Manager, Clinical Vendor Outsourcing

Kaztronix LLC; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaztronix LLC is seeking an experienced Manager of Clinical Vendor Outsourcing Oncology Trials for a contract position in Foster City, CA. You will lead sourcing, contracting, and ongoing vendor management for outsourced oncology trials, driving end-to-end CRO engagements from RFPs through contract closeout.

The role requires strong negotiation, budgeting, and cross-functional collaboration across Clinical Operations, Finance, Legal, and Quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in life sciences, business, finance, supply chain or related; advanced degree a plus.
• 5+ years of experience in clinical outsourcing, procurement, vendor management or pharmaceutical development.
• Direct experience sourcing and negotiating contracts with CROs, preferably full-service CROs for oncology trials.
• Familiarity with RFPs, bid defense, vendor qualification, and contract closeout.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end outsourcing for CROs in oncology clinical development.
• Develop sourcing plans aligned with study timelines and budgets.
• Collaborate with Clinical Operations, Finance, Legal, Quality, and Regulatory to define vendor requirements.
• Negotiate CSAs, statements of work, work orders, and budget terms.
• Monitor budgets, invoices, accruals, and financial closeouts.

Skills

CRO contracting

Vendor management

RFP/RFI management

Budget planning

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Contract lifecycle

Education

Bachelor's degree in life sciences, business, finance, supply chain

Tools

Contract lifecycle management

e-procurement

Job description

Manager, Clinical Vendor Outsourcing Oncology Clinical Trials | Contract Position

We are seeking an experienced Clinical Vendor Outsourcing Manager to lead sourcing, contracting, and vendor-management activities supporting outsourced oncology clinical trials. This role will manage the full lifecycle of CRO engagements from sourcing strategy and RFP development through contract negotiation, change-order management, financial oversight, vendor performance, and contract closeout.

Key responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end outsourcing activities for full-service Contract Research Organizations (CROs) supporting oncology clinical development programs.
• Develop and maintain sourcing plans aligned with study timelines, program needs, budgets, and operational requirements.
• Partner with Clinical Operations, Clinical Development, Finance, Legal, Quality, Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance, Data Management, and other stakeholders to define vendor requirements.
• Lead or support Requests for Information (RFIs), Requests for Proposals (RFPs), vendor qualification, proposal reviews, bid-defense meetings, and vendor-selection recommendations.
• Evaluate CRO proposals for scope, technical capability, operational feasibility, quality history, risk, capacity, pricing, and overall value.
• Negotiate clinical service agreements, statements of work, work orders, budgets, payment schedules, amendments, and change orders.
• Translate study requirements into clear contractual deliverables, timelines, assumptions, service-level expectations, and financial terms.
• Manage large, complex clinical-trial budgets and conduct cost comparisons, benchmarking, budget review, and savings analyses.
• Provide oversight of vendor invoices, purchase orders, accruals, forecast updates, budget reconciliations, and final financial closeout.
• Monitor CRO performance against contractual commitments, timelines, quality expectations, key performance indicators, and governance requirements.
• Identify outsourcing, contractual, financial, compliance, and operational risks;escalate issues and help drive mitigation plans.
• Support vendor governance meetings and prepare sourcing, contracting, financial, and performance updates for program leadership.
• Ensure that outsourcing activities follow applicable internal policies, quality requirements, and inspection-readiness expectations.
• Maintain accurate documentation in contract-management, procurement, and vendor-management systems.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor s degree in life sciences, business, finance, supply chain, or a related discipline;advanced degree is a plus.
• Typically 5+ years of relevant experience in clinical outsourcing, procurement, clinical contracts, vendor management, clinical operations, or pharmaceutical/biotechnology development.
• Direct experience sourcing and negotiating contracts with CROs, preferably full-service CROs supporting Phase II III or other complex oncology trials.
• Strong understanding of the clinical-trial vendor lifecycle, including RFPs, proposal evaluation, bid defense, vendor selection, contracting, work orders, amendments, and closeout.
• Demonstrated ability to negotiate clinical budgets, payment terms, contract language, scope changes, and change orders.
• Experience managing study-level budgets, vendor invoices, financial forecasts, accruals, and reconciliations.
• Familiarity with oncology clinical-development operations and the complexity of oncology studies is strongly preferred.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, cross-functional, matrixed organization.
• Strong analytical, organizational, written-communication, stakeholder-management, and negotiation skills.

Preferred experience

• Experience with strategic sourcing or category management for clinical-development services.
• Knowledge of vendor qualification, quality-system expectations, audit support, and inspection readiness.
• Experience with contract lifecycle management, e-procurement, finance, or clinical outsourcing tools.
• Ability to assess supplier risk, review complex multi-line budgets, and identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising study quality or timelines.
• Experience managing external vendors beyond CROs, such as central laboratories, imaging providers, IRT/RTSM, eCOA/ePRO, safety vendors, data-management providers, or specialty laboratory partners.

Success in this role

The successful candidate will bring a balanced commercial and operational mindset: securing competitive, well-structured agreements while ensuring selected CRO partners can execute high-quality oncology trials on time, within budget, and in compliance with study and organizational requirements.

Comparable postings for this type of oncology-focused clinical vendor outsourcing position describe responsibility for sourcing plans, RFIs/RFPs, qualification, CRO contracting, and clinical-trial support.

Kaztronix is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state or local laws.

In addition, all human resource actions in such areas as compensation, employee benefits, transfers, layoffs, training and development are to be administered objectively, without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other consideration made unlawful by federal, state or local laws.

By applying to the position, you acknowledge that your information will be used by Kaztronix in processing your application.