Country Managing Director — Global Clinical-Development Group

The mandate

A pharmaceutical enterprise is planning divestment of selected assets while the United States remains the largest clinical-development country. Active studies share investigators, vendors, safety interfaces, data teams and employees across retained and transferring programmes. The board has created a new Country Managing Director role before separation to preserve participant obligations and rebuild a coherent US franchise.

Approximately 500 employees and material partners work across clinical operations, medical, regulatory, safety, data, quality and enabling functions from Boston. The Country Managing Director owns US performance, people, entities, sites, partners and country execution, reporting to the Group board and Group Chief Executive. Study sponsors, investigators and authorised functions retain their legal and professional duties.

The opening work is a study-by-study obligation map. Sponsor responsibility, site contracts, investigational product, safety reporting, data access, monitoring and records must have an owner through transfer. Commercial asset perimeter does not automatically determine clinical responsibility. The leader will prevent any study activity from falling between buyer and seller assumptions.

Investigator and site continuity needs careful communication. Sites should know where questions, payments, safety information and protocol decisions go at each stage. Confidential transaction work cannot justify confusing investigators or delaying participant support. Communication timing will be planned around consent, regulatory and operational requirements.

US entity and licence readiness may constrain the structure. Contracts, insurance, privacy, tax and employment arrangements need mapping. The Country Managing Director will ensure the future organisation has the substance and delegated authority to perform, not simply a legal registration and outsourced services.

Clinical talent is intertwined across programmes. Study leaders, safety scientists, data specialists and quality colleagues may support retained and divested assets. The leader will define future work, selection and transition with functional executives, protecting fair process and study-critical knowledge. Retention should connect to explicit deliverables and handover.

Vendor relationships need separation evidence. CROs, laboratories, imaging providers and technology platforms may use master agreements spanning both portfolios. Transition agreements should address scope, data, access, pricing, quality and issue escalation. The country organisation must know which party can instruct a vendor after completion.

Participant data and records require purpose and custody. Copies cannot be made simply to simplify transition. The leader will ensure regulated retention, privacy, access, transfer validation and archive. Sites and participants should receive appropriate information where sponsorship or data processing changes.

Investigational product continuity includes inventory, labelling, depot, returns and destruction. The Country Managing Director will require reconciliation and contingency for each active protocol. Supply interruption or ambiguous ownership cannot be accepted as an ordinary transaction issue.

Quality oversight must span the transition. Deviations, audits, corrective actions and inspection commitments may relate to both portfolios. The country model will preserve access to evidence and subject-matter experts. Open actions need an agreed owner and independent verification after hand-off.

The retained US organisation needs a future strategy. Divestment may remove scale while leaving important development capability. The leader will determine which country expertise should remain, which can operate globally and which should partner. Stranded cost should be removed without dismantling investigator relationships or capabilities needed for the pipeline.

Employee culture will be managed through uncertainty. Leaders must distinguish known decisions from possibilities, protect confidentiality and avoid favouring teams attached to higher-profile assets. Speaking up about continuity risks should be encouraged, even when it complicates transaction timing.

Country governance will focus on decisions and evidence. A separation programme may track hundreds of actions, but the Managing Director will elevate the small number that affect participants, regulatory compliance and executable independence. The board should receive candid readiness, including reasons to delay.

What you will own

• US country performance and development continuity.
• Study and participant obligation mapping.
• Investigator, site and vendor transition.
• Entity, data, product and quality separation readiness.
• Workforce selection, retention and future capability.
• Retained country strategy and stranded cost.
• Board assurance and completion gates.
• US leadership and succession.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, map active US studies and dependencies, identify obligations without one owner and secure immediate participant or product risks. Define country separation gates.

By month six, complete entity and vendor readiness, execute critical knowledge transfers and validate data and investigational-product controls. Agree the retained US operating model.

At twelve months, achieve 100% evidenced handover for active-study obligations, reconcile all investigational product and regulated records and retain 90% of identified study-critical capability through required milestones. No participant contact, safety report or site payment should fail because of separation, and agreed stranded cost should reduce by at least 80%.

What the board will examine

• Clinical obligations mapped beyond asset ownership.
• Sites receiving timely, unambiguous instruction.
• Future entities capable of real execution.
• Data and investigational product fully reconciled.
• Quality actions surviving portfolio transfer.
• Retained capability matched to future studies.

The person

You bring 28+ years in pharmaceuticals and recent country managing director, clinical-development or enterprise operating authority in the United States. Your record includes active-study transfer, corporate separation, investigator relationships, people change and board accountability.

Candidates must show a transaction they slowed to protect participants or regulated evidence. The permanent role is onsite in Boston, with extensive US site and global transaction engagement.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is USD 500,000–750,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to participant continuity, separation, country value, capability and leadership. The permanent onsite Boston appointment reports to the Group board and Group Chief Executive. Planned hiring allows the leader to shape the transaction before cut-over.

Confidentiality

The enterprise, assets, studies, participants, investigators, employees, buyers and separation plans remain confidential. Further detail follows conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact sites, companies or advisers to identify the client.