The Executive Director, is a senior and experienced leader within Global Clinical Development and is expected to leverage that experience to aid a team to grow a portfolio of innovative and profitable business by overseeing the design of effective and differentiated strategies for operational delivery with clients and internal experts. As such the Executive Director is expected to establish and grow best practices to ensure proposal strategies maximize Fortrea’s differentiation, leverage cross functional input across the Fortrea enterprise, be an effective line and team manager, and engage as a leader and subject matter expert in relevant process improvements and change management activities across the organization.
Summary of Responsibilities:
Commercial Acumen:
- Has a deep understanding of the industry, market and our clients and presents Fortrea’s medical scientific and operational capabilities to clients. Leads business growth through the design and development of innovative, winning trial solutions that result in a growing, profitable portfolio of rare diseases and pediatrics business across the Therapeutic Areas.
- Builds and strengthens senior relationships across pharma, biotech, KOLs, investigators, sites, academic collaborators, advocacy groups and strategic partners, using these networks to open doors, shape opportunities and strengthen Fortrea's market position.
- Leads high quality end-to-end business development strategies, including RFI response, proposal development, bid defense preparation and presentations.
- Markets and supports Fortrea’s capability, visibility and position through publications and presentations at conferences, meetings, and webinars, etc.
Leadership:
- Leads development and execution of the GenMed strategic roadmap and shapes therapeutic area growth strategies through Growth Councils, strategic account planning, client engagement and cross-functional leadership.
- Provides strategic insight and constructive challenge to the GenMed Leadership Team, translating business intelligence, market trends and organizational priorities into actionable plans. Establishes governance, scorecards and strategic performance measures to monitor progress and accountability.
- Sponsors strategic partnerships across Commercial, Medical, Delivery and Functional Leadership, ensuring alignment, clear accountability and consistent execution across GenMed.
- Builds and evolves a high-performing SDG capability with clear roles, decision rights, expectations and accountability. Leads through others, protects strategic capacity and delegates to build judgement, ownership and future leadership strength.
- Provides strategic direction, prioritization, coaching and oversight across the GenMed SDG team and broader stakeholder network in a global, complex and matrixed environment.
- Leads workforce and organizational planning to ensure GenMed has the talent, capabilities and leadership capacity required to support future growth.
- Attracts, selects, on-boards, develops and retains high performing talent; strengthens and deepens talent bench and succession.
- All other duties as needed or assigned.
People Responsibilities:
- 0-10 Direct Reports.
- 10-50 Indirect Reports.
Operational Leadership and Financial Acumen:
- Partners with Delivery, Feasibility, Recruitment and Engagement, Medical, Commercial and functional leaders to ensure strategies are evidence-based, commercially sound and operationally executable.
- Leads portfolio growth through clear therapeutic choices, early client engagement, differentiated opportunity strategies and disciplined execution across priority pursuits.
- Contributes to GenMed growth and financial objectives by ensuring strategies, budgets and deal terms are competitive, executable and aligned with client needs.
Subject Matter Expertise:
- Provides commercial, operational, medical and scientific leadership across GenMed, connecting relevant expertise to strengthen therapeutic strategy and client positioning.
- Serves as a senior global contact for internal leaders, clients, KOLs and strategic partners on GenMed strategy, with particular credibility in obesity, metabolic disease and/or immunology and inflammation.
- Ensures SDG capability and development needs are identified and addressed through coaching, targeted development and succession planning.
- Maintains current knowledge of relevant science, sponsor pipelines, competitive dynamics, drug development and clinical delivery.
Qualifications (Minimum Required):
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- Advance degree, APRN, MPH, PhD and/or MBA preferred.
- Fortrea may consider relevant and equivalent experience in lieu of educational requirements.
Experience (Minimum Required):
- 15 or more years of Research and Development and clinical research experience (pharmaceutical or biotech and CRO), preferably including 3 or more years leading cross functional full development programs from concept inception to defining the operational strategy for delivery of the clinical trials in respective Therapeutic Area, General Medicine mandatory.
- 5 or more years' global leadership experience in a complex, virtual and matrixed environment, including leading through others, building organizational capability and strengthening succession.
- Established senior client relationships and a strong external network across pharma, biotech and the relevant therapeutic ecosystem.
- Demonstrated success translating market intelligence, relationships and therapeutic strategy into differentiated positioning, growth opportunities and commercial outcomes.
- Financial acumen (P and L, budget, forecast, resources, etc.)
The base salary range for this role in Italy is €115,900 – €186,610 gross per year, which may vary as per working schedule (full or part-time). The final offer will be determined based on objective and job-related criteria such as experience, qualifications, and scope of responsibilities, in line with our internal job classification framework and the applicable collective labor agreement (CCNL). This role may also be eligible for additional compensation, such as bonus and benefits, in accordance with company policies.
The salary range listed reflects the market for this role in Italy. This position is open to candidates based in other eligible locations, and the applicable range may vary depending on your country of residence. Please speak with your recruiter for details specific to your location.
Application Deadline: October 30, 2026
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