Highlands Oncology began in 1996 with three physicians and a desire to change the face of oncology care in our community. Dr. Malcolm Hayward, Dr. Dan Bradford, and Dr. Thad Beck knew that patients do better at home, in the community where they live and work, and where their support system is already in place. In furthering that goal, Highlands has grown with the region from a single location 26 years ago, to 6 locations in Northwest and Northcentral Arkansas today employing more than 800 diverse team members.

As Northwest Arkansas continues to grow, so must the services and providers available in the region. Highlands Oncology is committed to remaining on the cutting edge to ensure our community has access to the very best cancer care. What we have is something quite unique right here in our own backyard with a caring multidisciplinary team focused on treating patients like family.

Job Summary: The Research Operations Manager is responsible for providing strategic leadership and operational oversight of the key teams in the Clinical Trials Office: regulatory, business, and informatics. The manager ensures the efficient activation, implementation, and management of clinical research studies. This position serves as the primary organizer of study start-up processes, overseeing protocol feasibility, regulatory submissions and approvals, contract and budget execution, system configuration, workflow optimization, and cross-functional collaboration. The Research Operations Manager drives operations by standardizing processes, monitoring performance metrics, ensuring regulatory compliance, and facilitating timely study activation while supporting organizational growth, sponsor satisfaction, and high-quality clinical research activities. This role fosters workflows managed in accordance with organizational policies, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), FDA regulations, and sponsor requirements.

Job Duties / Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership and oversight of the regulatory, business, and informatics teams.
• Direct study start-up activities from feasibility through site activation.
• Maintain complete study life-cycle oversight, from start-up to close-out.
• Ensure timely completion of regulatory approvals, contracts, budgets, and system setup.
• Oversee study activation timelines and implement process improvements to enhance efficiency.
• Improve research department & management efficiency.
• Manage departmental staffing, workload distribution, and resource planning.
• Review investigator initiated and student trials.
• Act on and reduce audit findings and deviations.
• Improve internal quality metrics.
• Recruit, develop, and evaluate research operations personnel.
• Track and report key operational and study start-up metrics to leadership.
• Identify internal process improvement.
• Write and revise standard operating procedures and working practices.
• Review clinical staff documents and procedures.
• Attend inter-department meetings to identify synergy.
• Resolve operational barriers impacting study activation, regulatory compliance, or sponsor expectations.
• Develop and mentor staff while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Maintain and update study documentation in accordance with policies and regulations.
• Communicate effectively with investigators, site staff, and sponsors to provide support, guidance, and training as needed.
• Assist in the preparation and conduct of regulatory inspections, audits, and study meetings.
• Stay current with industry trends, regulations, and best practices to contribute to continuous improvement within the organization.
• Prepare and present operational reports, study start-up metrics, and make strategic recommendations to senior leadership.