing basis, to enable trial teams accelerate the studies.
Importantly, it is expected that the ideal applicant will have operational experience from a similar role or have tactical and strategic experience from working at a specialized recruitment vendor.
Key responsibilities include:
- Support early operational planning together with Clinical Project Leader (CPL) and work with Clinical CRO to develop enrollment modelling/predictions at both trial and program level
- Define and lead requirements on advanced analytics supporting recruitment projections (e.g., predictive analytics, “what-if” analysis)
- Coach and advise Clinical Trial Manager (CTM) and CTT in developing patient recruitment projections and Recruitment Strategy and Diversity Plans, to include additional strategies and tactics as relevant
- Advise and support CTT to develop and operationalize patient recruitment strategies and tactics, incl. setting of recruitment thresholds etc.
- Explore relevant external data, either as direct engagements with 3rd parties or via the services and capabilities from the Clinical CRO, and ensure active use for patient recruitment
Identify and define novel patient and site centric solutions and systems:
- Explore patient recruitment and retention vendors to identify services which will support patient recruitment and retention strategies
- Evaluate proposals/tactics from recruitment vendors and CROs to ensure delivery of initiatives is covered from start to finish
- Lead the operationalization of activities related to recruitment vendor selection, incl. scope of work, objectives, quality of deliverables on time and budget to support the CTTs to ensure that overall program milestones are met
- Support company’s efforts to innovate and digitalize trials with a patient and site centric mindset by driving development of pilots or Proof of Concepts including ideation, foundational setup, conduct, evaluation and scale-up
Requirements
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with relevant specialization required; Master’s degree preferred
- At least 10 years from a similar position within the pharma industry, a CRO or patient recruitment vendor; experience within the biotechnological industry is preferred
- Candidates with Clinical Trial Management experience are welcome to apply
- Experience within recruitment and retention strategies from complex diseased e.g., oncology/malignant hematology is an advantage
- Extensive knowledge and understanding of global clinical research, ICH-GCP, data management, regulatory, data protection and legal issues/processes relevant to site activation and patient recruitment
- Ability to handle short timelines and dare to challenge assumptions in order to optimize timelines, costs and quality
- Excellent written and verbal communication in English and interpersonal skills
- Attention to detail
- Strong organizational skills, ability to prioritize, and proactively identify and resolve issues
- Ability to work successfully under pressure in a fast-paced environment with tight timelines, where priorities may change rapidly
- Self-starter with a flexible and positive approach capable of motivating others
- A team player with demonstrated ability to collaborate with a diverse group of internal and external stakeholders (e.g., Clinical Trial Managers, Medical and Medical Affairs teams, Data Managers, CRO personnel, trial site research teams) to support the compound development strategy