Vice President Pre-Clinical Operations

Vice President, Pre-Clinical Operations

Location: Massachusetts, United States

Apsida are exclusively partnered with a leading Pre-Clinical CRO in the US entering growth mode that are seeking an experienced and strategic Vice President of Pre-Clinical Operations to lead the operational delivery of a growing discovery and pre-clinical services organization. This executive leadership role is responsible for driving operational excellence, scaling delivery capabilities, and ensuring exceptional client outcomes across a diverse portfolio of scientific services.

Working closely with executive, commercial, and scientific leaders, you will translate business strategy into operational execution, build high-performing teams, and establish the processes, systems, and metrics required to support continued growth.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a commercially minded operations leader who enjoys solving complex challenges within a fast-paced, science-driven environment.

• Lead and optimize day-to-day operations across multiple pre-clinical and discovery service functions.
• Drive operational excellence through scalable processes, resource planning, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure high-quality, on-time delivery while maintaining operational efficiency and client satisfaction.
• Develop dashboards and KPIs that provide visibility into performance, capacity, utilization, and delivery metrics.
• Lead initiatives to simplify workflows, eliminate bottlenecks, and improve organizational scalability.

• Translate business strategy into measurable operational objectives with clear ownership and accountability.
• Partner with commercial and scientific leadership to assess delivery capacity during business development activities.
• Develop long-term operational strategies that support sustainable growth and profitability.
• Identify opportunities for new capabilities, operational innovation, and strategic partnerships.

• Own operational financial performance, including budget management and resource optimization.
• Balance customer delivery, profitability, and long-term organizational objectives.
• Develop performance metrics that connect operational execution with financial outcomes.

• Maintain high standards of quality, regulatory compliance, and operational governance.
• Proactively identify operational risks and implement mitigation strategies.
• Lead business continuity planning and manage operational escalations when required.

• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing multidisciplinary teams.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Champion Lean principles and data-driven decision making throughout the organization.
• Establish effective operating rhythms, leadership reviews, and resource planning processes.

We're looking for a proven operations executive with experience leading complex scientific or technical organizations.

You'll ideally bring:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant scientific or business discipline.
• 15+ years of operational leadership experience within life sciences, biotechnology, CRO, pharmaceutical, or other regulated scientific environments.
• Demonstrated success leading large multidisciplinary teams across multiple functions.
• Strong commercial awareness and financial management experience, including budget ownership and operational performance management.
• Experience building scalable operational processes within growing organizations.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at executive level.
• A track record of driving organizational change, process improvement, and operational excellence.