Clinical Trial Services - Senior Sales representative

A specialist commercial role within a life sciences services organisation supporting clinical research operations, including study enablement, biological sample handling, and outsourced analytical coordination. This role is responsible for generating new business and developing existing client relationships across biotechnology and pharmaceutical organisations involved in early-stage and multi-site clinical trials. The position requires a consultative, technically informed approach, combining scientific understanding with strong stakeholder management. The successful candidate will act as the key commercial interface between external sponsor organisations and internal scientific and operational teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and manage a pipeline of new business across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and clinical research service organisations.
• Identify, qualify, and convert opportunities within early-stage and multi-site clinical development programmes.
• Lead preparation of proposals, scopes of work, and commercial responses in collaboration with technical teams.
• Manage the full sales lifecycle from initial engagement through to contract award and handover to delivery teams.
• Grow existing accounts through structured relationship development and identification of additional service requirements.
• Act as a consultative partner to clients, supporting high-level study planning discussions.
• Provide market intelligence relating to competitor activity, pricing trends, and service positioning.
• Represent the organisation at relevant industry events, conferences, and scientific meetings.
• Maintain accurate CRM records and contribute to forecasting and pipeline reporting.
• Collaborate closely with operational, scientific, and project management teams to ensure feasibility and delivery alignment.

Essential Experience

• 6+ years’ experience in a commercial, technical, or client-facing role within life sciences (e.g. business development, account management, scientific services, project coordination).
• Experience working within clinical research environments, including early-stage clinical development programmes, multi-site or geographically distributed studies, and outsourced scientific or operational services supporting clinical trials.
• Proven experience in consultative selling, solution development, or complex stakeholder engagement.
• Strong understanding of the clinical development lifecycle and associated operational considerations.
• Experience engaging with pharmaceutical organisations, biotechnology companies (including early-stage), and clinical research service providers.
• Experience managing structured commercial processes such as proposals, tenders, or service agreements involving multiple stakeholders.

Key Domain Knowledge

• Clinical Study Operations.
• Operational risks and delays in early-stage and multi-site studies.
• Challenges associated with biological material collection, handling, and transfer.
• Coordination complexity across decentralised clinical research networks.
• Risks relating to sample and data integrity in distributed studies.
• Regulatory and procedural factors influencing timelines and execution.
• Biological Sample & Analytical Workflows.
• End-to-end handling of biological materials within clinical research contexts.
• Chain-of-custody and traceability requirements.
• Outsourced laboratory and analytical service models.
• Coordination between clinical sites and specialist service providers.
• Sample processing and downstream analytical workflows.

Early-Stage Biotechnology Context

• Awareness of early biotechnology funding environments and their impact on decision-making.
• Understanding how funding stage influences study design, outsourcing strategy, and procurement timing.
• Ability to engage with organisations operating under resource and time constraints.

Preferred Experience

• Experience working with emerging biotechnology organisations with limited internal infrastructure.
• Familiarity with relationship-led or conference-led business development environments.
• Experience in technically complex service-based sales environments.
• Background in laboratory services, translational research support, or biomarker-related services.

Behavioural Competencies

• High attention to detail and strong organisational capability.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent opportunities in complex sales cycles.
• Scientific curiosity and appreciation for data integrity and quality standards.
• Commercial resilience in longer, multi-stakeholder decision processes.
• Ability to operate independently in a field-based or hybrid role.
• Strong communication skills to translate technical detail into clear commercial value.
• Credibility with senior scientific and operational stakeholders.
• Balanced commercial judgement where quality, feasibility, and timelines intersect.

Quality & Mindset

• Strong respect for quality systems, operational accuracy, and scientific rigour.
• Confidence to raise concerns where operational decisions may impact study quality or integrity.
• Preference for long-term client relationships over transactional wins.
• Comfortable operating in a reputation-sensitive, referral-driven commercial environment.
• Awareness that small operational deviations can have significant downstream impact in clinical research contexts.