Clinical Research Budget Associate

Job Title: Clinical Research Budget Associate

Job Description

The Clinical Research Budget Associate provides specialized financial and budgeting support for industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated clinical trials. This role focuses on developing, analyzing, and negotiating clinical trial budgets, supporting strategic and long-range planning for the clinical trials program, and ensuring accurate and efficient financial management. The position contributes directly to operational efficiency, financial stewardship, and timely activation of studies within a large, oncology-focused research environment.

Responsibilities

• Prepare detailed budgets for industry-sponsored clinical trials in collaboration with research planning and development leadership.
• Manage and create budgets for all alliance clinical trials coming into the departments clinical trials portfolio.
• Complete advance setup requests to establish funding accounts for clinical trials and ensure accurate account configuration.
• Review clinical trial protocols, amendments, and ancillary documents to identify discrepancies or unclear information and work with principal investigator teams and sponsors to resolve issues.
• Collaborate with regulatory, budget, principal investigator teams, and clinical research finance to review preliminary and final coverage analyses, accurately report discrepancies, and incorporate recommended changes.
• Assist with strategic and long-range planning for the departments clinical trials program, including participation in weekly clinical research review meetings and ad hoc protocol review meetings.
• Work collaboratively with all department clinical faculty to support clinical trial goals and ensure alignment with financial and operational objectives.
• Conduct quality assurance reviews of budgets created by pre-award staff to confirm that all relevant budgetary items are captured accurately.
• Train new employees on pre-award budgeting duties and provide ongoing training to existing staff on changes to budget processes implemented by clinical research finance and the institution.
• Assist with maintaining training manuals and documentation for the budget team to ensure consistent processes and standards.
• Help manage team workload and efficiency by maintaining and updating assignment lists and monitoring progress.
• Collaborate with the protocol processing team to streamline protocol schemas to maximize efficiency of charges and financial workflows.
• Participate in negotiations with industry sponsors and contract research organizations to process new and amended clinical trial budgets.
• Analyze sponsor budget proposals to determine whether proposed funding adequately covers trial costs based on complexity, visit schedules, and reporting requirements.

Additional Skills & Qualifications

• Experience utilizing OnCore or similar clinical trial management systems for budgeting and tracking.
• Background in oncology or clinical research environments, particularly with industry-sponsored trials.
• Familiarity with coverage analysis processes and collaboration with regulatory, budget, and clinical research finance teams.
• Experience participating in sponsor and CRO negotiations for new and amended clinical trial budgets.

Work Environment

100% Remote - MUST be located in Texas.

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Houston, TX.

The pay range for this position is $35.00 - $45.00/hr.

Individual compensation offered for this position within this range will depend on many factors, including qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent job-related factors.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: Medical, dental & vision Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital 401(k) Retirement Plan Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) Short and long-term disability Health Spending Account (HSA) Transportation benefits Employee Assistance Program Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Houston, TX.

This position is anticipated to close on Nov 10, 2026.

This is a fully remote position.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.