Clinic Testing Center Lead

About the company

MBZUAI is expanding its partnership in the global human phenotype project (HPP) through the establishment of a new on-campus site comprising a clinic and a site lab (Clinic Testing Center – CTC).

Your tasks

The CTC lead will be responsible for planning, coordinating and tracking delivery of the project from establishment through steady-state operation, including hands-on operation of the on-campus CTC.

Project planning and delivery

• Work closely with the global HPP team to develop and maintain an integrated project plan for the CTC, aligned with the agreed indicative project plan and HPP requirements.
• Define workstreams, milestones, dependencies and the critical path.
• Coordinate day-to-day execution across internal teams and external partners.
• Track progress against plan and drive timely resolution of delays and blockers.
• Ensure MBZUAI’s dependencies and inputs to the project are delivered on time.

On-campus CTC establishment Serve as the lead for establishment of the new on-campus CTC in collaboration with the global HPP team. Responsibilities include:

• Coordinate with facilities, architects, engineers and contractors on the build-out of the site floor housing the CTC.
• Coordinate equipment and consumables procurement, delivery, installation and commissioning.
• Coordinate IT, network, security and platform access requirements with university IT.
• Coordinate recruitment and onboarding of CTC personnel.
• Localization and adaptation of HPP protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Lead site-readiness planning and go-live preparation, in coordination with the clinic lead and site lab lead once recruited.

Regulatory, ethics and approvals Work closely with the global HPP team and the relevant MBZUAI reference person to plan, coordinate and track all approvals required for the project, including:

• Ethics / institutional review board (IRB) submissions, amendments and renewals.
• Facility and laboratory licensing with the relevant local authorities.
• Data protection, data transfer and information-security approvals.
• Institutional approvals, contracts and agreements required for delivery.

Operational launch and ongoing operations Once the CTC is operational, day-to-day operations are led by the clinic lead and site lab lead. The CTC lead supports them at project level by tracking:

• Participant recruitment.
• Operational key performance indicators (KPIs), throughput and performance against HPP SOPs and requirements.
• Sample and data collection by the CTC.
• Follow-up of improvement actions arising from operational reviews.

Governance and stakeholder management

• Act as the main point of contact for the global HPP team for the on-campus CTC matters.
• Organize and run regular project meetings with the global HPP team and internal stakeholders.
• Prepare materials for the project steering committee.
• Manage escalation of unresolved issues to senior representatives in line with the agreed governance.
• Build strong, collaborative working relationships across all parties.

Budget and procurement

• Track the project budget and expenditure against plan.
• Coordinate purchase orders, invoices and payment schedules with finance.
• Support vendor selection, negotiations and service contracts with procurement.
• Monitor contractual deliverables and obligations under the project agreements.

Other duties Perform all other duties as reasonably directed by the line manager that are commensurate with these functional objectives.

Requirements

Qualifications and criteria

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, health sciences, biomedical engineering, public health, business administration or a related discipline.
• Master’s degree (e.g. MPH, MBA, MSc) in a relevant field.
• Recognized project-management certification (e.g. PMP, PRINCE2).

Essential

• Proven record of relevant experience in project or program management.
• Experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects in healthcare, clinical research or life sciences.
• Experience delivering the establishment of a new clinical site, laboratory or research facility.
• Familiarity with clinical research operations, ethics / IRB processes and good clinical practice (ICH-GCP).
• Experience managing budgets, procurement and vendor relationships.
• Experience working within, or in partnership with, academic or research institutions.
• Experience reporting to senior leadership and steering committees.
• Excellent written and spoken English; Arabic is an advantage.

Preferred

• The UAE / GCC healthcare and research regulatory environment.
• Cohort studies or population-health programs.
• Clinical trial site start-up.
• International or multi-site research partnerships.
• Laboratory accreditation projects.
• Digital health and research data platforms.
• Middle East experience.