Clinical Operations Manager (COM)

MSD; Lima Metropolitana; Hybrid; PEN 310,000 - 413,000; Full time

Job summary

MSD Peru in Lima is seeking an experienced Clinical Operations leader to own country budgets, negotiate and close CTRAs, and oversee payments and compliance across studies.

You will coordinate with CRM, CTC, CRA and finance/legal to secure deliverables and timelines, while mentoring the COM team and ensuring regulatory readiness for country trials.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of clinical research or combined clinical research and finance experience.
• Experience in CTAs, regulatory compliance and budget negotiation.
• Ability to influence investigators, partners and country operations.
• Strong understanding of local regulatory environment and study start-up.

Responsibilities

• Own country budgets and negotiate CTAs; oversee clinical research payments and reconciliation.
• Coordinate with CRM/CTC/CRA, finance and legal to secure country deliverables and milestones.
• Ensure local regulatory and financial compliance affecting country trial commitments.
• Develop or enhance local SOPs and mentor COM team; support vendor oversight.

Skills

Budget negotiation

Regulatory compliance

Cross-cultural awareness

Clinical trial management

GCP guidelines

Vendor management

Problem solving

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Finance/Administration/Life Science

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

Job Description

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Ownership of country and site budgets. Development, negotiation and completion of Clinical Trial Research Agreements (CTRA).
• Oversees and tracks clinical research-related payments. Payment reconciliation at study close[1]out. Oversees FCPA, DPS/OFAC, and maintenance of financial systems. Financial forecasting in conjunction with Sr.COM /other roles.
• Manages country deliverables, timelines and results for assigned protocols to meet country
• Contributes to the development of local SOPs. Oversees CTCs as applicable.
• Coordinates and liaises with CRM, CTC, CRA, (Finance and Legal if appropriate) to ensure country deliverables are obtained for submissions, budgets, CTRAs and local milestones. Collaborates closely with Headquarter to align country timelines for assigned protocols.
• Ownership of local regulatory and financial compliance. The position has a significant impact on how a country can deliver country-specific trial commitments and objectives especially during study start-up.
• Required to in/directly influence investigators, external partners and country operations and adheres to budget targets and agreed payment timelines.
• Contribute or lead initiatives and projects adding value to the business, as appropriate/required.
• Contributes strongly to COM team and other Country Operations roles knowledge by acting as process Subject Matter Expert (SME), sharing best practices, making recommendations for continuous improvement and providing training as appropriate/required.
• Contributes to COM team knowledge by acting as buddy/mentor and sharing best practices as appropriate/required
• Provide support and oversight to local vendors as applicable.
• Works in partnership internally with GCTO country operations, finance, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, legal and regional operations, HQ functional areas and externally with vendors and sites, IRB/IECs and Regulatory Authorities in submission and approval related- interactions. Through continual interaction with local clinical team/s successfully delivers clinical and financial contracts within fair market value.

Desirable:

• Executes and oversees clinical trial country submissions and approvals for assigned protocols.
• Develops local language materials including local language Informed Consents and translations. Interacts with IRB/IEC and Regulatory Authority for assigned protocols commitments. Responsible for quality and compliance in assigned protocols in country.
• Oversees and coordinates local processes, clinical and ancillary supplies management, importing and exporting requirements, supplies destruction, local electronic/hard copy filing, archiving and retention requirements, and insurance process management. Enters and updates country information in clinical and finance systems.

Core competencies:

• Expertise of core clinical systems, tools and metrics
• Excellent verbal and written influencing and training/mentoring skills, in local language and English
• Strong coordination and organizational skills
• Skilled knowledge of budget and contract negotiations, local regulatory environment and submission and approval processes, and understanding of how these impact study start-up.
• Ability to indirectly influence investigators, vendors, external partners and country managers to address and resolve issues, with minimal support from the Sr.COM or manager.
• Ability to make decisions independently with limited oversight from Sr.COM or manager.
• Requires strong understanding of local regulatory environment
• Ability to proactively develop risk management and mitigation plans in the country and resolve issues locally.
• Ability to lead a team of CTCs as applicable

Behavioural Competency Expectations:

Problem solving is essential to this position. Requires the ability to pro-actively identify issues and risks, analyse root cause, and propose solutions to problems and elevate to management as applicable. Specific examples of common problems include: 1) Issues in budget / CTRA negotiations, 2) Quality and compliance issues, 3) Regulatory and legal issues, and 4) issues related to functional area deliverables that could jeopardize protocol milestones.

Effective and efficient time management, organizational and interpersonal skills, conflict management and problem-solving skills.

High sense of accountability and urgency in order to properly prioritize deliverables

Strong communication, leadership, and negotiation skills as well as excellent influencing and training/mentoring skills, both written and verbal, in local language and English.

Ability to focus on multiple deliverables and protocols simultaneously is essential. Requires that the individual has ability to work effectively also in a remote virtual environment with a wide range of people.

Positive mindset, growth mindset, capable of working independently and being self-driven

Able to directly influence site staff

Experience Requirements:

Required: 5 years of experience in clinical research or combined experience in Clinical Research and Finance/Business

Educational Requirements:

Required: Bachelor's Degree in Business Finance/ Administration/ Life Science or equivalent Health Care related experience

Required Skills:

Adaptability, Adaptability, Business Agility, Business Management, Clinical Site Management, Clinical Trial Agreements (CTA), Clinical Trial Compliance, Clinical Trial Documentation, Clinical Trial Management, Clinical Trial Planning, Clinical Trials Monitoring, Clinical Trials Operations, Cross-Cultural Awareness, Growth Mindset, ICH GCP Guidelines, Impact Analysis, Legal Compliance, Patient Recruitment, Regulatory Compliance, Regulatory Management, Regulatory Processes, Regulatory Requirements, Regulatory Strategies, Risk Avoidance, Schedule Adherence {+ 6 more}

Employee Status: Regular

Relocation:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements: Hybrid

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date: 10/26/2026*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.