Director – Oncology Research Finance

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.

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• Direct oncology trial activation operations from feasibility through site activation.

• Establish startup performance metrics, dashboards, and accountability standards.

• Identify delays across budgeting, contracting, regulatory, committee review, and system build processes.

• Lead process redesign initiatives to reduce activation cycle times.

• Ensure timely movement through PRMC, IRB, coverage analysis, budgeting, contracting, and system builds

• Provides strategic planning for the financial aspects of sponsored oncology research.

• Oversees development of budgets for industry, translational, foundation, and federally funded studies.

• Provides detailed estimates of charges and costs for standard-of-care and research-related activities, ensuring oncology-specific labor costing models are used.

• Performs financial feasibility analyses for new opportunities.

• Reviews negotiated budgets to ensure alignment with institutional policies and operational needs.

• Oversees budget amendments and financial impact assessments.

• Evaluate incoming opportunities for financial viability, staffing capacity, and strategic fit.

• Support prioritization of high-value treatment and early phase studies.

• Monitor study startup pipeline and projected activation inventory.

• Provide leadership recommendations regarding portfolio balance and resource deployment.

• Partner with legal/contracts teams to prioritize and accelerate oncology agreements.

• Escalate delays impacting enrollment opportunities or sponsor commitments.

• Coordinate activation milestones across multiple departments.

• Oversee operational use of CTMS and related systems supporting startup.

• Ensure budget information is accurately entered into the clinical trial management system.

• Support reporting capabilities for activation timelines, finances, accrual readiness, and productivity.

• Collaborate on OnCore / EPIC integration initiatives and workflow improvements.

• Direct managers and operational leaders within the Oncology Trial Activations team.

• Establish clear performance expectations, service standards, and professional development plans.

• Build a culture of accountability, responsiveness, and operational excellence.

• Prepare reports and presentations for the Director and Oncology Cancer Institute leadership.

• Communicate startup risks, opportunities, revenue projections, and operational trends.

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s preferred

• 6+ years clinical research administration experience

• 6+ years oncology research operations strongly preferred

• Experience with budgets, contracts, regulatory startup, CTMS systems

• Experience leading cross-functional teams

• OnCore expertise

• EPIC research billing / integration experience

• Oncology startup leadership

Within 12 months, this role is expected to build a high-performing oncology startup infrastructure that measurably reduces activation timelines, increases revenue opportunity, and creates sustainable operational scalability.

• Faster trial activation

• Stronger budget recovery

• Better contract speed

• Real-time operational visibility

• Reduced barriers impacting the clinical trial lifecycle

• Higher investigator confidence

• Increased revenue opportunity

• Scalable infrastructure