Organizational Overview
Founded in 1998 by Leonard A. and Ronald S. Lauder, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation is dedicated to rapidly accelerating the discovery of drugs to prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer's disease. The ADDF is the only public charity solely focused on funding the development of drugs for Alzheimer's, employing a venture philanthropy model to support research in academia and the biotech industry. The ADDF’s leadership and contributions to the field have played a pivotal role in bringing the first Alzheimer’s PET scan (Amyvid™) and blood test (PrecivityAD™) to market, as well as fueling the current robust and diverse drug pipeline. Through the generosity of its donors, the ADDF has awarded nearly $250 million to fund over 720 Alzheimer's drug discovery programs, biomarker programs and clinical trials in 19 countries. To learn more, please visit: http://www.alzdiscovery.org/.
The path to approved Alzheimer's treatments starts with a better way to diagnose patients. Bill Gates and ADDF Co-Founder Leonard A. Lauder partnered to adopt a new approach that brings together philanthropic capital with a venture mindset to advance bold ideas for easier, more accurate, and earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Launched in July 2018, the Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) has mobilized commitments totaling $100 million from Bill Gates, Leonard A. Lauder, Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Scott, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), Eli Lilly & Company, Biogen, the Shanahan Family Foundation, the Dolby family, the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, and others. The Diagnostics Accelerator focuses on translating the knowledge we have gained about the causes of Alzheimer's disease into biomarkers and diagnostics to enable precision medicine. Research funded to date focuses on various methods and targets including blood tests in various stages of development, as well as eye scans and digital tools.
Position Description
SpeechDx (https://www.alzdiscovery.org/speechdx/) is a large, longitudinal, multi-site and multi-vendor global clinical research study at the forefront of AI-enabled Alzheimer's research. The Operations Delivery Manager will serve as the operational engine of SpeechDx, leading all operational aspects of the SpeechDx study to align with SpeechDx scientific and strategic priorities.
SpeechDx is a unique study, and this is an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the development of speech-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s. A successful Assistant Director will be engaged in all aspects of day-to-day study logistics, coordinating across vendors, project teams, and clinical sites, and providing flexible, innovative, and proactive mitigation strategies for any risks that arise. They will work closely within the internal team and with external sites and vendors to ensure delivery of milestones and objectives within expected budget and timelines. This role is critical to ensuring the program’s scientific success.
Placement: This role reports to the Director, Diagnostics Accelerator. This is a full-time exempt position. Candidates from out of state are welcome to apply. This role is positioned in L5 of ADDF’s salary structure. Anticipated salary: $111,000-$140,000. Placement within the stated range will be based on your relevant skills, experience, and expertise.
Key Responsibilities:
- Program Execution and Workflow Management
- Drive day-to-day clinical operations of the SpeechDx program and study, ensuring alignment with scientific and strategic priorities
- Own program tracking and reporting against study budget, timelines, and deliverables; collaborate with internal and external teams to ensure operational dependencies are met
- Facilitate clear and timely communication across internal and external stakeholders
- Identify risks or delivery bottlenecks early; escalate and propose proactive risk mitigation strategies
- Ensure documentation and SOPs are maintained and regularly updated to reflect program learnings
- Monitor adherence to data quality, privacy, and compliance standards externally, across vendors and sites, and internally, across the team
- Vendor and Site Coordination
- Cultivate strong relationships with and serve as primary point of contact for 9 multi-national clinical sites and for full suite of vendors, tracking performance, proactively flagging risks when appropriate, and implementing best practices to ensure study success
- Monitor site and vendor contracts, deliverables, and performance, working closely with legal and procurement teams to negotiate, finalize, and track contracts within study budgets and timelines.
- Manage clinical data ingestion to support dataset integration and collaborate with scientific team to assure data quality
- Provide assistance to clinical sites for subject enrollment and retention as needed.
- Culture and Communication
- Support a team culture of clarity, accountability, and delivery
- Contribute to regular team and leadership updates on progress, risks, and decisions
- Represent the operational voice in program meetings and partner check-ins
- Lead study coordination both internal and external, inclusive of sub-contractors, clinical sites, and leadership
- Assist with promotional activities of the program and development of external communications.
- Assist with project and event planning, managing the logistics of and coordinating content development for meetings, conferences, and other communications.
- Support other DxA digital and AI-enabling programs as needed
- Travel up to 10%
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of project management, operations delivery, clinical trial management, or related, within the healthcare, pharma, or digital health industry; startup or CRO experience a plus
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience (preferably in a healthcare or technology-related discipline); Master's degree or PhD a plus
- Thorough knowledge of project management processes, including how to manage project budgets and timelines; Project Management Professional (PMP) certification a plus
- Learner, with a proven ability to creatively problem solve, set priorities to meet project goals, and change priorities as project goals evolve; Proven ability to complete projects according to outlined scope, budget, and timeline a plus
- Versatile thinker with the ability to balance clinical, regulatory, legal, scientific, and operational considerations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to manage and communicate effectively within large, cross-functional teams.
- Skilled at building relationships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
- Detail-oriented, with the ability to develop and track participant enrollment, develop projections, and build clear figures
- Comfortable working collaboratively in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities.
How to Apply
To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and salary expectations to jobs@alzdiscovery.org, including “Assistant Director, SpeechDx” in the subject line. Only complete applications will be considered.
ADDF is an equal opportunity employer, committed to attracting, developing, and retaining exceptional people. We welcome and encourage applicants for all positions respecting the full spectrum of education, experience, age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, religion, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ancestry, marital status, veteran status or other military status, or citizenship status, genetic carrier status, genetic information, AIDS or AIDS-related complex or HIV status, being a victim of domestic violence, protected activity (i.e., filing a charge of discrimination, participating in a discrimination proceeding, or otherwise opposing prohibited discrimination), or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.