R&D Director Clinical Systems / Data & Analytics

Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced R&D Director Clinical Systems to provide strategic and technical leadership across clinical systems, data analytics, business intelligence, and information systems supporting R&D operations.

The ideal candidate will have 15+ years of progressive experience in IT data analytics, business intelligence, or related technical fields, with strong experience owning complex analytics solutions from strategy and architecture through implementation and operationalization.

This role requires a combination of deep technical expertise, pharmaceutical/healthcare industry experience, people leadership, project/program management, data and analytics strategy, and executive-level communication.

Initially, this position will involve hands-on engagement in assessing business needs, establishing teams, defining technical strategies, and designing scalable analytics solutions. Over time, the role will assume end-to-end responsibility for building and overseeing a high-performing Clinical Systems organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and oversee the clinical operational data and analytics strategy for clinical systems, including Veeva, Salesforce, Medidata, and custom applications.
• Provide strategic leadership across multiple concurrent projects and teams involving large-scale, high-complexity technical initiatives.
• Lead and develop a high-performing organization, including direct people managers, while recruiting, developing, mentoring, and retaining top talent.
• Establish short-term and long-term Clinical Systems strategies, technical roadmaps, and infrastructure plans.
• Partner with business stakeholders and IT leadership to define enterprise-wide technical strategies and roadmaps.
• Lead solution design and oversee execution of major programs and technical projects.
• Assign project teams, provide direction to project leaders, and take direct project leadership responsibility for critical initiatives when required.
• Ensure on-time, high-quality, and budget-conscious delivery of technical roadmaps through strong program governance and proactive risk management.
• Serve as a technical and data strategy representative to Clinical Systems, business stakeholders, cross-functional teams, and IT leadership.
• Oversee scalable data architecture across clinical platforms, including data pipelines, APIs, ETL processes, data lakes, and data warehouses.
• Ensure secure, interoperable, analytics-ready data integration across enterprise systems.
• Partner with Validation and Quality teams on testing, process optimization, system enhancements, and regulatory compliance.
• Ensure solutions comply with GxP, system validation, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), and other applicable regulatory requirements.
• Oversee optimization of R&D applications and clinical systems to improve efficiency, system performance, and operational effectiveness.
• Provide oversight for accurate and timely delivery of end-to-end SDLC project deliverables.
• Safeguard data integrity, audit readiness, and compliance across clinical data and analytics environments.
• Develop program-level budgets, resource plans, project scope, deliverables, risk plans, and resource requirements.
• Identify cross-project synergies, eliminate redundancy, and scale best practices across analytics and Clinical Systems programs.
• Establish and operationalize standards, critical metrics, advanced methodologies, and governance frameworks across analytics programs.
• Work directly with internal and external customers to understand technical and business requirements and translate them into scalable solutions.
• Provide technical leadership for business applications, information systems, and clinical technology platforms.
• Oversee multiple projects and teams supporting different business functions.
• Contribute to broader Clinical Systems strategy, infrastructure development, and long-term technology planning.
• Support regulatory inspections and internal audits when required.
• Drive continuous improvement, operational excellence, change management, and organizational effectiveness.
• Provide strong executive-level communication and influence across technical and business stakeholders.
• Coach and develop team members while building a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and high performance.

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in IT data analytics, business intelligence, information systems, or related technical fields.
• Proven end-to-end ownership of complex analytics solutions.
• 8+ years of direct people-management experience.
• 6+ years of technical project management, program management, or technical leadership experience, including management of project teams.
• 10+ years of pharmaceutical or healthcare industry experience.
• Strong understanding of data and analytics operations.
• Strong experience managing complex technical projects and multiple priorities.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Analytics, Information Technology, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Strong experience with modern analytics technologies and cloud-based platforms.
• Hands-on or strong technical expertise with AWS, AI/ML frameworks, serverless computing, data lakes, and data marts.
• Strong technical expertise with analytics and visualization platforms including Tableau, Power BI, Looker, Qlik, and ThoughtSpot.
• Working knowledge of AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud ecosystems.
• Strong understanding of modern data warehouses, data lakes, data pipelines, APIs, ETL, and data integration.
• Experience developing and operationalizing analytics standards, critical metrics, methodologies, and governance.
• Experience with clinical systems such as Veeva, Salesforce, Medidata, and custom clinical applications.
• Understanding of GxP, system validation, UAT, audit readiness, and regulatory requirements.
• Strong understanding of SDLC processes and enterprise application delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to independently develop and execute short- and long-range technical strategies and roadmaps.
• Strong experience with project scope, deliverables, budgets, risks, resource planning, and governance.
• Excellent executive-level communication, negotiation, influencing, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Strong coaching, mentoring, and team-development capabilities.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to lead through influence and without direct authority.
• Strong organizational awareness and change-management capabilities.
• Ability to communicate complex technical and business concepts clearly and concisely.
• Strong attention to quality, detail, data accuracy, and operational excellence.
• Ability to work onsite in Foster City, CA.
• Ability to travel when required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading Clinical Systems or R&D Information Systems organizations within a pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or healthcare environment.
• Experience with clinical data platforms and R&D technology ecosystems.
• Experience developing enterprise analytics strategies and futuristic/scalable data architectures.
• Experience building and scaling technical organizations from the ground up.
• Experience working with cross-functional R&D, Clinical, Quality, Validation, Regulatory, and IT teams.
• Experience supporting regulatory inspections and internal audits.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to translate business strategy into technical execution.