Clinical Research Project Manager

About CASPR

CASPR (caspr.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the global burden of addiction through scalable science-based interventions. We are passionate about advancing evidence-based practices, running research and clinical studies, and shaping policy to find a cure for substance use disorders. Our advisory board includes some of the most well known international experts in the field. Our work was recently featured in STAT, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

About this role

The Clinical Research Project Manager will turn CASPR’s clinical research priorities into clear, executable projects.

This person will manage projects across CASPR’s clinical studies and grant-funded research portfolio, including CASPR’s post-incarceration GLP-1 randomized trial in Pittsburgh. The role will help translate project concepts into defined scopes, workstreams, timelines, budgets, responsibilities, risks, and decision points—and then keep those projects moving from planning through execution.

The project manager will run the operational process: integrated project plans, trackers, contracting workflows, vendor coordination, invoices, meeting operations, document control, and follow-through across internal and external partners. This person will work closely with clinical, research, finance, legal, grants, and site teams while ensuring that leaders have clear visibility into project status, risks, and upcoming decisions.

This person will also use modern large language models and agentic tools—including Claude Code, Codex, or comparable systems—to improve project planning, documentation, analysis, and operational workflows. The ideal candidate will be an active and thoughtful user of these systems: someone who can experiment, develop reliable workflows, automate appropriate tasks, validate outputs, and continue adapting as the technology evolves.

What you’ll do

• Turn project concepts into executable plans: Define project scope, goals, workstreams, milestones, dependencies, owners, budgets, deliverables, decision points, and success measures.
• Build and maintain integrated project plans: Create and manage timelines, trackers, responsibility matrices, deliverables calendars, and other tools that provide a clear view of project status.
• Drive cross-functional execution: Coordinate work across CASPR leadership, clinical and research teams, grant and finance functions, legal counsel, vendors, consultants, and external partners.
• Manage clinical research projects: Support planning and execution across study start-up, site readiness, recruitment preparation, operational delivery, and closeout activities, as applicable.
• Support the Pittsburgh randomized trial: Coordinate project planning and execution for CASPR’s post-incarceration GLP-1 study, including dependencies across CASPR, UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, Pittsburgh Mercy, and other project partners.
• Manage contracting workflows: Coordinate scopes of work, contract requests, internal reviews, approvals, signatures, renewals, and related documentation in partnership with legal and finance resources.
• Coordinate vendors and consultants: Support vendor selection, onboarding, schedules, deliverables, performance tracking, documentation, and issue resolution.
• Track budgets and invoices: Maintain project-level budget trackers, review invoices against scopes and milestones, monitor expected costs, and coordinate approvals with finance and project owners.
• Maintain document control: Organize project files, maintain version control, track approvals, and ensure that key documents, training records, plans, decisions, and deliverables are current and accessible.
• Run effective project meetings: Develop agendas, prepare materials, capture decisions and action items, assign owners, maintain follow-up trackers, and ensure that commitments are completed.
• Support grant delivery: Provide project plans, timelines, budgets, milestones, progress updates, risks, and other implementation information needed for grant applications and funder reports.
• Monitor risks and dependencies: Identify emerging issues, document mitigation plans, escalate decisions at the right time, and propose practical solutions.
• Provide clear project reporting: Produce concise status updates that communicate progress, upcoming milestones, budget status, risks, decisions needed, and changes to scope or schedule.
• Use LLMs to improve project execution: Apply tools such as Claude Code, Codex, and other approved systems to synthesize meetings, develop project plans, organize information, draft status updates, analyze risks, maintain documentation, and accelerate appropriate operational work.
• Develop AI-enabled workflows and lightweight automations: Identify repetitive or inefficient processes, test potential solutions, build and document practical workflows, and integrate successful approaches into CASPR’s project-management systems.
• Evaluate tools as they evolve: Test new capabilities, assess their usefulness and limitations, and make thoughtful recommendations about where CASPR should—or should not—use them.
• Maintain quality, confidentiality, and human oversight: Validate model outputs, protect sensitive clinical and organizational information, and ensure that AI-supported work meets CASPR’s accuracy, privacy, and professional standards.
• Improve CASPR’s project-management systems: Build reusable templates, workflows, meeting structures, and operating practices that strengthen execution across the organization.

What you’ll need

• 5+ years of experience in project management, clinical research operations, healthcare, scientific research, research administration, or another relevant field.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects with interdependent workstreams, deadlines, budgets, and deliverables.
• Clinical-trial or clinical-research experience is preferred. Candidates with relevant experience in another complex, regulated, healthcare, or research environment will also be considered.
• Strong ability to translate broad goals or early-stage concepts into practical project plans, responsibilities, schedules, budgets, and operating structures.
• Experience coordinating contracts, vendors, invoices, documentation, budgets, and cross-functional approvals.
• Proficiency using modern LLM and agentic tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or comparable systems to plan projects, synthesize information, improve documentation, and create efficient operational workflows.
• Comfort using these systems hands-on rather than solely delegating their use to others. A software engineering background is not required, but curiosity, technical confidence, and willingness to experiment are essential.
• Ability to evaluate AI-generated outputs critically, detect errors or unsupported conclusions, and determine when human expertise or direct verification is required.
• Interest in continuously learning as LLMs and related tools evolve and in helping CASPR adopt useful new capabilities responsibly.
• Excellent organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail, without losing sight of overall project goals.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly with senior leaders, technical experts, external partners, and operational teams.
• Experience with modern project-management and collaboration tools.
• Ability to identify risks early, manage ambiguity, propose solutions, and maintain momentum when priorities or circumstances change.
• Comfort operating independently in a small, rapidly growing organization while collaborating closely with a distributed team.
• A proactive, accountable, and service-oriented approach to project management.
• Strong personal commitment to CASPR’s mission.

To Apply

Please submit a resume and cover email detailing your relevant experience and passion for CASPR’s mission.