Chief Commercial Officer — Clinical Data Organisation

The mandate

A clinical-data and analytics provider has grown through specialist projects in biometrics, data engineering and evidence generation. Its best sponsor relationships now span several therapeutic areas, yet contracts remain fragmented by function and study. Procurement sees interchangeable rate cards; scientific buyers experience strong experts but inconsistent account coordination; delivery teams receive bespoke promises that are not always priced for data quality, protocol change or accelerated timelines.

Two major sponsors have proposed broader partnerships. Both want committed capacity, common technology and measurable improvements in data-to-decision speed. One also seeks outcome-linked fees and extensive rights to methods developed during delivery. These opportunities could make revenue more durable and allow the organisation to invest ahead of individual studies. They could also concentrate risk, transfer uncontrolled protocol and source-data variability to the provider, and encumber capabilities used for other clients.

The Chief Commercial Officer will decide how the company sells value without promising outcomes it does not fully control. The remit covers commercial strategy, strategic accounts, solution design, pricing, proposals, contracting interfaces, partnerships, sales operations and the hand-off into delivery. The CCO will share responsibility for profitable growth across a perimeter of approximately 550 employees and partners and must build a commercial system that delivery, quality and scientific leaders trust.

This is an urgent replacement based in Zurich with a hybrid pattern. The CCO reports to the Chief Executive or designated executive sponsor and will travel across Europe and North America. The position requires direct sponsor engagement at research, development, procurement and executive levels; it is not a role for managing a funnel primarily through dashboards.

Why this seat is open

The incumbent left unexpectedly to take a global position with a non-competing technology business. No conduct issue is involved. The company has placed interim cover over active proposals, but the partnership decisions and annual account cycle require a permanent leader. The board is using the replacement to shift from project selling towards disciplined, delivery-backed sponsor relationships.

What you will own

• Define the commercial model across specialist projects, managed services, platform-enabled delivery and strategic partnerships, with clear client value and risk boundaries for each.
• Lead strategic accounts, solution design, pricing, proposals and sales operations across an approximately 550-person employee and partner delivery perimeter.
• Negotiate the proposed sponsor partnerships, including capacity, baselines, outcome measures, change, data and method rights, audit, liability, termination and transition.
• Create account economics that reconcile bookings, revenue, delivery cost, specialist capacity, technology consumption, change and risk-adjusted contribution.
• Establish solution governance so scientific, data, quality, legal and delivery leaders approve claims and assumptions before commercial commitment.
• Reduce client and buyer concentration through evidence-led expansion in selected sponsor types, study problems and regions rather than broad volume targets.
• Build executive relationships beyond procurement while maintaining transparent, ethical bidding and respecting sponsor firewalls and confidential information.
• Align incentive and forecast measures to contracted quality and contribution, limiting rewards for bookings that depend on unfunded scope or unrealistic start dates.

The first 12 months

• Days 1–90: Review the top accounts, live proposals and revenue bridge; identify commitments not reconciled to delivery capacity or contract protection. Meet sponsor decision-makers and internal delivery leaders separately. Set negotiating boundaries for the two partnerships and stabilise commercial ownership after the abrupt departure.
• Months 4–9: Close, redesign or decline the partnerships based on risk-adjusted economics and strategic rights. Implement solution approval and account contribution reporting, reset incentives and strengthen strategic-account leadership. Reprice or rescope recurring work where protocol change, data condition or service level is structurally underfunded.
• Months 10–12: Demonstrate improved conversion and contribution in the chosen offers, accurate capacity-backed forecasting and at least one expanded sponsor relationship that delivery leaders regard as executable. Reduce concentration risk in the qualified pipeline and establish successors for priority accounts and commercial disciplines.

What the board will measure

• Risk-adjusted revenue and contribution growth, with bookings separated from funded, executable scope and reported without dependence on unapproved change orders.
• Sponsor partnership terms that define controllable outcomes, client dependencies, method and data rights, change, exit and capacity consequences.
• Forecast accuracy by account and service, including explanation of start delays, scope movement and capacity constraints before quarter-end.
• Expansion and retention within strategic sponsors supported by delivery quality and client outcomes, not price concessions or relationship concentration.
• Reduction in late commercial-to-delivery surprises and unpriced obligations identified after signature.
• Commercial bench strength and collaboration, with named successors and no account whose continuity depends solely on the CCO’s personal relationship.

The person

You are a Chief Commercial Officer, global account leader, business-unit president or senior commercial executive with 22–28 years in clinical research, biometrics, health data, scientific technology or complex regulated services. You have sold and governed multi-year sponsor relationships and understand how contract design changes delivery behaviour. You have owned at least CHF 500 million of revenue or commercial pipeline and led at least 250 employees and partners.

You can build an outcome-linked proposition without confusing correlation with control. You know how protocol change, source quality, sponsor decisions, enrolment and review behaviour affect cycle time and can negotiate dependencies and baselines accordingly. You have protected reusable methods or data rights while giving a sponsor the transparency and assurance needed for a strategic relationship.

The board will consider leaders from contract research, clinical technology, regulated analytics, life-sciences services or comparable expert businesses. Product-software candidates must demonstrate complex services and sponsor accountability; traditional services candidates must understand platform and data economics. A career based on procurement relationships and rate negotiation alone will not meet the brief.

The role is centred in Zurich with hybrid work and substantial sponsor travel. International candidates may be considered where relocation or a sustainable presence is realistic. The successful executive will be commercially ambitious and operationally honest, willing to walk away from scale that consumes scarce experts, compromises methods or creates liability without proportional return.

Compensation and terms

The indicative base salary is CHF 500,000–700,000, with annual incentive and long-term participation. Measures will balance profitable growth, sponsor outcomes, forecast integrity, rights protection and leadership depth. This is a permanent hybrid appointment. Treatment of relocation, notice and evidenced forfeited awards will be discussed in final terms.

Confidentiality

The client, sponsors, proposals and commercial terms are confidential. Identifying detail will follow only after fit is established and the necessary agreement is signed. Candidates must not approach sponsors, transfer restricted account information or use current relationships to infer the company.

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