About This Role: As the Head of Clinical Trial Start-Up, you will spearhead Biogen’s global study activation strategy, ensuring seamless execution across our clinical development portfolio. Leading multidisciplinary teams, you will align activation capabilities, systems, and processes with Biogen’s strategic priorities, directly contributing to our vision of pioneering scientific breakthroughs. Your role is pivotal in providing both strategic and operational leadership for study start-up, site activation, contracting, budgeting, and EU-CTR strategy. You will transform activation capabilities through technology, process innovation, and automation, ensuring inspection-ready delivery across regions and therapeutic areas. Managing resources, developing talent, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement are integral to your success as you drive forward our global clinical operations.
What You’ll Do:
Lead global study activation from protocol finalization through site initiation and activation.
Build and sustain a team dedicated to delivering study start-up quality and compliance while meeting milestone time requirements.
Evaluate and refine processes and systems to create scalable, efficient, and compliant study activation frameworks.
Govern outsourced activation activities, including vendor oversight and contractual management.
Align cross-functionally with Regulatory, Legal, Finance, Quality, and Medical teams to streamline execution.
Strengthen global activation competencies and talent pipeline within Biogen.
Drive integration and visibility across data and systems for transparent performance assessment and strategic opportunity identification.
Who You Are: You are a visionary leader with a strategic mindset, capable of translating vision into executable plans. Your high emotional intelligence allows you to navigate ambiguous environments with resilience, influencing without authority across matrixed organizations. You possess exceptional stakeholder management skills, and your executive presence enables you to represent functions in senior forums. You are driven by the pursuit of excellence, continuously seeking improvements and fostering innovation.
Required Skills:
Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA, MPH, PharmD, PhD) preferred.
At least 12 years of experience in study start-up, clinical study/trial activation leadership.
Extensive project management skills and experience in global cross-functional delivery.
Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Robust understanding of clinical development processes and regulatory environment.
Strong executive presence and ability to represent functions in senior executive forums.
Preferred Skills:
Experience with digital/technology transformation in clinical trials.
Strong decision-making and risk management orientation.
High emotional intelligence and resilience in ambiguous environments.
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Additional Information
Base salary offered is determined through an analytical approach utilizing a combination of factors including, but not limited to, relevant skills & experience, job location, and internal equity.
Regular employees are eligible to receive both short term and long-term incentives, including cash bonus and equity incentive opportunities, designed to reward recent achievements and recognize your future potential based on individual, business unit and company performance.
In addition to compensation, Biogen offers a full and highly competitive range of benefits designed to support our employees’ and their families physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being; including, but not limited to:
- Medical, Dental, Vision, & Life insurances
- Fitness & Wellness programs including a fitness reimbursement
- Short- and Long-Term Disability insurance
- A minimum of 15 days of paid vacation and an additional end-of-year shutdown time off (Dec 26-Dec 31)
- Up to 12 company paid holidays + 3 paid days off for Personal Significance
- 80 hours of sick time per calendar year
- Paid Maternity and Parental Leave benefit
- 401(k) program participation with company matched contributions
- Employee stock purchase plan
- Tuition reimbursement of up to $10,000 per calendar year
- Employee Resource Groups participation
Why Biogen?
We are a global team with a commitment to excellence, and a pioneering spirit. As a mid-sized biotechnology company, we provide the stability and resources of a well-established business while fostering an environment where individual contributions make a significant impact. Our team encompasses some of the most talented and passionate achievers who have unparalleled opportunities for learning, growth, and expanding their skills. Above all, we work together to deliver life-changing medicines, with every role playing a vital part in our mission. Caring Deeply. Achieving Excellence. Changing Lives.
At Biogen, we are committed to building on our culture of inclusion and belonging that reflects the communities where we operate and the patients we serve. We know that diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives make us a stronger and more innovative company, and we are focused on building teams where every employee feels empowered and inspired. Read on to learn more about Biogen.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, race, color, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. Biogen is an E-Verify Employer in the United States.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree
- At least 12 years of experience in study start-up or clinical study/trial activation leadership
- Extensive project management experience
- Experience with global cross-functional delivery
- Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills
- Robust understanding of clinical development processes and the regulatory environment
- Strong executive presence and ability to represent functions in senior executive forums
- Advanced degree such as MBA, MPH, PharmD, or PhD
- Experience with digital or technology transformation in clinical trials
- Strong decision-making and risk management orientation
- High emotional intelligence and resilience in ambiguous environments
Biogen Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Biogen and has not been reviewed or approved by Biogen.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is generally positioned as competitive and often perceived as fair across roles, with total compensation framed as strong when bonus and equity are included. Compensation sentiment is described as above-average overall, though it varies by function and business cycle.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity programs are repeatedly highlighted as a meaningful part of the total package, including stock programs and an employee stock purchase plan. Equity and bonus elements are portrayed as important contributors to feeling well rewarded beyond base pay.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits are described as distinctive, including a year-end shutdown and a paid sabbatical after extended tenure. Vacation, holidays, sick time, and personal-significance days are also presented as supportive of work-life needs.
Biogen Insights
What We Do
Through cutting-edge science and medicine, Biogen discovers, develops and delivers innovative therapies worldwide for people living with serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Founded in 1978, Biogen is a pioneer in biotechnology and today the Company has the leading portfolio of medicines to treat multiple sclerosis, has introduced the first and only approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, and is at the forefront of neurology research for conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Biogen also manufactures and commercializes biosimilars of advanced biologics. With approximately 7000 people worldwide, we are truly a global organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is also home to our research operations. Our international headquarters are based in Zug, Switzerland and we have world-class manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Denmark. We offer therapies globally through direct affiliate presence in 30 countries and a network of distribution partners in over 50 additional countries. For more information, please visit www.biogen.com. Follow us on social media – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube.
