Director Clinical Operations

Barrington James; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Barrington James is seeking a Director/Senior Director of Clinical Operations for a TechBio company focusing on gene therapies. The role involves leading clinical trials for neurological diseases, ensuring high-quality execution and compliance.

Ideally, you have over 10 years of experience in clinical operations, with a strong background in managing complex clinical trials. This hybrid position offers a base salary of £120,000 to £150,000, alongside bonuses and stock options.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in clinical operations or clinical program leadership.
• Experience leading Phase II/III clinical trials in global settings.
• Proven ability to manage budgets, timelines, and quality deliverables.

Responsibilities

• Support trial design, planning, and setup.
• Drive operational management and execution of clinical development programs.
• Oversee CROs and ensure high-quality delivery and budget control.

Skills

Clinical operations

Clinical development operations

Program leadership

CRO management

Regulatory compliance

AI solutions integration

Job description

Job Title: Director/Senior Director Clinical Operations – CNS, Gene Therapy

Location: Hybrid. Three days a week in central London office

Compensation: Base salary between £120,000 - £150,000 + annual bonus and meaningful stock options in high growth business.

We are currently partnered with a stealth mode TechBio company to help them appoint an experienced operational leader to drive delivery across their innovative gene therapy programs in neurological and psychiatric diseases, initially focused on Parkinson’s disease with the plan to explore additional indications.

Reporting directly to the C‑Suite, the Clinical Operations Lead will be responsible for leading their late stage asset through the rest of development and into market entry and a potential asset sale, combining strong clinical development and operational expertise with an entrepreneurial, technology driven mindset.

This is a highly empowered role for someone who looks beyond traditional clinical operations and is motivated by creating success across the full product lifecycle, focusing on high quality clinical execution while also supporting with trial related insights that can serve regulators, payers, physicians and HTA bodies.

The ideal candidate is decisive, accountable and comfortable navigating in a high energy, high growth and driven environment who is excited to build new capabilities rather than simply maintain existing processes. You will bring the expertise of an experience drug developer with the curiosity and openness of embedding AI solutions to improve success and timelines.

Responsibilities

Clinical Set-up and Execution

• Support trial design, planning and setup including vendor, country and site selection
• Ensure the timely and accurate completion of necessary regulatory applications across jurisdictions, including Health authorities, as well as GMO bodies, IRBs, site‑specific committees and others
• Drive the operational management and execution of clinical development programs in a hands‑on, highly organized and proactive manner
• Oversee, monitor and control CROs, vendors, and study teams to ensure high‑quality delivery, timeline adherence, budget control and operational excellence
• Anticipate operational risks and bottlenecks, and implement pragmatic solutions to maintain program momentum and delivery timelines
• Engage with investigators and site personnel to drive strong patient recruitment
• Ensure the integrity and quality of clinical trial data, oversee data reconciliation, support safety surveillance, support data quality and consistency assessments and contribute to safety review committees
• Align & engage with our development partners throughout the different programs
• Challenge conventional approaches and identify opportunities to accelerate clinical development while maintaining high trial quality
• Evaluate and integrate emerging AI solutions and innovative operational approaches (direct or through vendors) to optimise trial execution, patient enrolment, trial management, and safety monitoring
• Explore and advance innovative clinical trial strategies and technologies, including proactive engagement with regulators and stakeholders to support adoption
• Drive program management and trial execution with a forward‑looking mindset, supporting early evidence for registration, reimbursement, payer discussion and commercial launch
• Identify practical opportunities within the phase III program to generate launch‑relevant insights, including patient journey, treatment patterns, endpoint optimisation, site feedback, and real‑world evidence opportunities
• Lead structured KME/site engagement to build scientific advocacy, understand adoption barriers, and strengthen launch readiness from the clinical program onward

Required skills & qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant experience in clinical operations, clinical development operations, or clinical program leadership within biotech, pharma, or CRO environments
• Demonstrated experience leading Phase II/III or pivotal clinical trials, ideally in multi‑country or global settings
• Proven ability to manage CROs, vendors, site coordination, budgets, timelines, risks, and quality deliverables in a hands‑on, solution‑oriented manner
• Ideally experienced with running late stage clinical trials within the CNS Therapeutic area, and experience with Cell and Gene Therapies is advantageous.
• Experience in a small biotech or high growth environment would be seen as a bonus. It’s not essential, but the environment would be very different to that of large pharma or top 5 CRO.