H-1B Visa Clinical Operations Lead Jobs
Clinical Operations Lead roles qualify as H-1B specialty occupations under USCIS guidelines, requiring at least a bachelor's degree in clinical research, life sciences, or a related field. Sponsors file an LCA with DOL before your I-129 petition, certifying your role meets prevailing wage standards for your work location.
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The Role:
As we expand our late-stage development organization, we are seeking a Director, Clinical Operations– COPD to provide strategic and operational leadership for global Phase 3 development. This role will serve as the operational leader across one or more complex, late-stage COPD studies, with full accountability for study strategy, execution, quality, budget, and delivery.
In addition to program leadership, this role includes direct line management of Clinical Operations professionals, with responsibility for hiring, developing, coaching, and building high-performing teams. The Director will play a key role in shaping operational strategy, advancing functional excellence, and strengthening Generate’s late-stage development capabilities.
Here's how you will contribute:
Program Leadership
- Provide strategic oversight and end-to-end operational leadership for global Phase 3 COPD studies and related development activities.
- Translate program strategy into comprehensive, executable operational plans aligned with regulatory, scientific, and corporate objectives.
- Accountable for study timelines, budgets, resource allocation, quality metrics, and overall delivery.
- Lead scenario planning, risk forecasting, and mitigation strategies at the program level.
- Partner with Clinical Development leadership to inform portfolio-level planning and decision-making.
People Leadership & Organizational Development
- Directly manage and develop Clinical Operations staff (e.g., Clinical Trial Leads and/or Clinical Trial Managers).
- Recruit, hire, onboard, and retain top talent to support late-stage clinical development.
- Set performance expectations, conduct evaluations, provide coaching, and support career development.
- Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, and operational excellence.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Lead multidisciplinary study teams across Clinical Operations, Data Management, Biostatistics, Safety, Regulatory, Medical, Quality, and CMC.
- Act as a primary point of accountability across internal stakeholders, CRO partners, and external vendors.
- Enable effective decision-making, timely escalation, and transparent communication across teams.
Operational Excellence & Risk Management
- Oversee global study startup, site strategy, enrollment execution, monitoring approaches, and patient engagement initiatives.
- Ensure compliance with ICH-GCP, global regulatory requirements, and internal SOPs.
- Provide oversight of study budgets, vendor performance, and quality metrics.
- Establish performance metrics and drive continuous improvement across external partnerships.
- Lead inspection readiness strategy and support regulatory inspections.
- Drive proactive issue identification, risk management, and CAPA oversight.
Functional Leadership & Process Improvement
- Contribute to Clinical Operations strategy, infrastructure development, and process optimization.
- Champion innovation in trial execution, including digital tools, decentralized approaches, and patient-focused strategies.
- Share best practices and help define standards across the clinical operations organization.
The Ideal Candidate will have:
- 12–15+ years of clinical operations experience within the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry.
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MS, MPH, PharmD, PhD) is strongly preferred.
- Significant experience leading global late-phase (Phase 3) studies.
- Demonstrated success in direct people management, including hiring, performance management, and team development.
- Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional teams and influence at senior leadership levels.
- Strong expertise in CRO oversight, global regulatory environments, and inspection readiness.
- Strategic thinker with strong operational execution skills.
- Deep working knowledge of ICH/GCP and global clinical development regulations.
Nice to Have
- Late-phase respiratory or immunology therapeutic area experience.
- Experience building or scaling clinical development functions in a high-growth organization.
Who Will Love This Job:
Generate:Biomedicines is pioneering Generative Biology™ to design and develop novel therapeutics with unprecedented precision. As a Director, you will play a critical role not only in delivering a high-impact late-stage asthma program but also in shaping how we build and scale our clinical development organization.
You’ll join a collaborative, curious, patient-first team where scientific creativity and operational excellence come together to advance programs with the potential for large-scale impact.
About Generate Biomedicines
We are a clinical-stage generative biology company pioneering the AI revolution in drug design and development. We are advancing a new approach to drug creation—one grounded in the ability to design proteins with defined biological intent. By integrating machine learning with large-scale experimentation, this approach aims to reduce the uncertainty, time, and cost associated with developing protein-based medicines.
Founded in 2018, we are advancing a growing pipeline of clinical and preclinical programs across multiple disease areas and protein modalities. By unifying computational design and clinical development within a single operating model, we translate this approach into clinical-stage programs and are leading a shift from traditional drug discovery toward systematic drug generation.
At Generate:Biomedicines, we collaborate across disciplines in new ways to invent and innovate. We bring diverse perspectives to a shared goal of delivering better medicines to patients in need, faster, guided by our values and leadership behaviors.
Generate:Biomedicines is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital
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Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship in Clinical Operations Lead
Verify your degree supports specialty occupation
USCIS requires a direct relationship between your degree field and Clinical Operations Lead duties. A degree in clinical research, nursing, public health, or life sciences strengthens your case far more than a general business degree.
Check employer LCA filings by occupation
Use Migrate Mate to filter employers by verified DOL Labor Condition Application filings for clinical operations roles, so you're targeting companies with documented H-1B sponsorship history rather than guessing from job postings alone.
Target CROs and sponsor-heavy pharma companies
Contract Research Organizations and large pharmaceutical companies file H-1B petitions for clinical operations roles consistently. Prioritize employers with active clinical trial pipelines, since role demand directly drives their willingness to sponsor.
Benchmark your prevailing wage before negotiating
Use the OFLC Wage Search to look up the prevailing wage for your SOC code and work location before accepting an offer. Your employer's LCA must certify they'll pay at least that amount, so knowing it protects your negotiating position.
Confirm your role's scope covers supervisory duties
USCIS scrutinizes Clinical Operations Lead petitions where the job description blurs with coordinator-level work. Ensure your offer letter explicitly frames your responsibilities around oversight, protocol development, and cross-functional team leadership.
Submit your petition before the April cap deadline
H-1B cap registrations open in March for October 1 start dates. Clinical operations roles at cap-subject employers require selection in the lottery, so you and your employer need to align on timing well before the USCIS registration window closes.
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Find Clinical Operations Lead JobsClinical Operations Lead H-1B Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Clinical Operations Lead role qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation?
Yes, provided the employer requires at least a bachelor's degree in a directly related field such as clinical research, life sciences, nursing, or public health. USCIS evaluates whether the degree requirement is specific to the role, not just any bachelor's degree. Roles that accept unrelated degrees or substitute years of experience without a degree requirement face higher petition scrutiny.
Which employers sponsor H-1B visas for Clinical Operations Lead positions?
Large pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, and Contract Research Organizations are the most consistent H-1B sponsors for clinical operations roles. Academic medical centers and hospital networks also sponsor for clinical trial oversight positions. You can browse verified sponsoring employers on Migrate Mate, which surfaces companies with confirmed DOL LCA filing history for this role type.
How does the H-1B prevailing wage requirement apply to this role?
Before filing your I-129 petition, your employer must file an LCA with DOL certifying they'll pay you at least the prevailing wage for a Clinical Operations Lead in your specific work location. Wage levels vary by geography and experience tier. You can verify the applicable wage using the OFLC Wage Search tool, which reports wages by SOC code and metropolitan area.
Can I transfer my H-1B to a new employer if I switch clinical operations jobs?
Yes, H-1B portability lets you start working for a new employer as soon as they file a transfer petition, without waiting for USCIS approval, as long as your current H-1B is valid and you haven't violated status. Your new employer must file a new LCA and I-129 covering the Clinical Operations Lead role at the new company before your start date.
What happens to my H-1B status if my clinical trial project ends or my role is eliminated?
If your employer terminates your position, you enter a 60-day grace period during which you can seek a new sponsoring employer, change to another visa status, or depart the U.S. Your previous employer is responsible for your return transportation costs if they terminate you before your authorized period ends. Acting quickly on a transfer petition within that window preserves your options.
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