Senior Manager, Clinical Contracts – EMEA

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Additional Location: Antwerp may be considered depending on candidate profile

Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Working Arrangement: Hybrid, with regular site presence expected

Travel: Some EMEA travel may be required

Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience

About the Opportunity:

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Manager, Clinical Contracts to join a leading global Medical Devices and Healthcare organisation supporting clinical research activities across EMEA.

This is a senior regional leadership position responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership across the EMEA Clinical Contracts and Payments function.

The organisation operates within a highly regulated general Medical Devices environment, developing and supporting innovative healthcare technologies across multiple therapeutic areas.

The successful candidate will lead a geographically dispersed clinical contracts function and oversee clinical research agreements, site budgets, healthcare professional agreements and related payment activities, ensuring these are delivered efficiently, compliantly and in line with study timelines.

This is an excellent opportunity for an established clinical contracts leader with strong contracting, negotiation, people leadership, strategic thinking and stakeholder-management experience.

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical Contracts & Strategy

- Develop and execute the EMEA Clinical Contracts strategy in alignment with regional and global clinical research objectives.
- Provide senior oversight of Clinical Research Agreements, HCP agreements, site budgets, payments and amendments.
- Lead and support complex contractual negotiations involving legal, compliance, financial and operational considerations.
- Act as a senior escalation point for complex contracting and budget issues.
- Ensure contracting activities support study start-up, site activation and clinical study timelines.

Leadership

- Lead and develop a geographically dispersed EMEA Clinical Contracts and Payments team.
- Provide direction, objectives and performance expectations.
- Support workforce planning, resource allocation, talent development and succession planning.
- Coach and mentor clinical contracts professionals.
- Manage external service providers where required.

Stakeholder Management

- Partner closely with Clinical Operations, Legal, Ethics & Compliance, Data Privacy, Clinical Quality, Study Management, Site Management, Safety and Risk Management.
- Work with country teams, research sites and healthcare professionals across EMEA.
- Communicate complex contractual and operational matters clearly to senior stakeholders.
- Support resolution of escalated contracting and study start-up challenges.

Data, Reporting & Process Improvement





- Establish and monitor KPIs, metrics and reporting for clinical contracting performance.
- Support contract and budget intelligence, forecasting and business reporting.
- Identify opportunities to improve systems, workflows and contracting processes.
- Drive regional standardisation, process harmonisation and operational efficiency.
- Contribute to SOPs, Work Instructions and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Identify operational risks and implement appropriate mitigation strategies.

Must-Have Requirements

- Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Nursing, Biomedical/Bioengineering, Clinical Research or a related discipline.
- 10+ years' experience within clinical research or a closely related environment.
- 5+ years' experience in clinical contracting, contract negotiation and/or clinical contract management.
- Demonstrable experience managing or leading clinical contracts or clinical research professionals.
- Strong experience with Clinical Research Agreements and clinical site contracts.
- Proven contract negotiation and contract review/redlining experience.
- Experience with clinical study budgets, site payments and/or reimbursement.
- Strong understanding of clinical research operations and study start-up.
- Experience within a highly regulated environment such as Medical Devices, Pharmaceutical, CRO or similar.
- Strong understanding of clinical contracting, compliance and industry practices.
- Excellent English communication skills.
- Strong negotiation, stakeholder-management and problem-solving skills.
- Experience leading teams within a matrixed, international environment.
- Strong organisational and analytical skills.
- Good Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel and Word.

Nice-to-Have Experience

- Previous Medical Device industry experience.
- Experience within cardiovascular, vascular, neuromodulation or other complex Medical Device environments.
- Experience managing clinical contracting across multiple EMEA countries.
- Experience leading geographically dispersed or international teams.
- Advanced degree in Life Sciences, Nursing, Bioengineering, Clinical Research or a related field.
- Experience with HCP agreements and reimbursement.
- Experience developing clinical contracting KPIs, dashboards and reporting.
- Experience with clinical contracting systems or technology platforms.
- Experience leading regional/global process harmonisation programmes.
- Strong experience working with Legal,



Ethics & Compliance and Data Privacy.
- Experience managing external clinical contracting service providers.
- Additional European languages.

Key Skills:

Clinical Contracts: Clinical Research Agreements | HCP Agreements | Contract Negotiation | Contract Redlining | Site Budgets | Site Payments | Reimbursement | Amendments

Clinical Research: Clinical Trial Operations | Study Start-Up | Site Activation | EMEA Clinical Operations | Regulatory & Compliance

Leadership: People Management | Team Development | Workforce Planning | Coaching & Mentoring | Succession Planning

Strategic & Operational: Regional Strategy | KPI Management | Reporting | Forecasting | Risk Management | Process Improvement | Operational Excellence

Stakeholder Management: Legal | Ethics & Compliance | Data Privacy | Clinical Quality | Clinical Operations | Site Management | Safety | Risk Management

Working Environment:

This is a senior and highly visible EMEA position within an international Medical Devices organisation.

The role is expected to be based around Brussels, with Antwerp potentially considered depending on the candidate and business requirements. A hybrid working model is expected, with regular site presence required and some EMEA travel potentially involved.

You will operate within a highly matrixed international environment, working with senior stakeholders and teams across multiple countries and functions.

What This Opportunity Offers

- Permanent position within a leading global Medical Devices organisation.
- Senior regional responsibility across EMEA Clinical Contracts.
- Leadership of an international clinical contracts function.
- High visibility with senior Clinical Operations and business leadership.
- Exposure to complex clinical research contracting across EMEA.
- Opportunity to influence regional strategy, processes and operating models.
- Significant cross-functional exposure across Legal, Compliance, Clinical Operations, Quality, Safety and Data Privacy.
- Opportunity to drive process improvement and operational excellence.
- International working environment with long-term career development opportunities.

Ideal Candidate:

The ideal candidate will be an experienced Clinical Contracts Manager, Senior Clinical Contracts Manager, Clinical Contracts Lead, Clinical Agreements Manager, Clinical Operations Manager or similar senior clinical research professional.

You should be able to demonstrate both detailed knowledge of clinical contracting and the ability to lead people, manage regional strategy, resolve escalations, influence senior stakeholders and improve the overall clinical contracting operating model.

This is a strategic leadership position rather than a purely hands-on contracting role, making it particularly suited to someone ready to operate at senior EMEA level.

📌 Senior manager, clinical contracts – emea (España)
🏢 Kelly Science, Engineering, Technology & Telecom
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