Associate Director, Clinical Site Budgets & Payments

Role Overview 

The Associate Director, Clinical Site Budgets & Payments will architect and lead the company’s global approach to clinical trial site budgeting, investigator grant strategy, transparency compliance, and site/vendor payment governance across our clinical trial portfolio. This leader will define Jade’s global investigator grant philosophy, including structured opening offer and negotiation parameters that ensure speed, fairness, and alignment with global FMV benchmarks.  They will establish standards for invoiceables, conditional procedures, pass‑through costs, and country‑specific budgeting norms that apply across all Jade clinical studies.

This role oversees a full‑service CRO partner responsible for operational execution of budgets, payments, reconciliation, and study financial controls. It also builds and maintains global site budget forecasts, ensures just‑in‑time CRO funding, and supports accruals, reconciliation, and inspection‑readiness.

The successful candidate must be equally fluent in clinical trial protocols and financial statements, highly skilled in influencing cross‑functional and vendor partners, and able to uphold strict compliance with FMV and Sunshine/Open Payments regulations. This is a high‑visibility, individual‑contributor role reporting directly to the Executive Director, Development Outsourcing and operating globally across all Jade studies. The position is remote, with domestic travel up to four times per year.

Key Responsibilities 

Global Payment Philosophy, Compliance & Governance

• Define Jade’s global investigator grant strategy, including opening‑offer tiers, decision and negotiation parameters, aligned with international FMV standards.
• Establish and maintain policies for invoiceables, pass‑throughs, conditional procedures, screen‑fail handling, and complex visit structures; ensure global consistency.
• Develop and maintain SOPs/WIs governing budgeting, payments, documentation, and global transparency requirements (e.g., U.S. Sunshine/Open Payments and ex‑US equivalents).
• Define FMV justification expectations and ensure audit‑ready documentation across all investigator/HCP engagements.

Study‑Level Budget Design & Financial Oversight

• Translate clinical protocols into country‑specific and site‑level cost models that accurately reflect procedures, visit schedules, and conditional events.
• Build and maintain global study budget forecasts, partnering closely with Clinical Operations and Finance to ensure alignment with development plans.
• Implement and monitor just‑in‑time CRO funding, minimizing idle cash at CROs while ensuring on‑time site payments.
• Oversee accruals, spend tracking, payment reconciliation, and close‑out documentation for accuracy and inspection readiness.

CRO Governance & Issue Escalation

• Serve as Jade’s primary owner of CRO performance for site budgets and payments, including contract expectations, KPIs, and service delivery standards.
• Lead the payment‑related components of CRO governance forums, including issue resolution, aging analysis, cycle‑time performance reviews, and payment forecasting.
• Resolve escalated site payment issues, driving sustainable root‑cause solutions and process improvements.

HCP/KOL Payment Operations (“White‑Glove” Model)

• Implement a high‑touch service model for KOL/HCP payments (consulting, advisory boards, speaking engagements), ensuring accuracy, speed, and FMV alignment.
• Streamline administrative burden for external experts by simplifying processes, documentation, and support.

Cross‑Functional Leadership & Decision Support

• Partner closely with Clinical Operations, Development Outsourcing, Legal, Compliance, and Finance to ensure budgets and payments reflect protocol intent, operational realities, and compliance needs.
• Provide executive‑level visibility into performance metrics such as payment timeliness, disputes, forecast accuracy, and CRO funding utilization.
• Serve as Jade’s internal subject‑matter expert for investigator/HCP budgeting and payment strategy across a global two‑program portfolio in Autoimmune disease.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in finance, life sciences, business, or related field with 13+ years of experience or an advanced degree (MBA, MS, MPH) with 10+ years of experience.
• 10+ years of relevant experience in biotech/pharma or CRO roles with direct responsibility for site budgeting and payment oversight
• Demonstrated ability to interpret clinical protocols and convert them into robust, compliant global site budgets
• Strong understanding of global FMV frameworks and Sunshine/Open Payments transparency requirements.
• Proven experience governing a full service CRO, including KPI management, escalation handling, and process improvement.
• Ability to analyze financial statements, accruals, and cash flow impacts.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and cross functional influence.
• Experience supporting Autoimmune or immune mediated diseases preferred.
• Experience managing global payment models across diverse regulatory environments preferred.
• Exposure to KOL/HCP engagement processes with FMV and transparency considerations preferred.

Position Location 

This is a remote role; periodic travel to team and company events is required. 

The anticipated salary range for candidates for this role is $170,000 - $190,000. The final salary offered will depend on several factors, which may include, but not limited to, relevant years of experience, educational background, and geography.