What You’ll Do

The Associate Director, Medical Affairs Operations is a key operational role within Medical Affairs, responsible for the infrastructure, budget discipline, and day-to-day execution that allow the medical organization to deliver on its scientific strategy. This individual will support congress tactics and scientific meeting execution, own operational budget management including contracting and the creation and management of purchase orders, and drive the systems, vendor relationships, and processes that keep Medical Affairs running with speed and compliance.

This role provides direct operational support to the Vice President of Medical Affairs and reports to the Senior Director of Medical Affairs Operations and Strategy. The role partners closely with Finance, Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Commercial, Clinical Development, Patient Advocacy, and Field Medical, and requires a hands-on operator who is comfortable moving between strategic planning and detailed execution in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.

Responsibilities

Congress & Scientific Meeting Operations

• Support the development and execution of the annual congress strategy and tactical plan, including congress prioritization, medical objectives, staffing plans, and post-congress debriefs.
• Coordinate end-to-end operational execution for priority congresses, including booth and medical presence logistics, advisory boards and satellite symposia, exhibit space, standard operating procedures, and cross-functional timelines.
• Partner with Field Medical, Commercial, Communications, and Compliance to ensure congress activities are aligned, on-strategy, and executed within regulatory and compliance guidelines.
• Manage congress vendors, agency partners, and internal tracking tools; maintain the congress calendar, budgets, and deliverable trackers.
• Capture and consolidate congress insights and metrics to inform future medical planning and demonstrate impact.

Operational Budget Management & Contracting

• Support the annual budget planning, forecasting, and quarterly reforecast process for Medical Affairs in partnership with Finance and functional leads.
• Track actuals versus budget, accruals, and variances; provide regular reporting and proactively flag risks and reallocation opportunities to leadership.
• Manage the contracting lifecycle for Medical Affairs engagements, including scope of work development, vendor onboarding, legal and compliance review routing, execution, and renewals.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance, Procurement, and Finance to ensure fair market value, transparency reporting, and adherence to internal policy for all external engagements.

Purchase Orders & Vendor Operations

• Open, manage, and close purchase orders for Medical Affairs, ensuring timely requisition creation, approvals, receipting, and invoice resolution.
• Serve as the primary operational point of contact for vendors on PO status, invoicing issues, and payment escalations.
• Maintain accurate vendor records, spend documentation, and audit-ready files across the Medical Affairs portfolio.
• Identify and implement process improvements that reduce cycle time for contracting and purchase order execution.

Medical Affairs Operations & Process Excellence

• Support the operating rhythm of the Medical Affairs organization, including planning cycles, leadership team meetings, functional offsites, and cross-functional governance forums.
• Build and maintain the tools, trackers, dashboards, and standard processes that enable consistent execution across Medical Affairs sub-functions.
• Support the development and maintenance of standard operating procedures, work instructions, and onboarding materials for Medical Affairs.
• Partner with IT, Data, and vendor teams on Medical Affairs systems and platforms, supporting implementation, user adoption, and ongoing administration.

Executive & Cross-Functional Support

• Provide direct operational support to the Vice President of Medical Affairs, including preparation of leadership presentations, business reviews, and cross-functional updates.
• Translate leadership priorities into actionable operational plans, tracking milestones and driving accountability across owners.
• Serve as a connective partner across Medical Affairs, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Commercial, and Clinical Development to ensure coordinated, on-strategy delivery.

Compliance

• Ensure all Medical Affairs operational activities, engagements, and spend are conducted in a compliant manner and in accordance with applicable regulations and company policy.
• Maintain documentation and audit readiness across congresses, contracts, purchase orders, and vendor engagements.

Where You’ll Work

This is a U.S.-based remote role that will require periodic, or as-needed, visits to our San Francisco office, plus travel for congresses, vendor and partner meetings, and team planning sessions (approximately 20% of time).

Who You Are

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MS, MBA, PharmD, PhD) preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including significant experience in Medical Affairs operations, congress or meeting management, or a comparable operations function.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience managing operational budgets, forecasting, and accruals in partnership with Finance.
• Direct experience with contracting processes and purchase order systems (e.g., Coupa, SAP, Ariba, Oracle), including requisition creation, receipting, and invoice resolution.
• Experience supporting congress strategy and execution within a medical or commercial organization.
• Strong understanding of compliance requirements governing Medical Affairs engagements, HCP interactions, and transparency reporting.
• Demonstrated experience in rare disease strongly preferred.
• Highly organized operator with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines simultaneously.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing materials for and interacting with senior leadership.
• Collaborative, solutions-oriented, and comfortable operating with ambiguity in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.