Associate Vice President - Operational Readiness/Operational Excellence

CAI Overview:

Are You Ready?

CAI is a 100% employee-owned professional services company established in 1996 that has grown to over 700 people worldwide. We provide program and project management, commissioning, qualification, validation, start-up, and other consulting services associated with operational readiness and operational excellence to FDA-regulated and other mission-critical industries.

We put our clients’ interests first, we do not stop until it is right, and we will do whatever it takes to get there.

At CAI, we are committed to living our Foundational Principles:

We act with integrity

We serve each other

We serve society

We work for our future

We believe that with employee ownership, one person’s success is everyone’s success. We embrace a Team Before Self mindset, demonstrate Respect for Others, and maintain a Can-Do Attitude—our three core values.

Position Overview:

The Associate Vice President (AVP), OR/OE Practices, is a global role responsible for driving business growth in all life-sciences OR/OE practices, service delivery to life sciences customers, skills development to support service delivery and developing market-leading strategies. This senior leadership role requires a strategic mindset, strong commercial acumen, and a commitment to customer excellence. The AVP will work collaboratively across the organization to align strategic priorities, enhance risk management, and lead high-performance teams. This role requires sales, leadership, and the ability to serve our customers while seizing on opportunities to grow our footprint.

Key Responsibilities:

1.       Strategic Leadership & Business Growth

Establishes, grows, and leads the team responsible for OR/OE professional service offerings.

Develops and executes strategy and marketing assets for the practices, including participation in trade shows and marketing events within and beyond regional efforts.

Forecasts trends and identifies the need for new or modified products or services.

Spends non-billable time on marketing, direct sales, sales support, business systems development, and initiatives to drive long-term business success.

Establishes and maintains relationships with key accounts, actively supplements account relationship managers and supports major sales efforts.

2.     Service Quality & Operational Excellence

Establishes and oversees the quality systems for work performed within the practices and supports senior-level client engagement in high-visibility projects.

Develops and publishes procedures, guidelines, tools, and templates for efficient and consistent execution of repeatable work.

3.     Talent Management & Team Development

Collaborates with CVPs and operational leaders to recommend hiring decisions and compensation structures.

Collaborates with the Training department to customize the qualification program for services related to the practices.

4.     Financial & Commercial Oversight

Coordinates with CVPs operational leaders to recommend appropriate billing rates according to the type of work and market intelligence.

Reviews and, when authorized, approves proposals within the practices.

Pro-actively balances billable work and internal objectives to maintain a profitable workforce while moving the business forward.

5.     Industry Engagement & Market Positioning

Drives thought leadership, industry engagement and support to marketing from internal SMEs and Consultants.

Authorizes professional society participation as part of marketing campaigns.

Ensures appropriately skilled participation for marketing events.

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Life Sciences, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.

15+ years of leadership experience in professional services, consulting, or the life sciences sector.

Proven track record of driving thought leadership across multiple disciplines.

Outstanding record of driving business growth and operational excellence.

Strong financial acumen and experience managing P&L responsibilities.

Expertise in customer engagement, talent development, and risk management.

Exceptional communication, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.

Demonstrated ability to lead and influence teams in a matrixed environment

Leadership Competencies

Deliver Business Growth Strategies

Creates strategies to balance short-term requirements with long-range business plans.

Pursues meaningful initiatives to capitalize on strengths, market opportunities, and counter competitive threats.

Aligns priorities with current direction and strategic priorities of the broader organization.

Apply Commercial Insights

·       Demonstrates understanding of financial and economic levers that impact business performance and deploys them to improve short- and long-term results.

·       Promotes best-in-class risk awareness and reviews risk management performance on a continuing basis.

·       Draws appropriate conclusions from financial reports and analyses to identify and evaluate major strategic priorities and investments.

Focus on Customers

·       Fosters a customer-focused environment.

·       Identifies and anticipates customer requirements, expectations, and needs.

·       Creates systems and processes that make it easy for customers to do business with CAI.

Lead Execution

·       Maintains accountability throughout the organization and encourages managed risk taking.

·       Delegates assignments to the lowest appropriate level and keeps people focused.

·       Monitors progress and redirects efforts when goals change or are not met.

·       Ensures people have resources, information, authority, empowerment, & support needed to achieve objectives.

Influence and Engage Others

·       Identifies the agendas, concerns, and motivations of others.

·       Negotiates persuasively to create win-win solutions for all parties.

·       Cultivates networks across the organization to garner support and create a foundation for future influence.

·       Inspires and coaches others to achieve beyond their own expectations and develop a winning mindset.

Build Talent

·       Provides feedback, coaching, and guidance where appropriate to enhance others’ skill development.

·       Shapes roles and assignments in ways that leverage and develop people’s capabilities.

·       Develops successors and talent pools to ensure availability of future talent.

·       Promotes the recruitment, advancement, and success of the best people from diverse backgrounds.

Achieve Results with People

·       Fosters a sense of energy, ownership, and personal commitment to the work.

·       Inspires others to stretch beyond what they thought they could do.

·       Encourages others to set challenging goals and high standards of performance.

·       Creates an environment in which performance excellence is rewarded.

·       Challenges self and others to learn and develop to improve capabilities.

Lead Courageously and Safely

·       Develops and drives a safe and inclusive work culture.

·       Takes well-reasoned stands on important issues and always leads with integrity.

Makes tough people and business decisions and challenges “the way it has always been done.”

Develops breakthrough ideas, safe working processes, initiatives, and business ventures.

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We are an equal opportunity employer; we are proud to employ veterans and promote diversity and inclusion in our workplace. Diversity is a strength for our global company. We pledge that CAI will be operated in a way that is fair and equitable to all – our employees, our customers, and the broader society.

This job description is not all inclusive and you may be asked to do other duties. CAI will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Fair Chance Act (FCA) / Fair Chance Ordinance (FCO).