Clinical Operations Manager

Desmond Tutu Health Foundation; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 600 000 - 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in Cape Town is seeking a Clinical Operations Manager to oversee daily operations of an HIV prevention project. The role involves managing clinical research and compliance with protocols while ensuring high-quality service delivery. Candidates should hold a Master's degree or MBA with relevant experience in clinical research, project management, and financial literacy. This position is crucial for coordinating between multi-disciplinary teams and ensuring effective project execution.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or MBA with relevant focus.
• 5+ years of experience in clinical research or HIV programs.
• Working knowledge of GCP and clinical trial operations.

Responsibilities

• Oversee daily clinical and non-clinical operations.
• Support Site Lead with project workflow and staffing.
• Manage logistics for project activities.

Skills

Clinical research experience

Project management

Strong organizational skills

Communication skills

Financial literacy

Education

Master’s degree in public health or related field

MBA with focus on health systems

Tools

Project management software

Job description

Job title: Clinical Operations Manager

Job Location: Western Cape, Cape Town

Deadline: January 04, 2026

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• The main purpose of the Clinical Operations Manager is to oversee day-to-day operations for a large-scale HIV prevention project, supporting the Site Lead and managing the Project Manager. This role ensures high-quality service delivery, compliance with protocols and smooth site operations. Key responsibilities include managing clinical research, financial activities and the rollout of PrEP and integrated HIV / SRH services for adolescents across multiple sites. The manager acts as a bridge between the Site Lead and Project Manager, ensuring seamless execution, monitoring timelines and addressing challenges proactively.

Job Requirements

• Master’s degree in public health, Health Sciences, Social Sciences, or a related field OR
• Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on health systems, project operations, or non-profit management.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in clinical research, HIV prevention programmes or implementation science.
• Working knowledge of GCP, ethics processes, and clinical trial operations.
• Experience working in NGOs or donor-funded programmes.
• Use of Project Management software to coordinate and track project deliverables and analyze performance metrics.
• Experience supporting or supervising large teams.
• Experience with PrEP, SRH services, adolescent/youth programmes.
• Knowledge of project budget and financial literacy.
• Familiarity with regulatory submissions (HREC, SAHPRA, NHRD).
• Strong organizational skills and ability to handle multiple concurrent deadlines.
• Strong administration, coordination, and communication skills.

Advantageous

• Additional training in clinical research operations, implementation science, quality management, or health systems strengthening.

Responsibilities

Clinical Operations & Site Support

• Coordinate daily clinical and non-clinical operations at site.
• Support Site Lead with project implementation, workflow optimization, scheduling and staffing needs.
• Manage logistics for project activities, including supplies, equipment, bookings, and site readiness.
• Ensure timely completion of site-level study documentation, forms, CRFs, logs, and filing.
• Track and follow up on ethics submissions, amendments, reports, and approvals as delegated.
• Support operational setup tasks such as lab processes, BARC setup, pharmacy arrangements, NHRD / CoCT submissions.
• Ensure project deliverables are on track.
• Lead the development of the quarterly, semi-annual and annual progress narratives.
• Ensure compliance to the budgets and implementation standards.
• Routinely review performance data, generate insights, and lead course correction or acceleration plans.
• Develop a project risk matrix.

Clinical Research Processes & Quality

• Ensure adherence to study protocols, GCP, SOPs and regulatory requirements.
• Support development or revision of SOPs under guidance of Site Lead.
• Monitor data entry, documentation quality, and follow-up on data queries with data management teams.
• Coordinate with clinical staff to ensure accurate visit documentation, safety reporting and specimen workflows.
• Assist with preparation of accreditation reports, monitoring visits, audits and quality checks.
• Convene progress meetings with implementation and technical teams on an ongoing basis.
• Routinely review performance data, generate insights, and lead course correction or acceleration plans.
• Support development of annual work plans, timelines, staff structures, and resource requirements.

Stakeholder & Team Coordination

• Act as a key point of communication between Site Lead, Project Manager, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Support management of youth engagement, community partners, and operational stakeholders.
• Facilitate communication around funder visits, external partner requests and site-level presentations.
• Maintain productive working relationships with NDoH, provincial/district partners, partner NGOs, community structures, and referral networks.
• Coordinate communications and alignment between internal stakeholders (sites, IS teams, data, clinical leads, HR, Operations).
• Document and disseminate best practices, learnings, and innovations emerging from project implementation.

Finance & Project Support

• Support preparation of reports for ethics committees, funders, and internal leadership.
• Assist with updating project trackers, procurement lists, training logs, and reporting templates.
• Co-ordinate drafting of technical inputs (abstracts, operational reports, admin sections of proposals) when required.
• Track project expenditure against deliverables and adapt spending as necessary.
• Regularly scrutinize financial reports and liaise with GFO for input.
• Approval of financial expenditure.
• Oversight of procurement and compliance with procurement policy.

Team Support & Supervisory Functions

• Provide day-to-day support to clinical and operational staff to ensure smooth functioning.
• Support onboarding, training scheduling, and competency tracking.
• Promote a positive, accountable, and solution-driven team environment.
• Manage staffing structures required for implementation (clinical, community, IS support, data staff where relevant).
• Conduct bi-annual performance reviews and support professional development.
• Oversee recruitment, onboarding, and training processes.
• Identify performance issues and intervene promptly with coaching or corrective actions.
• Build a high-performing, collaborative, and learning-oriented team culture.