IQVIA Posted November 6, 2026

Senior Decentralized Clinical Trial Study Lead

Bloemfontein, South Africa Full time
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IQVIA is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Job Overview

Decentralized Clinical Trial Study Leads (DCTL) are an integral part of clinical trial delivery to improve patients’ lives and bring therapies to the market faster. The DCTL role requires strong project management skills, customer and site facing engagement experience, creativity/innovation and the ability to thrive in a dynamic setting.

The DCTL may oversee studies ranging from fully decentralized trials to hybrid studies which require liaising with traditional project delivery teams.  Critical to the success of DCT is the ability to collaborate across multiple teams and stakeholders including but not limited to technology & IT , mobile nursing, site support services, regulatory, site startup, etc.  DCTL’s also follow established SOP and policies focused on project delivery, productivity and quality resulting in strong project financial performance and customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities

Essential Functions

•  Accountable for the strategic development and delivery of DCT studies in line with agreed upon contracts while optimizing speed, quality and cost of delivery, ensuring consistent use of study tools and training materials and compliance with system updates, standard processes, policies and procedures.

•  Serve as DCT project oversight and/or contact with customers and own relationship with the project’s key customer contact(s)

•  Set objectives for the DCT project team according to agreed upon contract, strategy and approach, effectively communicate and assess performance, providing feedback and leadership.

•  Collaborate with other functional groups within the company where necessary, including the core  study team, to develop and/or support the preparation of integrated study management plans, support milestone achievement and manage study issues and obstacles.

•  Monitor progress against contract and prepare/present project information proactively to all stakeholders internally and externally.

•  Supervise problem solving and resolution efforts to include management of risk, contingencies and issues. Take accountability for proactive contingency plans to mitigate risks.

•  Achieve project quality by identifying and proactively managing quality risks and issues, responding to issues raised by project team members and /implementing appropriate corrective and preventative action plans.

•  Ensure the financial success of the project including optimal management and assignment of resources to achieve project goals and profitability.

•  Forecast and identify opportunities to accelerate activities to bring milestones and revenue forward and implement appropriate actions to achieve.

•  Identify changes in scope and manage change control process, including securing customer agreement to financial and milestone updates as necessary.

•  Identify and communicate lessons learned and best practices to promote continuous improvement.

Other Functions May Include

•  Participate in bid defense preparations. Lead bid defense presentations in partnership with Business Development for 100% Virtual studies or as a component of the larger team for integrated hybrid DCTs studies. Understand project strategy and operationalize the agreed upon approach.

•  Adopt corporate initiatives and changes and serve as a change advocate when necessary.

•  Provide input to line managers on their project team members’ performance relative to project tasks. Support staff development. Mentor less experienced project team members on assigned projects to support their professional development.

•  Educate and train other teams and partners on the processes, capabilities and structure of the DCT organization.

•  Communicate/collaborate with IQVIA business development representatives as necessary.

•  May participate in executive committees as part of program leadership.

Minimum Qualifications

•  Bachelor's Degree Life sciences or related field Req

•  Requires 5 years relevant clinical research experience or equivalent combination of education, training and experience.

•  Requires advanced knowledge of and experience implementing Project Management methodologies, ideally within the clinical research space.

•  Broad knowledge of DCT (current challenges and opportunities to improve clinical trial delivery) and other related job areas, typically obtained through advanced education combined with experience.

•  Knowledge of clinical trials - Knowledge of clinical trial conduct, and skill in applying applicable clinical research regulatory requirements i.e. ICH GCP and relevant local laws, regulations and guidelines, towards clinical trial conduct. Broad protocol knowledge, therapeutic knowledge desired.

•  IQVIA Core Competencies - Ability to demonstrate all IQVIA competencies (Client Focus, Collaboration, Communication, innovation, Ownership).

Preferred Qualifications

•  Technology Savvy – You have an affinity for learning and leveraging technology. Prior experience with set up or implementation of new platform/systems is a plus.

•  Communication - Strong written and verbal communication skills including good command of English language. Strong presentation, negotiation and customer management skills.

•  Problem solving - Strong problem-solving skills ability to quickly identify issues and escalate as necessary.

• Good understanding of the competitive environment and how to communicate/demonstrate value through IQVIA solutions.

•  Leadership - Ability to work through others to deliver results to the appropriate quality and timeline metrics, monitoring/managing performance and providing feedback, experience productively partnering cross functionally and with customers to advance work effectively and efficiently.;

•  Organization - Planning, time management and prioritization skills. Ability to organize resources needed to accomplish tasks, set objectives and provide clear direction to others, experience planning activities in advance and taking account of possible changing circumstances.;

•  Prioritisation - Ability to handle conflicting priorities. Ability to work strategically to realize project goals, identifying and developing positive and compelling visions for the successful delivery of the project.

•  Quality - Attention to detail and accuracy in work. Results-oriented approach to work delivery and output. Demonstrated learning agility and openness to learning and keeping own knowledge and skill set current and evolving.

•  IT skills - Good software and computer skills, including MS. Office applications including but not limited to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

•  Collaboration - Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with coworkers, managers and clients. Excellent customer service skills and demonstrated ability to understand customer needs. Effective mentoring and training skills, fostering learning and knowledge sharing with colleagues.

•  Cross-collaboration - Ability to work across geographies displaying high awareness and understanding of cultural differences. Good understanding of other IQVIA functions and their inter-relationship with Project Leadership.

•  Finances - Good understanding of project financials including experience managing financials, contractual obligations and implications.

IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at https://jobs.iqvia.com

IQVIA is committed to integrity in our hiring process and maintains a zero tolerance policy for candidate fraud. All information and credentials submitted in your application must be truthful and complete. Any false statements, misrepresentations, or material omissions during the recruitment process will result in immediate disqualification of your application, or termination of employment if discovered later, in accordance with applicable law. We appreciate your honesty and professionalism.

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Clinical Development role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 295 comparable Senior Clinical Development roles across 51 biopharma companies.

295Comparable roles tracked
281Currently active
51Companies hiring similar roles
36Countries represented

Salary context

92 of 295 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Senior Research Coordinator · IQVIA $44,300/yr – $110,500/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Statistical Advisor · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $261,375/yr – $338,250/yr
Peer group range $77,400 – $299,813 (median $188,463)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 295 comparable roles

United States150
India36
United Kingdom19
China12
Spain9
Taiwan6

+ 30 more countries

Seniority mix

295 of 295 peers have a known seniority level

Senior149
Associate Director114
Principal32

Therapeutic area mix

34 of 295 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology19
Neuroscience5
Immunology5
Respiratory2
Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Ophthalmology1
Cardiovascular / CVRM1

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.

60%similar
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Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Clinical Development job in South Africa, and choose locations and companies.

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.

60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
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Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 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.