Budget Specialist, Clinical Research

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Probity Medical Research (PMR) is an administrative support company that partners with clinical research sites and pharmaceutical companies to provide essential administrative services for clinical research trials. As a rapidly growing company, we are committed to advancing clinical research through exceptional service. PMR is an equal-opportunity employer, offering competitive wages, healthcare benefits, and an inclusive work environment.
The Budget Specialist plays a critical role in supporting the financial and operational success of clinical research activities by developing, reviewing, and negotiating clinical trial budgets. This role is responsible for ensuring financial accuracy, feasibility, and alignment with study requirements while supporting efficient study startup timelines.
Working closely with internal teams, sponsors, CROs, and external sites, the Budget Specialist serves as a key point of contact for budget-related inquiries and supports the full budget lifecycle, including initial budget development, amendments, and tracking. The role contributes to the development of standardized budget templates and supports process improvements to enhance consistency and scalability as study volume increases.
As PMR continues to expand its partnerships and study portfolio, this role supports increasing demand by ensuring budgets are developed and negotiated efficiently, accurately, and with strong financial and operational awareness.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.

Job Responsibilities
Budget Management 

• Review, negotiate, and finalize initial study budgets and amendments to ensure financial feasibility, compliance, and adherence to timelines
• Communicate with sponsors, external budget contacts, and sites to negotiate optimal study budgets
• Maintain a high degree of organizational skills to ensure smooth and efficient daily budget operations
• Apply strong negotiating skills to secure favorable study budget allocations
• Review sponsor budget templates and ensure alignment with internal cost standards and regulatory requirements
• Ensure all applicable study-related costs are accurately captured during the budget negotiation process
• Coordinate with Contracts team to ensure budgets alignment where applicable
• Review and monitor active sites and upcoming projects in team KPI tracker
• Update KPI tracker to ensure accuracy and workload visibility
• Coordinate with Contracts team to ensure budgets alignment where applicable
• Prioritize workload based on site activation timelines and project volume; collaborate with internal teams to ensure timely budget delivery and study startup

Operational Efficiency & Stakeholder Support

• Serve as a key point of contact for internal and external inquiries related to assigned study budgets
• Manage and respond to email communications promptly to support ongoing study operations and budget accuracy
• Reassess priorities regularly to meet the evolving demands of budget negotiations and site activations
• Assist the Budgets Team Lead in identifying and implementing process improvements to enhance efficiency and consistency
• Support onboarding and training of new team members to ensure understanding of budget processes and tools

Additional Responsibilities

• Perform other duties as assigned to contribute to the overall success of the organization’s payment and budget processes

Skills

• Clinical trial budget development, negotiation & financial analysis
• Strong understanding of study cost drivers protocol requirements & site-level budgeting considerations
• Ability to assess sponsor-proposed budgets and develop strategic counterproposals
• Stakeholder advisory support (internal teams, sponsors, external partners)
• Budget lifecycle management & tracking process optimization
• Exceptional attention to detail and financial accuracy
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Analytical thinking, sound judgment & confident decision-making
• Excellent organizational, prioritization & deadline management skills
• Independent work ethic with strong collaborative approach
• Adaptability in high-volume, deadline-driven environments

Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree or college diploma in Clinical Research, Health or Life Science or a related field 
• A minimum of 1 year as an on-site clinical research coordinator or clinical research assistant or 2 or more years of on-site clinical research administration experience
• Experience working on or negotiating study budgets would be an asset
• Highly Proficient Microsoft Office Suite Knowledge (Excel)
• Experience with DocuSign and PDF software
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects at once
• A high level of critical and logical thinking, analysis, and/or reasoning

Working Conditions
This role is eligible for hybrid or remote work.