Director/VP of Business Growth & Marketing

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

As the VP or Director of Business Growth, you will lead NICR’s growth strategy. Working closely with the CEO and trial acquisition and contract team, you will transition our efforts from reacting to study requests to building steady, long-term relationships with sponsor executives. You will oversee trial acquisitions, expand our physician network ahead of study demands, and ensure our marketing clearly reflects our clinical capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

1. Sponsor Relationships & Trial Acquisition

• Executive Networking: Build and maintain direct relationships with decision-makers at sponsors and CROs (such as therapeutic area heads and site strategy leads).
• Proactive Planning: Secure early visibility into upcoming trials so we can prepare for placements before official requests are released.
• Account Management: Deepen relationships with existing major partners (like AstraZeneca, Amgen, Alnylam, Novo Nordisk) and actively introduce NICR to new sponsors.
• Proposal Oversight: work with the team responsible for finding and bidding on new trials,
• Industry Representation: Represent NICR at major industry conferences and professional networking events.

2. PI Network & Site Expansion

• Network Growth: Identify where we need more doctors to meet sponsor demands and recruit qualified investigators to fill those gaps.
• Therapeutic Focus: Lead investigator recruitment in cardiometabolic, renal, and emerging areas like MASH, neuropsychiatry, and sarcopenia.
• Physician Outreach: Create clear, practical materials that show doctors the benefits of partnering with NICR over other networks.
• New Site Strategy: Partner with clinical operations and finance to open new clinical sites that make operational and financial sense.

3. Marketing & Communications

• Company Presentation: Manage how NICR presents itself to the industry, including our website, slide decks, and conference materials.
• Clear Positioning: Highlight what actually sets NICR apart: our speed, responsiveness, and hands-on attention.
• Targeted Collateral: Create simple, professional materials to help recruit both new sponsors and new doctors.

4. Team Leadership & Internal Collaboration

• Team Alignment: Manage and support the growth team, ensuring trial acquisition, doctor recruitment, and marketing efforts support one another.
• Reporting: Provide regular, straightforward updates on new trials, doctor recruitment, and market trends to the CEO and Board.

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