Senior Vice President, Research

Position Overview

Vitalief has partnered with a leading multi-site New Jersey health system to help build a world-class clinical research organization. As part of the initiative, our client has engaged Vitalief to identify a visionary Senior Vice President (SVP) of Research to lead this transformation.

Reporting to the Chief Medical Officer, this SVP will oversee system-wide research initiatives, grow the portfolio of industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical trials, with a primary focus on non-oncology therapeutic area, and deepen the organization's partnership with a leading Academic Medical Center. Over the past eight years, the organization has invested significantly in building a premier research enterprise, achieving notable success in oncology. It now sees substantial opportunity to expand that excellence across other therapeutic areas.

Working closely with executive leadership, the SVP will have a rare opportunity to assess current capabilities, build a strategic roadmap, and position the organization as a destination of choice for top physicians, principal investigators, patients, academic collaborators, and industry sponsors, establishing a nationally recognized, integrated research program during a period of exceptional growth, with the full backing of leadership.

WORK LOCATION

• Primarily remote position with up to 25% travel to the health system's New Jersey locations.
• Regular on-site presence for executive meetings, physician engagement, strategic planning, and key research initiatives.
• Occasional travel to industry, academic, and professional conferences.

Compensation

• Salary Range: from $300,000 to $400,000 - commensurate with experience and qualifications.
• Performance-based incentive opportunities.
• Comprehensive executive benefits package.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the strategic vision and roadmap for research across the health system, aligning research initiatives with organizational goals and long-term growth strategies.
• Assess and optimize existing research infrastructure, capabilities, and strategic assets to build a world-class clinical research organization.
• Lead the expansion of the clinical research enterprise, increasing research volume across multiple therapeutic specialties with an emphasis on non-oncology clinical trials.
• Build and strengthen research infrastructure, ensuring operational excellence, scalability, and regulatory compliance.
• Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with an affiliated Academic Medical Center to support translational research, faculty collaboration, investigator development, and innovation.
• Partner with physician leaders and service line executives to identify new clinical research opportunities across the health system.
• Expand relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, medical device manufacturers, contract research organizations (CROs), and other research sponsors.
• Provide executive oversight of research operations, including clinical trial management, research administration, budgeting, compliance, quality assurance, and performance metrics.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and institutional regulations governing clinical research, including FDA regulations, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements, and human subjects protections.
• Recruit, develop, and mentor high-performing research leadership and operational teams.
• Identify opportunities for external funding, grants, strategic partnerships, and sustainable research revenue.
• Represent the health system with academic institutions, industry partners, sponsors, professional organizations, and national research forums.

Qualifications

• Doctoral degree required; PhD (in biomedical sciences, public health, clinical research, healthcare administration, or a related discipline) strongly preferred. Candidates with an MD, DO, PharmD, or other terminal healthcare or scientific degree and significant research leadership experience will also be considered.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive executive leadership experience in clinical research within an integrated health system, academic medical center, research institute, or comparable healthcare organization.
• Must have experience leading clinical research across a multi-hospital system, an integrated health system, or an academic medical center.
• Demonstrated success leading the growth of complex clinical research programs across multiple specialties.
• Experience collaborating with executive leadership, physician investigators, and academic institutions.
• Demonstrated success expanding industry-sponsored clinical trials across diverse therapeutic areas.
• Experience working in close partnership with an Academic Medical Center.
• Experience developing research infrastructure during periods of rapid organizational growth.
• Comprehensive knowledge of clinical research regulations, FDA requirements, GCP, IRB processes, research compliance, and research administration.
• Strong scientific acumen and a deep understanding of clinical research from the Principal Investigator (PI) perspective.
• A commitment to staying abreast of research industry trends, emerging methodologies, evolving sponsor expectations, and the changing clinical research landscape.
• Demonstrated ability to translate research strategy into measurable operational and financial results, knowing what it takes to operationalize ROI while always thinking patients first.
• Proven ability to build strategic partnerships and successfully lead organizational change.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, financial management, and relationship-building skills.