Clinical Innovation Executive Director - US

Worldwide Clinical Trials•Durham, NC

1d•$167,000 - $332,000•Remote

About The Position

The Clinical Innovation Executive Director sets the enterprise vision, strategy, roadmap, and investment priorities for clinical innovation at Worldwide Clinical Trials. The role focuses on applying automation, artificial intelligence, analytics, and digital solutions to improve quality, efficiency, employee experience, customer value, and financial performance. The Executive Director leads innovation initiatives from opportunity definition through proof of concept, proof of value, and business-case development, and supports implementation, adoption, and value realization. Working with senior operational leaders, subject matter experts, IT, EPMO, and governance stakeholders, this role enables evidence-based investment decisions and establishes responsible, repeatable approaches to innovation across clinical development. This is a remote role open to candidates based in the United States, with collaboration across global teams and multiple time zones.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent education and relevant experience.
15+ years of progressive industry experience, including 10+ years leading clinical innovation strategy for organizations.
Hands-on operational experience within a clinical development organization, with strong knowledge of clinical delivery workflows, roles, controls, quality, and compliance expectations.
Demonstrated experience designing and implementing automation and AI innovations in clinical development, from problem definition and solution design through implementation, adoption, and measurable operational impact.
Experience leading structured experiments, pilots, PoCs, or PoVs, including baselines, success measures, evidence capture, decision criteria, and implementation recommendations.
Experience developing business requirements, business cases, implementation plans, change and adoption approaches, and measurable benefits-realization frameworks.
Working knowledge of AI, intelligent automation, workflow technologies, data-driven decision support, and responsible-AI principles.
Ability to lead across complex global, matrixed stakeholder groups.
Strong business acumen, analytical judgment, facilitation, stakeholder management, written communication, and change-leadership skills.
Proficiency in English.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in a clinical, scientific, business, technology, engineering, or related discipline.

Responsibilities

Define the enterprise clinical innovation vision, strategy, roadmap, and investment priorities across automation, AI, analytics, and workflow transformation.
Build and prioritize an innovation portfolio aligned with strategic, operational, financial, and customer objectives.
Lead structured experimentation through PoCs and PoVs, establishing objectives, success measures, risks, decision criteria, and recommendations for scaling, refinement, or termination.
Translate clinical and operational needs into solution, workflow, data, integration, control, and support requirements in partnership with IT and EPMO.
Develop business cases, ROI models, implementation plans, and value-realization frameworks that connect innovation investments to measurable outcomes.
Drive operational readiness and adoption, including ownership, training, communications, human oversight, exception handling, feedback, and transition to business-as-usual operations.
Establish governance for responsible AI, automation, and clinical innovation in partnership with Quality, Compliance, Legal, Information Security, Privacy, and Regulatory stakeholders.
Measure operational and financial impact across productivity, capacity, quality, throughput, service improvement, user experience, and control effectiveness.
Build reusable methods, playbooks, and organizational capability to improve the speed, consistency, and effectiveness of clinical innovation.