Executive Director, Clinical Operations

Join Immatics and shape the future of cancer immunotherapy; one patient at a time!  

Immatics is committed to making a meaningful impact on the lives of patients with cancer. We are the global leader in precision targeting of PRAME, a target expressed in more than 50 cancers. Our cutting-edge science and robust clinical pipeline form the broadest PRAME franchise with the most PRAME indications and modalities, spanning TCR T-cell therapies and TCR bispecifics. 

Why Join Us? 

• Innovative Environment:  Help to pioneer advancements in cancer immunotherapy. 

• Collaborative Culture: Be part of a diverse team dedicated to your professional growth. 

• Global Impact:  Contribute to therapies that make a lasting impact on patients globally. 

Position Summary

The Executive Director, Clinical Operations serves as the operational deputy and strategic partner to the VP, Clinical Operations. This high-impact executive role provides integrated leadership across the entire clinical operations ecosystem. You will translate high-level clinical strategy into seamless portfolio delivery, scalable organizational capability, and robust global execution. As a systems-builder and visionary leader, you will run today’s global clinical portfolio with operational excellence while simultaneously building the capabilities required for tomorrow's late-stage development and commercialization.

Location: Global (US / Germany; Remote)
Reports To: Vice President, Clinical Operations
Salary Range: $270,000 to $300,000

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a scientific, nursing, or business discipline required;

• 15+ years of clinical research experience within a biotech, pharmaceutical, or major CRO environment, including 7+ years in a senior, multi-functional leadership capacity.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree (MD, PhD, PharmD, MS, or MBA) preferred.

• Direct operational experience managing Cell Therapy, Immuno-Oncology, or advanced therapeutic modality trials is a strong plus.

• Directly manage and inspire a geographically dispersed, multicultural clinical operations teams, with specific focus on harmonizing workflows between US and European (Germany) team members. A natural "systems builder" who thrives on creating infrastructure, optimizing workflows, and designing scalable processes. Demonstrated track record of leading multiple dimensions of clinical operations (e.g., trial management, data/systems, sample logistics, site monitoring).

• Extensive experience leading complex, global clinical trials across North America and Europe (experience with US/Germany structures is highly desirable). Deep experience navigating clinical operations in Oncology is required.

• Proven experience driving Phase III registrational trials, global regulatory filings (BLA/NDA/MAA submissions), and preparing operations for commercialization.

• Demonstrated experience leading Clinical Operations within a biopharmaceutical organization with strong understanding of internal clinical operations, trial execution and regulatory requirements.

• Sophisticated experience managing large-scale CRO partnerships and vendor governance committees.

• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the clear capability

Key Responsibilities

1. Integrated Clinical Operations Leadership

• Operational Deputy: Lead day-to-day operations of the global Clinical Operations organization on behalf of the VP; serve as primary delegate and decision-maker within established authority matrices.

• Functional Integration: Align functional teams to ensure Trial/Asset Operations, Site Operations, Biosample Operations, and Clinical Systems function as one unified, high-performing ecosystem.

• Strategic Alignment: Bridge the gap between corporate development milestones and operational realities, aligning all sub-functions toward shared portfolio timelines.

2. Portfolio Execution & Operational Oversight

• Portfolio-Wide Visibility: Maintain an aggregated, holistic view across the entire clinical portfolio to proactively manage cross-program dependencies, critical paths, and resource constraints.

• Risk Mitigation: Establish early-warning frameworks to identify, escalate, and mitigate execution issues, protocol deviations, and trial bottlenecks.

• Leadership Coaching: influence and mentor clinical operations leads and asset directors on delivery strategy while ensuring accountability.

3. People, Talent & Organizational Leadership

• Talent Development: Directly lead, mentor, and elevate the senior clinical operations leadership team; design robust succession plans and career pathways.

• Global Synchronization: Cultivate a unified, high-performing culture across the geographically dispersed US and Germany organizational footprints.

• Performance Architecture: Drive rigorous performance calibration, talent acquisition, strategic workforce planning, and organizational capability mapping.

4. Resource, Budget & Vendor Management

• Operational Machinery: Own the infrastructure supporting portfolio capacity planning, headcount forecasting, and strategic resource deployment.

• Fiscal Stewardship: Oversee budget planning, accrual tracking, and financial forecasting; present highly accurate, data-driven operational intelligence to support the VP’s strategic investment decisions.

• Vendor Governance: Partner with the Clinical Outsourcing group to manage CRO/vendor selection, performance metrics (SLA/KPI tracking), and governance frameworks.

• Sourcing Strategy: Drive rigorous analysis and provide actionable recommendations on insourcing vs. outsourcing strategies (FSP vs. full-service models).

5. Operational Excellence, Systems & Quality

• Scalable Infrastructure: Champion continuous improvement initiatives, business process optimization, and structural scalability across all clinical workflows.

• Quality & GxP Compliance: Ensure strict adherence to ICH-GCP, FDA/EMA regulations, and global Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

• Inspection Readiness: Lead proactive inspection readiness frameworks, internal quality audits, and harmonized global data standards.

• Analytics & Metrics: Implement and monitor predictive operational metrics, KPIs, and executive dashboards to measure organizational efficiency.

6. Transformation & Future Readiness

• Organizational Evolution: Co-architect and execute the future-state operating model as the pipeline transitions from early-stage to late-stage global development and commercialization.

• Change Management: Lead enterprise-wide change management, capability integration, and digital/systems evolution (e.g., CTMS, eTMF, decentralized trial technologies).

• Systems Problem-Solving: Design and deploy structural, repeatable organizational systems that eliminate recurring operational friction points.

What do we offer?  

At Immatics, we believe in investing in our team’s health, safety and well-being. Here’s what you can expect if you join Immatics 

Comprehensive Benefits:  

• Competitive rates for Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance 

• PTO Accrued bi-weekly, with up to 80 hours available to borrow and a maximum accrued balance of 240 hours.

• 12 company paid holidays 

• 10 days of sick time 

• 100% employer-paid life insurance up to at 1x annual salary, up to one hundred thousand dollars  

• 100% employer-paid short- and long-Term disability coverage  

• 401(k) with immediate eligibility and company match… 

• The company will match 100% of your contributions up to 3% of your base salary for the first two years of employment, 4% for years 2-3 of employment, and up to 5% of your salary from the fourth year onward of continued employment. 

• Partially paid parental leave for eligible employees. 

• Additional voluntary employee-paid benefits and services, including accident, hospital indemnity, and critical illness insurance, as well as identity theft protection and pet insurance.  

Equal Employment Opportunity 

We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace.  We consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.   

Reasonable Accommodations 

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities and to applicants with sincerely held religious beliefs, practices, or observances.  If you require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact us at [email protected].   

Work Authorization 

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future sponsorship. 

Pre-Employment Requirements 

Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check, reference checks and pre-employment drug screening, where permitted by applicable law.  For certain roles, additional screenings such as a credit check or motor vehicle record review may be required, where job-related and consistent with business necessity.