Vice President, Head of Clinical Operations

Moderna • Cambridge, MA

3d • $272,200 - $490,100 • Hybrid

About The Position

This is an enterprise leadership role setting the strategic direction for global clinical trial operations across Moderna’s clinical development portfolio, including Oncology, Therapeutics, Infectious Disease, and future therapeutic areas and modalities. The role leads the global organization responsible for translating development strategy into executable clinical plans and delivering studies with rigor across quality, ethics, participant safety, compliance, timelines, budgets, resources, and external partnerships.

The Vice President will combine strategic vision with hands-on operational leadership to shape global portfolio planning and execution, and build the organization, operating models, digital capabilities, and data-driven approaches needed to accelerate development and patient impact. The role reports to the Senior Vice President, Global Development Operations, and is a member of the broader GDO leadership organization.

The position is based in Moderna’s Cambridge, Massachusetts context and follows a 70/30 work model, with an emphasis on in-office collaboration. The work environment is smoke-free, alcohol-free, and drug-free. The salary range is $272,200–$490,100, with potential eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or an equity award, subject to plan criteria and individual performance. Employment is contingent on eligibility to access export-controlled information; only U.S. persons are eligible.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 15 or more years of progressive clinical trial management and clinical operations leadership experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or the CRO industry.
• Deep experience leading early- and late-stage global clinical operations across a diverse therapeutic portfolio.
• Substantial experience across all phases of drug and/or vaccine development, including a demonstrated track record leading late-stage and pivotal studies through global license and market applications.
• Demonstrated experience building, managing, and developing global clinical operations teams and leaders.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing clinical operations across CRO partners, vendors, strategic site networks, and external collaborators.
• Strong knowledge of GCP guidelines and applicable clinical trial regulations.
• Thorough command of FDA and ICH GCP guidelines and expectations for clinical studies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, and other global regions.
• Strong strategic thinking, operational planning, portfolio prioritization, and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, including the ability to engage across organizational levels and with external stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of clinical study planning, protocol execution, budget management, vendor oversight, risk management, inspection readiness, and operational governance.
• Ability to move between enterprise-level strategy and hands-on issue resolution.
• Enterprise leadership capability, including achieving results through others in a complex, matrixed, multidisciplinary environment.
• Team-building, coaching, talent development, and collaboration skills; ability to inspire and motivate leaders and teams.
• Ability to create clarity, drive accountability, and make sound decisions in a fast-paced and evolving environment.
• Resilience, adaptability, and ability to pivot as portfolio, business, or operational priorities change.
• Ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, and stakeholders across a global portfolio.
• Cross-functional partnership experience with Development, Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance, Quality Assurance, Finance, Strategic Partnerships, Legal, Data Management, Biometrics, and other relevant functions.
• Experience establishing and maintaining relationships with key opinion leaders, investigators, site networks, external collaborators, and senior vendor/CRO partners.
• Ability to represent Clinical Operations in governance forums, executive discussions, external collaborations, and regulatory or inspection-related interactions.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree or professional certification in a healthcare-related or scientific discipline.
• Experience across multiple therapeutic areas, such as vaccines/infectious disease, oncology, autoimmune disease, rare disease, or other complex development programs.
• Experience directly participating in global regulatory GxP inspections, including sponsor and/or investigator site inspections.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for global clinical trial operations across Moderna’s clinical development portfolio and align priorities with enterprise, development, and therapeutic area objectives.
• Lead the global Clinical Operations organization responsible for planning, executing, delivering, and reporting clinical studies across all development phases.
• Maintain high standards for study quality, ethics, participant safety, regulatory compliance, operational discipline, budget accountability, and timeline performance.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing global Clinical Operations team and foster accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, ownership, and operational excellence.
• Direct portfolio and franchise leaders, Program Clinical Operations Leads, and study Clinical Operations Leads in executing global studies according to ICH-GCP, applicable regulations, and Moderna standards.
• Partner with Therapeutic Area Development Heads and functional line leaders to turn portfolio and development strategy into operational plans, resourcing models, timelines, budget assumptions, and delivery priorities.
• Prioritize, resource, and actively manage the Clinical Operations portfolio, reallocating resources as clinical data, portfolio needs, or business priorities change.
• Manage Clinical Operations budgets and resources in alignment with long-range planning, annual planning, and periodic budget reviews.
• Improve portfolio execution through process improvements, best practices, data-driven planning, performance metrics, and scalable operating models.
• Enable teams to use Generative AI, advanced analytics, automation, and other digital tools for scenario planning, portfolio insights, operational decisions, productivity, and faster learning.
• Maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, investigators, strategic site networks, vendors, CRO partners, government or funding collaborators, and joint development partners.
• Shape and support global clinical outsourcing strategies, including CRO and vendor selection, oversight, governance, performance management, issue escalation, and strategic partnerships.
• Represent Clinical Operations on cross-functional leadership and governance forums, providing operational perspectives, risk assessments, scenario planning, and data-driven recommendations.
• Partner with Finance, Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance, Quality, Strategic Partnerships, Therapeutic Area leadership, and other functions to align resources, timelines, budgets, vendor strategies, and operational priorities.
• Represent Moderna externally and communicate the capabilities of its Clinical Operations organization and clinical development portfolio to stakeholders.
• Oversee, collaborate on, and contribute to GCP audits and regulatory inspections related to clinical trial conduct, ensuring readiness and sustained compliance.
• Contribute to Global Development Operations leadership priorities, including functional initiatives, resourcing strategies, organizational design, operating-model evolution, talent development, and culture.
• Address complex study and portfolio challenges, anticipate operational risk, and make high-quality decisions in a fast-moving development environment.

Benefits

• Competitive healthcare and voluntary benefit programs.
• Fitness, mindfulness, and mental health support.
• Family planning benefits, including fertility, adoption, and surrogacy support.
• Paid time off, including vacation, volunteer days, sabbatical, global recharge days, and a discretionary year-end shutdown.
• Savings and investment programs.
• Location-specific perks and extras.
• Potential eligibility for an annual discretionary bonus, other incentive compensation, or an equity award, subject to plan eligibility criteria and individual performance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive