Manager, Study Operations - Operations Readiness Team

Socket.dev; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) retirement savings plan with em

Annual performance bonus

Generous PTO and holidays

Comprehensive medical, dental, and VIS

Life and disability insurance

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Flexible FSA and HSA plan

Commitment to balance and wellbeing

Job summary

START Center for Cancer Research seeks a Manager, Study Operations to lead the Operational Readiness Team, preparing new clinical sites to launch and stabilizing at-risk sites. You will deploy specialists across CRC, Infusion Nursing, Scheduling, Patient Navigation, and more to close gaps and enable growth.

You will partner with site leadership to validate staffing, space, and workflows, anticipate risks, and accelerate readiness across the network.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a health-related field and GCP familiarity.
• 5+ years in clinical research operations or site management with leadership.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office and clinical documentation systems.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a deployable operational readiness team across key roles.
• Manage deployments based on site needs, calendar, and risk signals.
• Create training curricula, checklists, and SOPs for onboarding and stabilization.
• Own readiness plans for new site launches and staffing ramp.
• Partner with site leadership to ensure readiness before go-live.
• Identify and elevate operational risks to leadership.
• Maintain a network-wide view of site health and stability.
• Act as a first responder to instability, deploying the readiness team.
• Diagnose root causes of underperformance and drive corrective actions.
• Determine when sites have stabilized and can transition off support.
• Support PI communications during launches and stabilizations.
• Coordinate with training, integration, and QA teams on readiness content.

Skills

Team leadership

Operations leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in nursing, health administration, or other related field

CITI GCP training

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

The START Center for Cancer Research ("START") is the world’s largestearly phasesite network, fully dedicated tooncologyclinical research.Throughout ourhistory, START has provided hope to cancer patients inglobalcommunity practices by offering"Hope Through Access”tocutting edgetrials throughout the UnitedStatesand Europe.

Position Summary

The Manager, Study Operations leads START's Operational Readiness Team, a deployable, cross-functional team that prepares new clinical research sites to launch and intervenes when existing sites show signs of instability. This role builds and leads a bench of operational specialists who can be deployed into key roles across the operating model, including CRC, DC, Infusion Nursing, Scheduling, Clinical Administrative Assistant, Patient Navigation, IDS, and PK, to close gaps, transfer best practice, and stand up sustainable operations quickly. This role also serves as a direct extension of the VP, Regional Operations across the site network, surfacing risk before it becomes a crisis and acting as the first line of defense when a clinic shows signs of operational strain. By accelerating new site readiness and stabilizing at-risk clinics, this role directly enables START's site growth and expansion targets.

Essential Responsibilities

• Build, lead, and continuously develop a deployable team of operational readiness specialists who can flex across key roles, including CRC, DC, Infusion Nursing, Scheduling, Clinical Administrative Assistant, Patient Navigation, IDS, and PK.
• Assign and manage team deployments based on site need, launch calendar, and risk signals, balancing new site readiness work against active stabilization support.
• Establish training curricula, checklists, and standard operating procedures the team uses to onboard new sites and remediate struggling ones consistently.
• Own the operational readiness plan for new site launches, coordinating staffing ramp, workflow setup, systems onboarding, and role specific training ahead of first patient activity.
• Partner with site leadership to validate that staffing models, space planning, and department workflows meet readiness standards prior to go live, supporting START's site growth and expansion targets.
• Proactively identify and elevate emerging operational, staffing, quality, and safety risks across the site network to the VP, Regional Operations.
• Maintain a standing view of site health across the network, including staffing ratios, data timeliness, quality and safety indicators, and patient volume trends, to flag sites trending toward instability before they require crisis intervention.
• Act as first responder when a site shows signs of instability, such as a leadership vacancy, staffing shortfall, quality or safety concern, or rapid volume ramp, deploying the readiness team to stabilize operations.
• Diagnose root causes of site underperformance and implement corrective action plans in partnership with site and department leadership.
• Determine when a site has stabilized and can transition off direct readiness team support.
• Serve as a comfortable, trusted point of contact for Principal Investigators during new site launches and site stabilizations, fielding provider questions or concerns and routing them to resolution.
• Partner with the Global Training Manager and network training facilitators to align readiness team training content with enterprise training standards and curricula.
• Coordinate with Integration Leadership on new site and acquisition integration timelines, ensuring readiness team deployment is sequenced with broader integration milestones.
• Partner with Quality Assurance and Compliance leadership to proactively identify and mitigate site level risk, operating with a high degree of autonomy and minimal oversight.
• Incorporate QA and compliance standards into readiness team training, checklists, and stabilization playbooks so sites launch and recover audit ready.
• Other duties may be assigned at any time.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in nursing, health administration, or other related field.
• CITI GCP training.
• Knowledge of GCP and applicable federal clinical research regulations in the United States.
• 5+ years of experience in clinical research operations, healthcare operations, or site management, including direct people leadership.
• Must be familiar with Microsoft Office applications and clinical documentation systems.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master's degree in health administration, nursing, or other related field.
• Experience leading or standing up teams or departments in an oncology clinical research setting, including new site launches or site turnarounds.
• Specialty certification in research or an associated field.
• Demonstrated involvement in professional practice and industry advancement, such as conference attendance, poster presentations, or conference presenter or coordinator roles.
• BLS certification.

Physical and Travel Requirements

• Approximately 50% travel, including extended stays to support new site launches and site stabilizations.
• Very fast paced and ever changing healthcare environment.
• Demanding deadlines and time frames.
• Constant demand for updating knowledge.
• Works closely with Principal Investigators, physicians, and ancillary personnel across multiple sites during launches and stabilizations.

Best-in-Class Benefits and Perks

• 401(k) retirement savings plan with employer match

• Eligibility for an annual performance bonus, based on role and company results

• Generous paid time off and paid holidays

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverageand optional insuranceoptions

• Company paid life and disability insurance for added financial protection

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providing confidential, no-cost support for you and your family from day one

• Flexible FSA and HSA plans to support your financial wellness

• Commitment to a supportive environment that values balance, wellbeing, and flexibility

• We’recommitted to fostering a collaborative, creative workplace where every team member is encouraged to contribute. At START,you’lljoin a team that values continuous learning, professional growth, shared ideas, and a culture built on inclusivity and innovation.

More About START

START clinical trial sites have conducted more than 1,000 early-phase clinical trials, including dozens of therapies that were approved by the FDA or EMA. STARTrepresentsthe world’s largest roster of early-phase principal investigators across its Network of clinical trial sites.

Learn more at STARTresearch.com.

Ready to be part of a team changing the future of cancer treatment?

Join us in our mission to conquer cancer, one clinical trial at a time. Yourexpertiseand dedication can help us bring hope and healing to patients worldwide.

We are an equal opportunity employer that welcomes and encourages diversity in the workplace. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.