Job Summary:

In accordance with the Purpose, Vision, Values and Coast Salish Teachings, and strategic directions of PHSA, safety, including both patient and employee safety, is a priority and a responsibility shared by everyone at PHSA. As such, the requirement to continuously improve quality and safety is inherent in all aspects of this position.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Research Administration and Operations and receiving work direction from the Director, Provincial Clinical Trials Office (PCTO). The Director is accountable for providing leadership and fostering collaborations with key partners to facilitate continuous improvements for BC Cancer Clinical Trials. The Director partners with a variety of leaders including executive directors to craft a visionary roadmap for the advancement of clinical trials and research for enhancements of patient care across BC Cancer. This encompasses leading efforts to increase awareness and accessibility of clinical trials, including addressing the needs of the indigenous community. The Director responsibilities include strategic planning for the PCTO, leading the development, implementation, and sustainability of PCTO operations, cultivating and establishing partnerships and collaborations with internal and external partners in addition to creating business development opportunities to generate revenue to support Clinical Trials and Research and Investigator-Initiated Trials (IITs) activities through Clinical Research Office (CRO) initiatives.

Working closely with the Executive Director, Research Administration and Operations and the Provincial Director, Clinical Trials, the Director is responsible for the operational oversight of the Provincial Clinical Trial Finance, Budget, Regulatory and Quality Assurance Offices as well as CRO staff within the PCTO. The Director oversees numerous initiatives and holds a strategic leadership role in influencing and delivering change from a clinical trials perspective. The Director provides guidance on structure and portfolio development to the leadership team to strengthen capabilities to advance investigators-initiated research through education, training, business, and scientific support. In addition, this role supports senior leadership in driving initiatives to integrate translational research into clinical trials.

Duties/Accountabilities:

•    Operational Leadership: Oversees the assignment of work and develops the team’s capabilities to enhance the Provincial Clinical Trial’s ability to achieve objectives. Sets performance targets and expectations for team leads/managers and members to ensure objectives are met, measured, monitored, and overall performance is managed. Identifies issues and devises strategies to improve team and individual efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring the department continues to meet organizational needs. Provides overall leadership and direction to PCTO staff; manages operating and capital budgets, and business resources.
•    Strategic Partnerships: Leads and fosters strategic relationships with external partners including pharmaceutical and biotech organizations to create new collaborations to bring clinical trial/research opportunities to BC Cancer. Develops strategic relationships with health authorities, government partners, and internal leaders to support clinical trial and research activities and initiatives. Develops and maintains partnerships to ensure faculty/principal investigators are supported to effectively conduct their scholarly activities, aligning with the organization’s strategic research priorities.
•    Facilitate Research Collaborations with Biopharma: Engages in networking and outreach activities to establish and grow relationships with the Biopharma industry. Facilitates research collaborations between Principal Investigators/Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and medical affairs team from Biopharma. Facilitates drug pipeline meetings, leveraging networks to bring innovative clinical trials to BC Cancer. Advises leadership on biotech emerging technologies and digital trends crucial for supporting the Provincial Clinical Trial and BC Cancer’s strategic goals and meeting the evolving needs of the research community by staying current with advances in biomedical and clinical informatics.
•    Internal and External Collaborations: Builds and maintains partnerships with administrative and clinical leaders across PHSA including BC Cancer to enable the smooth conduct of clinical trial activities. Liaises with site leadership at the various BC sites to strategically build their Clinical Research Unit (CRU), advising on structure and strategic alignment. Works with senior leadership to develop and implement proposals for new or expanded clinical trial programs and services. Leads the development of major operational and capital plans, consulting with the Executive Director and BC Cancer Provincial Directors to identify priorities. Evaluates new initiatives, business development, and partnership opportunities, and drafts and reviews a variety of documents including business cases, budget proposals, and project charters. Partners with biotech companies, universities, internal partners, PHSA Corporate Services, and various Health Authorities.
•    Business Development and Fundraising: Drives innovative and transformational initiatives to support Principal Investigators with ITs needs, including fostering and enabling business development activities, scientific review support, building business cases and operational support. Identifies and evaluates new initiatives, business development, and partnership opportunities, and directs resources for the implementation. Develops and executes strategies to increase BC Cancer’s visibility and activity in clinical trials, both locally and remotely.
•    Innovation and Process Improvement: Leads ideas, innovations, and process changes impacting clinical trial activities across BC Cancer by performing duties such as leading diverse cross-functional teams to design and implement complex service system redesign and process improvement that delivers patient-centered care for clinical trials across all BC Cancer Clinical Trial Centers. Promotes the integration of translational research into clinical trials to enhance scientific impact and outcomes. Develops a high-performing team through mentorship and professional development, fostering an inclusive culture and an engaged workforce. Provides direction to operational staff, ensuring compliance with standards and driving continuous quality improvement efforts.
•    Risk Management: Develops and implements processes to assess risks; identifies risk mitigation strategies, and monitors risks to the BC Cancer Clinical Research Units and Provincial Clinical Trials Office. Highlights risks to the Executive Leadership team.
•    Financial Oversight: Oversees regulatory, financial and business performance of Provincial Clinical Trials while leading the resource and business planning processes. Guides provincial partners and the Executive and Senior Management team through the annual resource planning cycle of PHSA operating and capital budgeting process. Leads the development and monitoring of associated operating and capital budgeting process, Leads the development and monitoring of associated operating Ministry of Health funding, and capital budgets, ensuring efficient budget allocation to achieve fiscal responsibility. Oversees work of contractors and vendors to ensure compliance with PHSA/BC Cancer policy.
•    Data Analysis and Reporting: Develops and reports on clinical trial metrics using Clinical Trial Monitoring System (CTMS), such as RealTime and Power BI. Ensures metric reporting to Senior BC Cancer Leadership and external partners.
•    Negotiations: Negotiates with various partners on resources and services offered by the PCTO.
•    Leadership and HR Management: Participates as a member of the Senior Management team in interdisciplinary team meetings, committees, and other activities to achieve system goals. Provides leadership fostering an atmosphere that promotes employee growth, development and high performance. Oversee human resource management, including performance reviews, appraisals, recruitment, disciplinary actions. Supports grievance mediation, recruitment, selection planning, and performance management in partnership with the Executive Director, Provincial Director, and Human Resources.
•    Research Strategy Implementation: Oversees the development of vision and strategy activities within their authority in partnership with the Executive Director and Provincial Director, PCTO by performing duties such as re-engineering divisional structure and operations to ensure alignment with business processes, tactical planning and strategic vision.
•    Performs other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

A level of education, training, and experience equivalent to Master’s degree in a related health field with a minimum of eight (8) years of recent related experience in progressively senior management positions, including experience in clinical trials and business development.

•    Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
•    Excellent presentation skills, including the ability to present complex information in an understandable manner to various levels of the organization and external audiences.
•    Demonstrated ability to supervise and lead staff Including the ability to lead people by acting with integrity and trust; ability to build a team environment and foster potential; ability to lead change by striving for personal mastery, leading with a vision, inspiring and engaging others and promoting innovation.
•    Excellent organizational skills including the ability to prioritize workload to meet deadlines.
•    Demonstrated analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
•    Ability to be flexible and adaptable to changing priorities and to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to find the most effective outcomes.
•    Demonstrated ability to exercise initiative and independent judgement in the performance of duties.
•    Demonstrated commitment to the value of continuous learning. Demonstrated ability to respond to the needs of stakeholders supported by an acute awareness of the impact of actions.
•    Demonstrated ability to problem-solve with a global perspective that incorporates the organization’s systems and strategies when developing viable solutions to problems. Demonstrated computer literacy.