Associate Director, Strategic Consultant

Pop Science; New Jersey; On-site; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Pop Science seeks an Associate Director, Strategic Consulting to bridge AI technology with clinical operations. You will lead client discovery, re-engineer processes, and architect change-management strategies to embed our AI platform in daily workflows.

Ideal candidates bring CRO/pharma experience, lifecycle expertise, and proven discovery and change-management capabilities to drive adoption across enterprise environments.

Qualifications

• Experience in CRO/pharma space leading change initiatives.
• Deep understanding of the clinical trial lifecycle and regulatory requirements.
• Proven discovery & mapping skills with stakeholder interviews/workshops.
• Proven change management experience in regulated environments.
• Understanding of how AI/ML/NLP apply to data analytics.

Responsibilities

• Lead comprehensive discovery workshops with sponsors, clinical operations leaders, and data scientists to assess current-state trial processes and goals.
• Analyze legacy clinical workflows and design future-state operating models for AI value.
• Develop tailored adoption strategies and governance structures for clients.
• Define, track, and report KPIs and ROI metrics to show platform impact to executives.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering and AI Research teams to translate client feedback into roadmap enhancements.
• Stay informed on industry trends in decentralized trials and regulatory shifts and share insights.

Skills

Stakeholder interviews

Workshops facilitation

Change management

AI literacy

Life sciences experience

Executive presence

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Miro

Lucidchart

Visio

Job description

We are delighted to be recruiting for an Associate Director, Strategic Consulting (Clinical Trial Innovation) to join one of our clients.

Department: Professional Services / Customer Success

Reports To: Head of Strategic Consulting

Position Overview

We are seeking an Associate Director, Strategic Consulting to serve as the critical bridge between our clients' AI technology and our clients' clinical operations. This is not a traditional IT implementation role; it is a high-impact, consultative position focused on client discovery, process re-engineering, and long-term software adoption strategy.

You will partner with enterprise biopharma sponsors and CROs to deeply understand their current trial workflows, uncover inefficiencies, and architect change-management blueprints that embed our AI platform into their daily operational DNA.

Key Responsibilities

• Deep Client Discovery: Lead comprehensive discovery workshops with executive sponsors, clinical operations leaders, and data scientists to assess their current-state trial processes, pain points, and strategic goals.
• Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR): Analyze legacy clinical workflows and design future-state operating models that maximize the value of our AI software. Map out data flows, user journeys, and procedural changes.
• Adoption & Change Management Strategy: Author robust, tailored adoption strategies for clients. Develop change management frameworks, communication plans, and governance structures to overcome user friction and drive high platform utilization.
• Value Realization & Metrics: Define, track, and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) and ROI metrics (e.g., cycle-time reduction, cost savings, patient enrollment velocity) to demonstrate the tangible impact of our platform to client executives.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as the \"voice of the customer\" for our Product, Engineering, and AI Research teams, translating client feedback and workflow realities into actionable product roadmap enhancements.
• Thought Leadership: Act as a trusted advisor within the clinical trials ecosystem, staying ahead of industry trends (e.g., decentralized trials, synthetic control arms, regulatory shifts regarding AI) and sharing insights through case studies or industry forums.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Experience: Strong experience in the CRO or pharma space leading change initiatives, or management consulting (Life Sciences practice), clinical operations strategy, or a strategic implementation role at an eClinical/Life Sciences software company.
• Clinical Trials Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of the clinical trial lifecycle (Phase I-IV), protocol design, site monitoring, regulatory compliance (GCP/ICH), and standard trial data structures.
• Proven Discovery & Mapping Skills: Demonstrated expertise in leading stakeholder interviews, facilitating workshops, and using process-mapping tools (e.g., Miro, Lucidchart, Visio) to redesign complex enterprise workflows.
• Change Management Prowess: Proven track record of successfully driving technology adoption and behavioral change within conservative or highly regulated corporate environments.
• Tech-Savviness: A strong conceptual understanding of how AI, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP) can be applied to data analytics and automation (no coding required, but you must be able to \"speak AI\").
• Education: Bachelor's degree in a life sciences, engineering, or business discipline required or equivalent combination of education and experience

Core Competencies

• The Consultative Mindset: Exceptional active listening skills with the ability to ask the right probing questions to uncover root-cause operational bottlenecks.
• Executive Presence: Comfort presenting to and influencing C-suite and VP-level stakeholders within global pharmaceutical companies.
• Ambiguity Tolerance: Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving startup environment where processes are still being defined and refined.
• Analytical Rigor: Ability to translate qualitative client feedback and quantitative platform data into structured, strategic recommendations.

Contact Gail Kniveton for more information