About this opportunity
Make your mark for patients
We are looking for a Global Head of Clinical Program Delivery who is collaborative, strategic and patient-focused to join our Global Clinical Operations team, based either at our Belgium headquarters or in Windlesham, UK.
This global role requires approximately 25–30% travel to support collaboration across locations and with external partners.
About the role
You will lead the complete global Clinical Program Delivery organization covering phase I to phase III and post-approval evidence generation for all UCB sponsored clinical programs. You will set the global operational direction for clinical development, while establishing a consistent operating model, strengthening accountability and capability, and ensuring reliable, patient-centered delivery.
Who you’ll work with
You will be working in a team that partners across clinical development, asset and candidate teams, patient-focused functions, strategic service providers, investigators, patient organizations, and industry groups. You will lead and develop senior operational teams while advising clinical operations leadership on strategic priorities, due diligence, capability building, and continuous improvement across a global and rapidly changing environment.
What you’ll do
Lead global clinical program delivery, ensuring patient-centered plans, high-quality data, competitive timelines, responsible budgets, and effective risk management.
Direct resource allocation and operational contributions to study concepts, development plans, feasibility assessments, country selection, and site strategy.
Advance participant recruitment, engagement, representation, and inclusive trial design by embedding patient insights throughout study planning and delivery.
Assess and implement digital and non-digital innovations, building effective partnerships that improve clinical research delivery and participant experience.
Build, integrate, mentor and retain high-performing global leadership teams, creating a coherent operating model with clear accountability, effective resource deployment, strong collaboration and meaningful career development.
Represent clinical operations in leadership forums, due diligence, external collaborations, compliance activities, and cross-functional improvement initiatives.
Interested? For this role we’re looking for the following education, experience and skills
Master’s degree or equivalent relevant experience; extensive subject-matter expertise may be considered in place of an advanced degree.
Substantial leadership experience in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, or a contract research organization, including oversight of clinical program management functions.
Deep knowledge of clinical development and trial operations from early-stage studies through submission and post-approval research.
Demonstrated success leading leaders and global, cross-functional teams and complex programs in a matrix organization.
Inclusive people leadership, coaching, facilitation, negotiation, and communication skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and build consensus.
Sound judgement, analytical thinking, and experience managing budgets, resources, vendors, risks, quality, and Good Clinical Practice requirements.
Are you ready to ‘go beyond’ to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!
About us
UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are over 9.000 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.
Why work with us?
At UCB, we don’t just complete tasks, we create value. We aren’t afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We ‘go beyond’ to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that’s on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.
At UCB, we’ve embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless expressly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.
UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable laws.
Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on EMEA-Reasonable_Accommodation@ucb.com. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Clinical Development role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 912 comparable Clinical Development roles across 105 biopharma companies.
Salary context
343 of 912 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 912 comparable roles
+ 33 more countries
Seniority mix
749 of 912 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
170 of 912 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
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How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.