Senior Manager, Clinical Contracts – EMEA

Senior Manager, Clinical Contracts – EMEA

Location:
Brussels, Belgium Additional

Location:
Antwerp may be considered depending on candidate profile Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time Working Arrangement: Hybrid, with regular site presence expected Travel: Some EMEA travel may be required

Salary:
Competitive, dependent on experience About the Opportunity: An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Manager, Clinical Contracts to join a leading global Medical Devices and Healthcare organisation supporting clinical research activities across EMEA. This is a senior regional leadership position responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership across the EMEA Clinical Contracts and Payments function. The organisation operates within a highly regulated global Medical Devices environment, developing and supporting innovative healthcare technologies across multiple therapeutic areas. The successful candidate will lead a geographically dispersed clinical contracts function and oversee clinical research agreements, site budgets, healthcare professional agreements and related payment activities, ensuring these are delivered efficiently, compliantly and in line with study timelines. This is an excellent opportunity for an established clinical contracts leader with strong contracting, negotiation, people leadership, strategic thinking and stakeholder-management experience.

Key Responsibilities
Clinical Contracts & Strategy
- Develop and execute the EMEA Clinical Contracts strategy in alignment with regional and global clinical research objectives.
- Provide senior oversight of Clinical Research Agreements, HCP agreements, site budgets, payments and amendments.
- Lead and support complex contractual negotiations involving legal, compliance, financial and operational considerations.
- Act as a senior escalation point for complex contracting and budget issues.
- Ensure contracting activities support study start-up, site activation and clinical study timelines. Leadership
- Lead and develop a geographically dispersed EMEA Clinical Contracts and Payments team.
- Provide direction, objectives and performance expectations.
- Support workforce planning, resource allocation, talent development and succession planning.
- Coach and mentor clinical contracts professionals.
- Manage external service providers where required. Stakeholder Management
- Partner closely with Clinical Operations, Legal, Ethics & Compliance, Data Privacy, Clinical Quality, Study Management, Site Management, Safety and Risk Management.
- Work with country teams, research sites and healthcare professionals across EMEA.
- Communicate complex contractual and operational matters clearly to senior stakeholders.
- Support resolution of escalated contracting and study start-up challenges. Data, Reporting & Process Improvement
- Establish and monitor KPIs, metrics and reporting for clinical contracting performance.
- Support contract and budget intelligence, forecasting and business reporting.
- Identify opportunities to improve systems, workflows and contracting processes.
- Drive regional standardisation, process harmonisation and operational efficiency.
- Contribute to SOPs, Work Instructions and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Identify operational risks and implement appropriate mitigation strategies. Must-Have Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Nursing, Biomedical/Bioengineering, Clinical Research or a related discipline.
- 10+ years' experience within clinical research or a closely related environment.
- 5+ years' experience in clinical contracting, contract negotiation and/or clinical contract management.
- Demonstrable experience managing or leading clinical contracts or clinical research professionals.
- Strong experience with Clinical Research Agreements and clinical site contracts.
- Proven contract negotiation and contract review/redlining experience.
- Experience with clinical study budgets, site payments and/or reimbursement.
- Strong understanding of clinical research operations and study start-up.
- Experience within a highly regulated environment such as Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical, CRO or similar.
- Strong understanding of clinical contracting, compliance and industry practices.
- Excellent English communication skills.
- Strong negotiation, stakeholder-management and problem-solving skills.
- Experience leading teams within a matrixed, international environment.
- Strong organisational and analytical skills.
- Good Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel and Word. Nice-to-Have Experience
- Previous Medical Device industry experience.
- Experience within cardiovascular, vascular, neuromodulation or other complex Medical Device environments.
- Experience managing clinical contracting across multiple EMEA countries.
- Experience leading geographically dispersed or international teams.
- Advanced degree in Life Sciences, Nursing, Bioengineering,