Job Description
Associate Director, Participant Recruitment
Role Summary
Job title: Associate Director, Participant Recruitment
Function: Patient & Site Enablement
Reporting to: Head of Patient & Site Enablement
Hours: 37.5 hours per week (flexibility required to support delivery peaks)
Location: UK (hybrid/remote with travel to operational sites as required)
JD reviewed: [Insert date]
Overall Job Purpose
The Associate Director, Participant Recruitment is responsible for leading and delivering participant recruitment across a multi-site clinical research network, ensuring studies meet enrolment targets within agreed timelines, budgets, and quality standards.
This role owns the recruitment engine end-to-end, including participant acquisition, conversion performance, operational handoffs, and site enablement required to deliver recruitment milestones reliably. Recruitment strategies must be evidence-led, performance-driven, and fully aligned with operational and investigator capacity.
The postholder is accountable for maximising return on recruitment investment through effective channel strategy, conversion optimisation, and continuous improvement, while maintaining full compliance with applicable regulations, ethical standards, and internal procedures.
This is a hands-on leadership role combining strategic oversight with direct execution of key recruitment activities.
Key Accountabilities
End-to-End Recruitment Strategy & Delivery
* Define and lead recruitment strategy at study level, including feasibility inputs, channel mix, messaging approach, funnel assumptions, risk mitigation, and contingency planning
* Deliver robust feasibility assessments covering patient availability, competing studies, and recruitment risk
* Establish measurable recruitment targets and performance thresholds; actively manage delivery against plan
* Build and maintain forecasting models to track demand, conversion rates, and enrolment performance
* Identify underperformance early and implement corrective actions to maintain delivery timelines
Operational Integration: Capacity & Scheduling Alignment
* Partner with operational leadership to align recruitment demand with actual delivery capacity (appointments, staffing, clinic schedules, and mobile delivery where applicable)
* Ensure seamless handoff from recruitment to operations, including lead management, triage, scheduling discipline, and follow-up standards
* Drive cross-functional performance to reduce bottlenecks across screening, scheduling, and participant progression
* Continuously improve recruitment processes, tools, SOPs, and performance tracking frameworks
Site Enablement
* Ensure sites are fully equipped to deliver recruitment through provision of playbooks, scripts, training, and standardised tools
* Build strong relationships with site teams to ensure consistent participant experience and operational execution
* Identify and resolve site-level barriers impacting recruitment performance (e.g. response times, scheduling gaps, follow-up quality, data capture)
* Promote consistent standards and best practice across all locations
Investigator Pipeline & Capacity Development
* Support development of a sustainable Sub-Investigator to Principal Investigator pipeline aligned to network growth
* Forecast future investigator capacity requirements based on recruitment demand and study pipeline
* Work with site leadership to identify and develop high-potential Sub-Investigators
* Ensure effective utilisation of Sub-Investigators within recruitment delivery (screening, consent, participant management)
* Contribute to structured training and progression frameworks to accelerate PI readiness
* Identify and mitigate investigator capacity risks that may impact recruitment performance
Budget Ownership & ROI Management
* Develop, manage, and optimise recruitment budgets across channels and vendors
* Track and report key metrics including cost-per-lead, cost-per-screen, and cost-per-enrolment/randomisation
* Reallocate spend dynamically based on performance data and ROI
* Proactively identify scope or performance risks and communicate mitigation strategies
Advertising, Marketing & Channel Operations
* Oversee multi-channel recruitment strategies in collaboration with marketing and partnership teams (digital, community outreach, referral networks, partnerships)
* Ensure all participant-facing materials are accurate, compliant, and optimised for engagement and conversion
* Continuously test and refine messaging and channel performance
Vendor & Partner Management
* Select, manage, and evaluate external recruitment vendors and agencies
* Establish clear KPIs, reporting frameworks, and performance reviews
* Work with partnership teams to build referral networks that strengthen recruitment resilience and reduce reliance on single channels
Governance, Compliance & Quality
* Ensure all recruitment activities comply with ICH GCP, UK regulatory and ethics requirements, and data protection legislation (UK GDPR)
* Maintain full audit readiness for regulatory inspections and sponsor audits
* Oversee governance of recruitment materials and workflows, including approvals, version control, and data handling
* Support ethics submissions and amendments relating to recruitment strategy and materials
* Stay current with regulatory updates, industry best practice, and emerging recruitment approaches
Reporting & Stakeholder Communication
* Provide clear and consistent reporting on recruitment performance, forecasts, risks, and mitigation actions
* Lead recruitment performance reviews with operational and study leadership
* Represent recruitment strategy and performance in sponsor and client discussions where required
* Translate data insights into clear, actionable delivery plans
Person Specification
Essential Qualifications
* Degree (or equivalent experience) in life sciences, clinical research, marketing, behavioural science, or a related field
Essential Experience
* 5+ years’ experience in clinical trial recruitment and/or delivery environments
* Proven experience managing recruitment budgets with a strong ROI focus
* Strong understanding of ICH GCP and the UK regulatory and ethics landscape
* Demonstrated experience delivering multi-channel recruitment strategies with measurable outcomes
* Track record of operational delivery, including forecasting, performance management, and issue resolution
Essential Skills & Competencies
* Strong analytical capability, including forecasting, funnel management, and conversion optimisation
* Excellent stakeholder management across clinical, operational, and commercial teams
* High attention to compliance, documentation, and audit readiness
* Clear and effective communicator, able to translate strategy into execution
* Proactive, solution-oriented approach with a focus on delivery and outcomes
Desirable
* Experience recruiting for complex or specialised patient populations
* Knowledge of digital marketing and conversion optimisation techniques
* Experience working across multi-site delivery models with capacity constraints