Clinical Affairs Specimen Operations Specialist

Abbott; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 61,000 - 123,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbott is seeking a Clinical Affairs Specimen Operations Specialist to drive end-to-end specimen management for clinical studies within the Cancer Diagnostics division. You will coordinate cross-functional teams, define plans, monitor milestones, and ensure study requirements are met from startup through closeout.

The role is onsite in Madison, requires strong project management and communication skills, and includes travel up to 10% to Abbott locations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in health or life sciences or related field.
• 5+ years in Clinical, IT, or Regulatory roles or similar.
• 3+ years in a project management support role.
• Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).

Responsibilities

• Develop cross-functional relationships with Clinical Laboratories, Regulatory Affairs, R&D, PM, Biorepository and others.
• Lead small/medium projects and components of larger programs.
• Coordinate supply and sample management setup for clinical studies.
• Provide regular updates to stakeholders and manage issues to ensure on-time delivery.

Skills

Project management

Microsoft Office

Education

Bachelor’s degree in health or life sciences

Associate’s degree in health or life sciences with 2 years experience

High School Diploma with 4 years experience

Tools

CAPM certification

Job description

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Position Overview

The Clinical Affairs Specimen Operations Specialist (CASO) works with cross functional support teams and key stakeholders to support the logistical stand up of all clinical studies and ensure that supply and sample management needs meet the study design requirements. This role will facilitate the project milestone development, facilitate teams to execute and communicate to the broader organization. The CASO Specialist supports the clinical study portfolio for Abbott Cancer Diagnostics’ commercial and pipeline products, collaborating with Product Core Teams and their respective working groups to successfully meet the development, evidence generation and overall strategic needs of each Abbott Cancer Diagnostics product.

The ideal candidate is a proactive, highly organized clinical operations professional who combines strong project management acumen with sound judgment, ownership, and operational excellence. They translate complex study requirements into executable specimen management plans, build cross-functional alignment, anticipate risks and downstream impacts, and communicate effectively to keep stakeholders informed. This individual manages day-to-day execution while proactively resolving issues, improving processes, and delivering study objectives from startup through closeout.

This position is onsite.

Essential Duties

Include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Develop operational relationships with cross functional team members including but not limited to Clinical Laboratories, Regulatory Affairs, Research and Development, Program Management, Biorepository and others as appropriate.
• Lead defined small and medium-sized projects and components of large projects/programs.
• Coordinate all activities required for supply and sample management set up for internal and external clinical studies.
• Liaise between internal and external stakeholders and Abbott Cancer Diagnostics team members.
• Coordinate and provide communication updates to key stakeholders, management, and team members.
• Lead and support process improvement initiatives within clinical and regulatory affairs.
• Analyze systems user needs to identify and communicate efficiencies/gaps cross-functionally.
• Assess cross-functional impact and integrate stakeholder recommendations/needs to streamline process flow.
• Visualize and document processes.
• Define and report on metrics that are indications of the health of the day-to-day sample and data elements supporting clinical studies.
• Improve the metrics and tracking that feed overall study performance to make decisions on usable samples/subjects, enrollment projections, and advancement of the forecasting process that is required to support study logistics.
• Assist teams with breaking project work into manageable packages and organizing into a project schedule.
• Keep related information organized and available to appropriate stakeholders and team members.
• Manage issues and action items by collaborating directly with team members to ensure completion.
• Maintain positive working relationships with various internal parties and stakeholders.
• Assign tasks and confirm completion.
• Ensure on-time delivery of all assigned goals.
• Schedule meetings and prepare agenda and minutes at the direction of stakeholders and collaborators.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to organize, present, and convey problems or issues.
• Manage multiple priorities for various stakeholders in a cross-functional matrix environment.
• Adaptable to rapid changes in priorities, strong sense of urgency, and able to identify ways to work together to achieve results needed for all requests.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Effective presentation skills.
• Ability to exercise judgment and determine appropriate action to a variety of problems of varying complexity.
• Analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills.
• Ability to coordinate multiple tasks both owned individually and by others.
• Uphold company mission and values through accountability, innovation, integrity, quality, and teamwork.
• Support and comply with the company’s Quality Management System policies and procedures.
• Maintain regular and reliable attendance.
• Ability to act with an inclusion mindset and model these behaviors for the organization.
• Ability to lift up to 10 pounds for approximately 5% of a typical working day.
• Ability to work on a mobile device, tablet, or in front of a computer screen and/or perform typing for approximately 90% of a typical working day.
• Ability to grasp with both hands; pinch with thumb and forefinger; turn with hand/arm; reach above shoulder height.
• Ability to work on a computer and phone simultaneously.
• Ability to comply with any applicable personal protective equipment requirements.
• Ability and means to travel between local Abbott Cancer Diagnostics locations.
• Ability to travel 10% of working time away from work location, may include overnight/weekend travel.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in the health or life sciences, or a field as outlined in the essential duties, or Associate’s degree in the health or life sciences and 2 years of experience in a field as outlined in the essential duties in lieu of Bachelor’s degree, or High School Degree/General Education Diploma and 4 years of experience in a field as outlined in the essential duties in lieu of Bachelor’s degree.
• 5+ years of experience in a Clinical, IT, or Regulatory role, or a field as outlined in the essential duties.
• 3+ years or experience in a project management support role.
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Applicants must be currently authorized to work in country where work will be performed on a full or part-time basis. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment visas at this time.
• Demonstrated ability to perform the Essential Duties of the position with or without accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in process and workflow design, and process improvement.
• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) through PMI.
• Strong understanding of FDA regulations and ICH GCP. Understands global regulations. Good understanding of clinical systems functionality and requirements.

The base pay for this position is

$61,300.00 - $122,700.00

In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.

JOB FAMILY:

Supply Chain

DIVISION:

ONCO Cancer Diagnostics

LOCATION:

United States > Madison : 5505 Endeavor Ln

WORK SHIFT:

Standard

TRAVEL:

Yes, 10 % of the Time

MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE:

No

SIGNIFICANT WORK ACTIVITIES:

Continuous sitting for prolonged periods (more than 2 consecutive hours in an 8 hour day), Keyboard use (greater or equal to 50% of the workday)

Abbott is an Equal Opportunity Employer of Minorities/Women/Individuals with Disabilities/Protected Veterans.

EEO is the Law link - English: http://webstorage.abbott.com/common/External/EEO_English.pdf

EEO is the Law link - Espanol: http://webstorage.abbott.com/common/External/EEO_Spanish.pdf