Head of Clinical Research

Head of Clinical Research Overview

Numan is seeking a Head of Clinical Research to lead its clinical research function on a fixed-term contract basis. This remote position is designed for an experienced clinical researcher with a PhD, who will take on the role of Principal Investigator for various studies and build the necessary infrastructure and partnerships to establish Numan as a recognized clinical research organization.

The successful candidate will report to the VP of Behavioural Medicine and collaborate closely with the Behavioural Medicine team, as well as data science and analytics colleagues. You will represent Numan in external forums as the lead clinical researcher.

Key Responsibilities

• Hold Principal Investigator responsibilities for most Numan real-world evidence studies, ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory, and ethical standards.
• Lead the development and maintenance of study protocols, statistical analysis plans, data management plans, and governance documentation.
• Oversee the design and delivery of study interventions, ensuring a robust clinical governance framework is established.
• Manage randomization processes, adverse event reporting, protocol deviation management, and master file maintenance.
• Act as the primary contact for funding partners regarding research methodology, governance, and reporting.
• Supervise quantitative and qualitative outcome streams, collaborating with data science teams on analyses.
• Recruit and manage project-specific staff, including Health Coaches and research coordinators/intervention designers.
• Lead or co-author peer-reviewed publications and drive conference abstracts and presentations at significant forums.
• Represent Numan as a scientific thought leader, working with public affairs and PR teams to enhance external visibility.
• Develop and maintain Numan’s clinical research strategy and forward pipeline, focusing on oral medication research.
• Establish processes, systems, and governance to scale research capacity, including study templates and ethics frameworks.
• Identify and prioritize research questions that demonstrate Numan’s real-world outcomes and develop proposals to pursue them.
• Collaborate with data science, product, clinical, and behavioral medicine teams to foster a research-informed culture.
• Act as the internal authority on clinical research standards, working with the regulatory team to keep the clinical research claims library updated.
• Build and manage relationships with pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and public health organizations.
• Lead efforts to secure external research funding from sources such as NIHR, Innovate UK, and industry grants.
• Represent Numan at external research events, forums, and steering groups.

Qualifications

• A PhD in a relevant discipline such as clinical or health psychology, nutrition, public health, epidemiology, or obesity research.
• Experience as a Principal Investigator or in a similar leadership role on clinical or behavioral research studies, with full accountability for governance and regulatory compliance.
• A strong track record of peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations in health, behavioral, or clinical research.
• Experience developing and maintaining external research partnerships with academic, NHS, pharmaceutical, or funding organizations.
• Strong knowledge of UK research governance frameworks, including GCP, HRA ethics submissions, and ICH guidelines.
• Experience with various study designs and the ability to lead complex multi-outcome analysis plans.
• The strategic vision to build research infrastructure and pipeline, not just execute individual studies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to represent Numan credibly to external scientific and industry audiences and translate evidence into compelling narratives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in obesity, weight management, GLP-1 pharmacotherapy, or digital health research.
• Established networks within the UK obesity research, academic, or clinical community.
• Experience securing external research funding or leading industry-academic partnership studies.
• Familiarity with real-world evidence study designs and large-scale digital health datasets.
• Experience working in a scale-up or commercial digital health environment.

Benefits

• 25 days of holiday pro-rata, plus bank holidays.
• Health insurance with Vitality.
• Electric car salary sacrifice scheme with Octopus.
• Enhanced maternity and parental leave.
• A day off on your Birthday!
• Nursery benefit provided by YellowNest.
• Employee assistance programme offering therapy, financial planning, and discounts.
• Generous pension plan with contributions from both employee and employer.
• Flexible working options, including a dog-friendly office in Farringdon.
• Personal training and development budget via Learnerbly.
• Wellhub membership, providing access to over 2,000 locations in the UK.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Season ticket loan.
• Discount on Numan products for friends and family.
• Paid volunteering days.

At Numan, we value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels respected, heard, and valued. We recognize the unique perspectives and experiences that individuals from all backgrounds bring, and we strive to promote innovation and creativity through diverse viewpoints.

Degree Requirement: Bachelor’s

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