At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.
Position Summary
The Associate Director, Category Lead – R&D Procurement (Clinical Enablement) is accountable for the strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, and governance of clinical development services supporting BMS global R&D programs. This role carries category ownership across a broad clinical enablement portfolio — spanning central laboratory and biospecimen management, clinical imaging and diagnostics, patient recruitment and retention, site enablement services, clinical trial technology platforms, and clinical events adjudication — with accountability for strategy, value delivery, supplier performance, and inspection readiness.
This role reports to the Senior Director, R&D Procurement and operates within the Global Procurement organization, with strong matrixed engagement across Clinical Development, Quality, and Finance.
Key Responsibilities:
Category Strategy & Sourcing
- Own and execute global category strategies across the full clinical enablement portfolio.
- Lead strategic sourcing, competitive bids, contract negotiations, renewals, and amendments to deliver total value across cost, quality, speed, risk mitigation, and innovation
- Establish and maintain preferred supplier frameworks, panel strategies, and demand management approaches across therapeutic areas, development phases, and geographies
- Continuously monitor market dynamics, supplier landscape shifts, and emerging capabilities to keep category strategies current and competitive
Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
- Serve as the primary procurement lead for strategic and preferred suppliers across the clinical enablement portfolio, driving structured governance, performance management, and continuous improvement
- Lead executive-level supplier governance forums, including QBRs, business reviews, issue escalation, and joint innovation roadmap development
- Build and sustain productive, compliant supplier relationships that support BMS pipeline delivery and long-term strategic objectives
- Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to resolve operational, quality, and commercial issues at pace and with accountability
Audit, Inspection & Quality Support
- Provide procurement leadership and hands-on support for internal audits, health authority inspections, and supplier audits across all clinical enablement categories
- Ensure contracts, pricing structures, governance models, and supplier documentation consistently meet BMS Quality, GxP, and inspection readiness standards
- Lead or support remediation activities, CAPAs, and risk mitigation plans in close collaboration with Quality, Regulatory, Clinical Operations, and suppliers
- Maintain a state of continuous inspection readiness across all category documentation and supplier governance artifacts
Governance, Risk & Compliance
- Ensure adherence to BMS procurement policies, QMS requirements, and financial controls across all categories of activities.
- Identify and proactively manage supplier, operational, and compliance risks, including supply continuity, data integrity, and biospecimen handling risks.
- Support development and maintenance of audited documentation, including job descriptions, supplier records, and governance artifacts.
Financial & Business Partnership
- Deliver value beyond savings through pricing optimization, demand aggregation, specification clarity, and commercial discipline.
- Partner with Finance and study teams on budgeting, forecasting, and financial risk management for central lab services.
- Act as a trusted advisor to Clinical and Development leaders on supplier strategy, trade‑offs, and risk‑based decision making.
Leadership & Collaboration
- Lead with influence across a matrixed organization, aligning diverse stakeholders around category strategy and supplier governance priorities
- Mentor and coach procurement colleagues and cross-functional partners on sourcing strategy, negotiation, and supplier management best practices
- Contribute to broader R&D Procurement transformation initiatives, capability building, process standardization, and continuous improvement programs
- Represent Global Procurement in cross-functional governance bodies, clinical development forums, and enterprise steering committees as needed
Qualifications:
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Deep expertise in R&D / Clinical Development procurement with demonstrated breadth across multiple clinical enablement categories
- Strong supplier relationship management, negotiation, and contract governance capabilities across both services and technology
- Proven track record supporting audits, health authority inspections, and remediation activities in regulated (GxP) environments
- Ability to manage complexity, ambiguity, and competing priorities across a broad category portfolio
- Excellent executive communication, stakeholder management, and issue resolution skills
- Strong financial acumen with demonstrated ability to drive and articulate value beyond unit cost savings
- Collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset with a bias for action and accountability
Education / Experience
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree (MBA, MS, or equivalent) preferred
- Minimum of 8–10 years of progressive procurement or sourcing experience, with substantial exposure to clinical development or R&D environments
- Demonstrated experience managing multiple clinical development categories or suppliers simultaneously
- Prior experience with central labs, eClinical platforms, imaging vendors, patient services, or site enablement providers strongly preferred
- Familiarity with GxP requirements, health authority inspection processes, and QMS frameworks required
Travel
- Travel may be required up to 10–20%, based on business needs.
We hire for skills and capabilities, not just credentials – if this role excites you, but doesn’t perfectly match your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway.
Compensation Overview:
The starting compensation range(s) for this role are listed above for a full-time employee (FTE) basis. Additional incentive cash and stock opportunities (based on eligibility) may be available. The starting pay takes into account characteristics of the job, such as required skills, where the job is performed, the employee’s work schedule, job-related knowledge, and experience. The final compensation will be determined based on demonstrated experience and in accordance with pay equity principles and applicable employment laws.
How We Work
Where you work matters – because collaboration, innovation and patient impact happen in many settings. Our roles are structured across four work models: site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design. The model assigned to this role is based on its core responsibilities. Learn more at https://careers.bms.com/ways-of-working.
Supporting People with Disabilities
BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected]. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.
Candidate Rights
BMS will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.
For roles based in Los Angeles County only: If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/
Data Protection
We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection.
Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.
If this posting is missing required information required by local law or incorrect, contact BMS at [email protected] with the Job Title and Requisition number. Do not send application-related inquiries to this email. To check your application status, please login to your Candidate Home Account.
R1605530 : Associate Director, Category Lead – R&D Procurement (Clinical Development)
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree
- Minimum 8-10 years of progressive procurement or sourcing experience
- Substantial exposure to clinical development or R&D environments
- Deep expertise in R&D or clinical development procurement across multiple clinical enablement categories
- Experience managing multiple clinical development categories or suppliers simultaneously
- Familiarity with GxP requirements, health authority inspection processes, and QMS frameworks
- Strong supplier relationship management, negotiation, and contract governance capabilities
- Strong financial acumen and ability to deliver value beyond unit cost savings
- Advanced degree such as MBA, MS, or equivalent
- Experience with central laboratories, eClinical platforms, imaging vendors, patient services, or site enablement providers
Bristol Myers Squibb Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Bristol Myers Squibb and has not been reviewed or approved by Bristol Myers Squibb.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is considered fair and competitive for the pharmaceutical sector, with many describing compensation as good or better than expected. Feedback suggests base pay combined with incentives contributes to overall satisfaction.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is broad, combining medical, dental, vision, disability, and wellness programs, along with access to on‑site fitness. Feedback suggests employer contributions to health accounts and wellbeing incentives further strengthen perceived value.
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Retirement Support — Retirement savings are reinforced by a strong 401(k) match and additional plan options. This structure is commonly cited as a standout component of total rewards.
Bristol Myers Squibb Insights
What We Do
At Bristol Myers Squibb, we work every day to transform patients’ lives through science. That work inspires some of the most interesting, meaningful, and life-changing careers you’ll experience. Join us and pursue innovative ideas alongside some of the brightest minds in biopharma, collaborating with a team rich in diversity of experiences, and perspectives. We have built a sustainable pipeline of potential therapies and are leveraging translational medicine and data analytics to understand how we can deliver the right medicine to the right patient, at the right time, to achieve the best outcome. Whether in a scientific, business or supporting function, a career at BMS means you’ll be inspired every day to grow and thrive through opportunities that are uncommon in scale and scope. Here, you’ll be on the cutting edge of powerful innovation in oncology, hematology, immunology, cardiovascular disease, and fibrosis, with colleagues united in the mission to help patients. Through the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, we also promote health equity and seek to improve health outcomes of populations disproportionately affected by serious diseases and conditions. Our mission is to give new hope to help patients prevail over serious disease – it drives everything we do.
