Sr. Director, Vendor & Relationship Management

Kardigan•Princeton, NJ

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Sr. Director, Vendor & Relationship Management provides strategic and operational leadership for vendor governance, sourcing strategy, and relationship management across Kardigan’s clinical portfolio. The role defines sourcing strategies and operating models that support effective clinical trial execution through external partnerships and is accountable for ensuring CROs, central labs, and other clinical vendors meet performance, quality, and cost targets. The Senior Director oversees vendor selection, onboarding, integration, governance, performance management, relationship health, and strategic issue escalation. The role develops fit-for-purpose governance structures, processes, tools, and team capabilities; serves as a subject matter expert on vendor-management practices and industry trends; and leads and develops direct reports as the function scales. The position partners closely with Development Operations, Clinical Operations, Biometrics, Business Operations, Procurement, Legal, Quality, Finance, and cross-functional clinical development teams. It is based on-site in Princeton, New Jersey four days per week, Monday through Thursday; candidates in South San Francisco may also be considered. The role requires up to 20–30% domestic and international travel.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, life sciences, healthcare administration, or a related field.
At least 12 years of relevant experience in vendor management, operational leadership, procurement, or related roles in the biopharmaceutical industry, including oversight of CROs and other clinical vendors; candidates with an advanced degree and 10 or more years of relevant experience may be considered.
Proven ability to build and manage external partner and vendor relationships, with strong negotiation and honest-brokering skills.
Demonstrated experience defining and implementing sourcing strategies and operating models, and building and leading vendor governance frameworks, performance scorecards, and relationship-management programs in a biotechnology or pharmaceutical environment.
Knowledge of pharmaceutical vendor-management and outsourcing regulatory requirements and industry standards.
Thorough understanding of drug development and experience managing vendor relationships across the clinical-trial lifecycle.
Experience supporting global clinical trials and cross-functional development teams.
Late-stage clinical development experience.
Strong analytical skills and ability to turn vendor performance and cost data into practical insights, recommendations, dashboards, and executive-ready communications.
Experience building scalable governance processes, tools, templates, and operating rhythms in a growing organization.
Working knowledge of GxP, sponsor oversight expectations, and inspection-readiness considerations related to vendor oversight.
Ability to lead through influence across matrixed teams and partner effectively with Business Operations, Procurement, Legal, Clinical Operations, Quality, and external partners.
Demonstrated experience leading, developing, and growing a team of direct reports.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex operational, cost, and relationship information for senior leaders.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial biotechnology environment with ownership, adaptability, and accountability.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree, such as an MBA or MS.
Strategic partnership or alliance-management experience.

Responsibilities

Define and implement sourcing strategies and operating models for efficient, high-quality clinical trial execution through external partnerships.
Assess portfolio resource demand and sourcing options, including build-versus-buy and vendor-mix decisions, in partnership with Procurement and relevant functions.
Apply industry best practices and external benchmarking to evolve sourcing and governance models.
Lead vendor governance across the clinical portfolio and reinforce partnership behaviors including transparency, trust, shared accountability, constructive challenge, timely decision-making, and commitment to outcomes.
Plan and lead Joint Operations Committees, Executive Steering Committees, and other vendor governance forums, including agenda setting, metrics review, strategy formulation, and action follow-up.
Serve as the senior point of contact for strategic vendor relationship issues and escalations.
Develop and maintain vendor segmentation and oversight models that align governance intensity with vendor scope, risk, and criticality.
Promote compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and industry standards for vendor management and outsourcing, including maintaining appropriate partnership documentation.
Own vendor accountability for portfolio-wide performance, quality, and cost targets, partnering with Business Operations and Finance on budgeting, forecasting, and accrual processes.
Develop and enhance vendor performance scorecards and dashboards, using analytics to identify risks early and initiate mitigations and contingencies.
Collaborate with relevant functions to ensure vendors execute clinical trials within budget, on schedule, and to high-quality standards.
Translate vendor performance, cost, and relationship data into concise insights for Development Operations leadership, executive leadership, and governance forums.
Improve vendor-management processes, tools, templates, and reporting practices to increase speed, consistency, and inspection readiness.
Identify opportunities to use automation, AI-enabled tools, and fit-for-purpose systems to improve vendor oversight, scorecarding, and relationship reporting.
Partner with Procurement, Business Operations, Development Operations, and functional teams to identify, evaluate, select, and onboard vendors.
Lead the integration of new vendors into Kardigan’s operating model and ways of working, and drive vendor-enabled process improvements and innovation.
Use negotiation and honest-brokering skills to resolve relationship, performance, and commercial issues, partnering with Procurement, Business Operations, and Legal on contract terms and amendments.
Work with internal stakeholders and external partners to resolve escalations that could affect study timelines or execution quality.
Address vendor performance and cost concerns, recommend mitigations, and drive corrective action plans when needed.
Coordinate with Procurement, Legal, and Finance or Business Operations to address vendor relationship issues alongside contractual and financial considerations.
Lead, coach, and develop direct reports through performance management, delegation, and succession planning as the function scales.
Build and mentor internal vendor-management capabilities and promote continuous improvement and accountability.
Represent Partner Strategy and Relationship Management in governance forums, project discussions, and operating-model initiatives.
Contribute to departmental SOPs, working practices, and operating-model improvements.