Director/VP of Business Growth & Marketing
- Location
- Pasadena
- Workplace
- On-site
- Compensation
- $60k – $200k
About this role
Who We Are
NICR is a multi-site Site Management Organization (SMO) operating across California and Texas. With approximately 50 active trials across cardiovascular, cardiorenal, metabolic, neuropsychiatry, and infectious diseases, we are known for our strong enrollment performance and rapid operations. We are in an active growth phase and need a strategic leader to coordinate how we grow our sponsor relationships, investigator (PI) network, and overall market presence.
Position Details
Company: National Institute of Clinical Research (NICR)
Location: Pasadena, CA (HQ) with travel
Reports to: CEO and Board
Position Overview
The VP of Business Development & Marketing owns the full external growth strategy across three pillars: trial acquisition and sponsor relationships, PI network expansion to strategic regions, and marketing and external positioning.
NICR has a BD function already executing on trial submissions and acquisitions, and an active PI network supporting our current site footprint. What this position entails is expanding on what has been developed in order to maintain stability and growth over the long term. That means sponsor leadership relationships that create a proactive pipeline rather than a reactive pipeline, a PI recruitment engine that stays ahead of therapeutic area demand, and a marketing presence that accurately reflects the depth of what NICR offers.
This role works in close partnership with the CEO. The division of labor in sponsor conversations will evolve naturally as the relationship develops — what matters is that the VP brings the credibility and strategic instinct to represent NICR independently at the executive level.
Key Responsibilities
Sponsor Relationships & Trial Acquisition
- Build and own relationships with sponsor and CRO contacts at the leadership level — therapeutic area heads, site strategy leads, and BD decision-makers who determine where studies are placed
- Develop the kind of sponsor connectivity that creates early pipeline visibility and proactive placement — not just reactive responses to open RFPs
- Oversee NICR’s trial acquisition function — setting strategic direction, ensuring submissions are competitive, and tracking win rates and trends
- Maintain and deepen relationships with existing key sponsors (AstraZeneca, Amgen, Alnylam, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, AbbVie, CSL Behring) while systematically opening new ones
- Identify and pursue high-priority new sponsor targets aligned with NICR’s capabilities
- Represent NICR at industry conferences, sponsor advisory meetings, and networking events as a credible senior voice
PI Network Expansion
- Own the strategy for growing NICR’s investigator network — identifying where PI gaps exist relative to sponsor demand and building a pipeline to fill them
- Oversee PI recruitment efforts across existing therapeutic areas, with near-term emphasis on cardiometabolic, cardiovascular, and renal, and emerging areas including MASH, sarcopenia, and neuropsychiatry
- Develop a compelling PI value proposition — what NICR offers an investigator that a competing SMO or independent site can’t match — and ensure it’s used consistently across outreach
- Lead site expansion strategy in target geographies, working with clinical operations and finance to ensure new sites are grounded in operational and financial reality
- Ensure PI recruitment and site development are paced ahead of — not behind — sponsor placement demand
Marketing & External Positioning
- Own NICR’s external narrative — website, capability decks, sponsor-facing collateral, and conference presence
- Develop clear, differentiated positioning that reflects NICR’s actual competitive strengths: responsiveness, relationship quality, therapeutic breadth, and the sponsor attention that larger SMOs can’t match at scale
- Elevate underleveraged capabilities — particularly neuropsychiatry — into active, credible marketing assets that open new sponsor conversations
- Develop PI-facing materials that support investigator recruitment alongside sponsor-facing BD collateral
- Coordinate conference and event strategy across the commercial team
Team Leadership & Reporting
- Lead and develop the commercial team — setting direction, aligning priorities, and creating the conditions for each function to do its best work
- Ensure trial acquisition, PI expansion, and marketing are operating as a coordinated commercial engine rather than separate tracks
- Provide regular written pipeline, sponsor relationship, PI network, and marketing updates to the CEO as part of the leadership reporting cadence
- Bring market intelligence, sponsor feedback, and competitive awareness back into the organization to inform broader strategy
What We’re Looking For
- 7+ years of business development experience in clinical research, with a track record across sponsor relationship development, trial acquisition, and network or site growth
- Experience operating at or connecting with sponsor leadership — not just study-level contacts, but the people who shape site strategy and network decisions
- Existing relationships with sponsors and/or CROs
- Comfortable owning both the strategic sponsor relationship side and the PI/network growth side
- A natural leader who can set direction across a team, develop people, and create alignment without micromanaging
- Credible and comfortable representing an organization externally at the executive level — in sponsor meetings, at conferences, and in strategic capability conversations
- Strategic enough to build a commercial plan, and grounded enough to stay connected to how the team actually executes day to day
Core Competencies & Skills
- Education: Bachelor’s degree
- Experience: 7+ years of business development experience in healthcare, pharmaceutical industry, CRO.
- Industry Connections: Existing, active relationships with decision-makers at sponsors and CROs.
- Versatility: Comfort managing both the client-facing sponsor side and the doctor-facing network growth side.
- Management Style: A supportive leader who can guide a team, set clear expectations, and help execute the daily work.
- Professional Presence: Highly credible and comfortable presenting to executives and speaking at industry events.
Location: This is a full-time, on-site position
Compensation: Competitive base salary commensurate with experience, supplemented by achievement-based commission
Benefits: Paid time off (PTO) , Medical, Dental and Vision Benefits, 401k plus 4% employer match
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