Your Role:
The role will lead the contracting process and coordinate end to end onboarding and operational readiness for Authorized Treatment Centers supporting the company's CAR T therapy.
This individual will serve as the central point of coordination between treatment centers and internal functions, ensuring that each center progresses efficiently from initial engagement through contracting, readiness assessment, training, and authorization. The role will partner closely with Account Management, CAR T Operations, Legal, Quality, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Patient Services, Supply Chain, Information Technology, Finance, and Compliance.
The Associate Director will bring direct experience activating treatment centers for cell or gene therapy and a strong understanding of the operational, contractual, quality, and institutional requirements involved in preparing centers to deliver complex therapies.
This position will report to the Director, Launch Excellence - US Biomedicine.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
ATC Contracting
- Lead the operational management of the ATC contracting process from contract initiation through execution.
- Serve as the primary business contact for treatment centers during contract development and negotiation.
- Facilitate development, review, negotiation, and execution of Master Services Agreements and related contractual documents in partnership with Legal and relevant functional owners.
- Provide guidance on established commercial and operational contract terms and coordinate escalation of requested exceptions.
- Coordinate internal review of treatment center contract requests across Legal, Finance, Quality, Compliance, Market Access, Patient Services, Account Management, and CAR T Operations.
- Track contract status, outstanding issues, internal approvals, and treatment center actions.
- Support the development and maintenance of contract templates, negotiation guidance, decision pathways, and supporting tools.
- Coordinate Quality Agreements and other supporting documents with the appropriate Quality and Legal representatives, as applicable.
- Ensure final agreements and supporting documentation are maintained in approved company systems.
ATC Onboarding and Operational Readiness
- Coordinate end to end onboarding and operational readiness for new ATCs.
- Develop and maintain site specific onboarding plans, timelines, deliverables, dependencies, and anticipated authorization dates.
- Lead cross functional meetings with treatment centers and internal stakeholders.
- Coordinate completion of applicable onboarding activities, including:
- Master Services Agreement execution
- Quality Agreement execution
- FACT accreditation and institutional qualification verification
- Apheresis and cell therapy program readiness
- Pharmacy and product receipt readiness
- Chain of identity and chain of custody processes
- Ordering platform and system access
- Information technology and data exchange requirements
- Financial and reimbursement workflow readiness
- Patient services processes
- Product handling and operational training
- Required quality, compliance, and operational documentation
- Partner with functional subject matter experts to ensure requirements are clearly communicated and completed.
- Maintain the ATC readiness checklist and supporting documentation.
- Identify risks, gaps, and dependencies that could delay authorization and coordinate timely resolution.
- Prepare centers for final readiness review and coordinate the internal authorization process.
- Support newly authorized centers through initial implementation and early operational activities.
Cross Functional Program Leadership
- Direct cross functional onboarding activities across Account Management, CAR T Operations, Quality, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Legal, Information Technology, Supply Chain, Patient Services, Finance, and Compliance.
- Establish clear ownership, milestones, decision points, and escalation pathways for each ATC.
- Maintain an integrated view of contracting and onboarding progress across the ATC network.
- Develop dashboards and status reports for leadership, including site progress, risks, outstanding decisions, cycle times, and anticipated authorization dates.
- Facilitate governance meetings and document decisions, owners, and deadlines.
- Build effective working relationships with treatment center contracting, legal, quality, pharmacy, finance, information technology, apheresis, nursing, and cell therapy program stakeholders.
- Ensure treatment centers receive clear, consistent, and timely communication throughout onboarding.
- Capture lessons learned and recommend improvements to onboarding processes, tools, templates, and training resources.
- Maintain complete and inspection ready documentation of ATC onboarding and authorization activities.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred; +8 or more years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech, healthcare, clinical research, or hospital environment.
- Direct experience supporting Authorized Treatment Center activation or operational readiness for a commercial cell therapy, gene therapy, or other complex specialty therapy.
- Experience coordinating cross functional initiatives involving Quality, Medical Affairs, Market Access, Legal, Information Technology, Supply Chain, and Patient Services.
- Experience facilitating Master Services Agreements, Quality Agreements, or comparable agreements with healthcare institutions or external partners.
- Strong understanding of treatment center operations, including cell therapy or stem cell transplant programs, apheresis, pharmacy, institutional quality requirements, and FACT accreditation.
- Experience identifying operational risks, tracking complex deliverables, and driving activities to completion across multiple stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to manage relationships with academic medical centers and other complex healthcare institutions.
- Strong program management, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
- Ability to influence and drive accountability without direct reporting authority.
- Ability to manage multiple centers and priorities in a fast paced launch environment.
- Ability to travel to treatment centers and company meetings as needed.
Skills:
- Strategic-commercial acumen
- Strong executive communication skills
- High accountability and ownership mindset
- Operational agility in patient-critical environments
- Advanced problem-solving and risk management capability
- Ability to balance hands-on execution with strategic planning
Physical Demands:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms, talk, and hear. The employee is required to stand; climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. Must have ability to handle more than one task at a time and must work at a rapid pace while maintaining attention to detail.
Work Environment:
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. This job is performed in a variety of facilities. Each person performing this job must have a home office environment, which is temperature controlled. This job requires the person to be mobile to visit customer sites. Due to the travel requirements, this position may be exposed to natural elements of nature. Used research/clinical equipment may be handled in this job and strict SOPs and PPE must be worn.
The hiring range for this position is expected to fall between $147,581 - $186,608/year, reflecting the range candidates can reasonably expect to be considered for at time of offer, based on factors such as experience, internal equity, and qualifications.
In addition to the base salary, the role is also eligible to participate in our broader compensation package, which includes performance-based incentives. The total compensation of the finalist(s) selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to, internal equity, experience, education, specialization, skills, abilities, and training. The above range represents the Company's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.
In addition to your salary, the Company offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, vision, and dental insurance, plus a 401(k) plan. All benefits are subject to eligibility requirements. Certain positions are eligible for additional forms of compensation such as bonuses, commissions, or car allowance.
