Director, Operational Effectiveness

Position:Director, Operational Effectiveness

Location: Birmingham, AL

Job :4389

# of Openings:1

Director, Operational Effectiveness

Southern Research + You
Discover a career where your work truly matters. Southern Research has been translating science into real-world solutions since 1941. Join our innovative team and enjoy benefits like medical, dental, vision, 401(k) match, life insurance, PTO, an employee assistance program, and more.

The Director of Operational Effectiveness serves as a matrix leader across Preclinical Services, partnering with the Vice President of Operations and functional leaders to improve day-to-day execution, organizational performance, and cross-functional alignment.

This role is responsible for improving timeliness, quality, efficiency, and consistency of Preclinical Services operations through the introduction of industry best practices, continuous improvement, process standardization, resource alignment, and effective operational governance. The Director leads primarily through influence and works across functional groups to identify barriers, resolve operational issues, and implement sustainable solutions.

• Serve as a connector and integrator across departments, bringing together leaders to solve cross- functional challenges
• Facilitate leadership alignment sessions to ensure cohesion and shared direction
• Identify recurring operational barriers and implement sustainable corrective actions
• Promote accountability, consistency, and follow-through across cross-functional activities
• Foster a culture of problem-solving, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the organization
• Serve as delegate for Vice President of Operations in designated meetings, initiatives, and operational matters
• Review cross-functional operational incidents and trends to provide executive leadership recommendations to mitigate risk and improve outcomes
• Facilitate cross-functional resource planning discussions, including identification of gaps
• Partner with functional leaders to develop and align training matrices, competency expectations, and proficiency standards
• Ensure consistency in how training requirements, qualifications, and proficiencies are defined and documented
• Lead the conduct of investigation and CAPA processes and ensure timely resolution, sustainable improvement, and compliance with applicable requirements
• Serve as business owner or executive sponsor for designated cross-functional systems and operational processes
• Support major equipment and facility rollouts including planning, ownership alignment, readiness, training, stakeholder coordination, and reporting to leadership
• Work across functional groups to develop operational measures and KPIs that provide visibility into timelines, quality, efficiency, capacity, utilization, and execution
• Analyze operational trends and summarize/report to leadership, both internal trends and industry trends
• Compile and prepare executive-level reports, presentations, analyses, and recommendations
• Support the Vice President of Operations in preparing for leadership meetings, business reviews, planning sessions, and other executive decisions
• Serve on committees as needed
• Other duties as assigned

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences
• Minimum of 15 years in preclinical operations, contract research organization, or related life sciences environment
• Minimum of 5 years in a senior leadership role with demonstrated responsibility for leading cross-functional team and enterprise-wide initiatives
• Experience as full TFM delegate
• Experience with GLP, Part 58 and Part 11 compliance
• Proven experience developing and implementing strategic initiatives that improve organizational effectiveness and business outcomes
• Strong understanding of preclinical research operations, study execution, quality systems, and regulatory expectations
• Exceptional leadership, collaboration, and relationship building skills
• Experience conducting root cause analyses and implementing corrective and preventative actions
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication; able to influence stakeholders at all levels
• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and develop…