(Senior Manager / Associate Director) Clinical Operations

We are a vibrant and intensely mission-driven team in San Francisco, comprising members from MIT, Harvard Medical School, Roche, ETH, and Dana-Farber.

We value speed and rigor, coupled with excitement, drive, and a strong work ethic. In an early-stage environment, we value people who can bring clarity to open-ended problems, take ownership of the next steps, and follow through with energy.

Capable Labs is a place for ambitious, high-integrity people who want to become dramatically better. You will be surrounded by people who care intensely about the work, get close feedback from the people making scientific and company-defining decisions, and have room to own increasingly important problems.

We believe excellent work should be met with meaningful reward, ownership, and trust. Responsibility is earned through contribution, not title alone: anyone who demonstrates the judgment, rigor, and follow-through to move important work forward can earn meaningful scope.

About the Role

You will own the operational execution of Capable’s clinical studies, turning study plans into well-run trials and decision-grade human data. Working directly with our founders, scientists, clinicians, regulatory advisors, investigators, sites, and vendors, you will anticipate bottlenecks, drive clear ownership, and keep complex external work moving on time and within scope.

Responsibilities

• Lead clinical studies from site activation through execution, data delivery, and closeout.

• Identify, evaluate, and manage trial sites, laboratories, manufacturers, pharmacies, IRBs, and other vendors required to run each study.

• Negotiate scopes, budgets, timelines, deliverables, and operating expectations with external partners.

• Build strong working relationships with investigators, site coordinators, vendors, and subject-matter experts.

• Anticipate and resolve operational bottlenecks involving contracting, enrollment, site communication, sample handling, data lag, vendor handoffs, or protocol ambiguity.

• Work with internal and external scientific and clinical partners to design studies that produce clear, decision-grade human data.

• Create practical operating plans, track risks and dependencies, and ensure that decisions and next steps have clear owners.

Ideal Qualifications

• A track record of leading multiple clinical trials from site activation through execution, data delivery, and closeout; experience helping advance a therapy toward approval or market is especially valuable.

• Strong clinical-operations judgment and the ability to identify the few issues most likely to delay or weaken a study.

• Excellent organization and follow-through across many external parties, timelines, and handoffs.

• Strong relationship-building skills and a high bar for investigators, sites, and vendors.

• Experience evaluating and negotiating vendor scopes, budgets, and timelines.

• Comfort operating with high ownership in a fast-moving, early-stage environment.

Pay & Benefits

• In addition to the posted salary range, we offer generous equity options.

• Compensation will depend on the skills, experience, and scope of impact you bring. If your background, experience, or compensation needs fall outside this range, we are still open to a conversation based on the scope and impact you could bring.

• $500+ monthly wellness budget for training, supplements, coaching, recovery, or other tools that help you perform at your best.

• Healthcare: We offer a broad range of medical, dental, and vision coverage options, with Capable covering 100% of the base policy.

• You will also have access to HSA, FSA, and 401K plans.

• Healthy dinners with the team are provided daily.

• We support visa sponsorship where appropriate, including O-1, H-1B, J-1, TN, and other employment-based pathways. Our team is already international, with members from Canada, Pakistan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China, India, and the United States.

Application Process

Our process is fast, transparent, and personal. We care about getting to know the person behind the application.

• Initial application

• First phone screen

• Second phone screen

• In-person work trial in San Francisco: designed to give both sides a realistic sense of working together. Get to know the founding team!

Apply Today

Curious but not sure? Apply anyway. It takes 5 minutes, and you do not need to be actively job searching to start a conversation.

Some of the best people do not map perfectly to a job description. If this sounds like a place where you could do important work, we would like to hear from you.

And if someone exceptional comes to mind, send them our way here. We read every referral carefully, and if your referral joins Capable, we’ll send you a thank-you bonus.

Equal Opportunity

Capable is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Capable is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.