Senior Clinical Research Associate

**Job Description**:
Our Clinical Research and Pharmacovigilance team push the boundaries of global healthcare through research and innovation. Through clinical trials and surveillance, we ensure the safety and efficacy of our existing and pipeline products to produce safe, effective, innovative medicine.

In support of our existing team we are currently looking for a **_Senior_** **_Clinical Research Associate (Sr. CRA) M/F/d,_** home-based with an unlimited contract, in Germany.

**The main responsibilities**:

- Develops strong site relationships and ensures continuity of site relationships through all phases of the trial.
- Performs clinical study site management/monitoring activities in compliance with ICH-GCP, Sponsor SOPs, Local Laws & Regulations, Protocol, Site Monitoring Plan and associated documents.
- Conducts site visits including but not limited to validation visits, initiation visits, monitoring visits, close-out visits and records clear, comprehensive and accurate visit & non-visit contact reports appropriately in a timely manner.
- Collects, reviews, and monitors required regulatory documentation for study start-up, study maintenance and study close-out.
- Communicates with Investigators and site staff on issues related to protocol conduct, recruitment, retention, protocol deviations, regulatory documentation, site audits/inspections and overall site performance.
- Identifies, assesses and resolves site performance, quality or compliance problems and escalates per defined CRA Escalation Pathway as appropriate in collaboration with CRA Manager, CRM, TA Head and CRD as needed.
- Works in partnership internally with GCTO country operations, finance, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, legal and regional operations, HQ functional areas and externally with vendors and IRB/IECs and Regulatory Authorities in support of assigned sites.
- Contributes strongly to CRA team knowledge by acting as process Subject Matter Expert (SME), sharing best practices, making recommendations for continuous improvement and providing training as appropriate/required.
- Supports and/or leads audit/inspection activities as needed.
- Following the country strategy defined by CRD and CRA manager, contributes to the identification of new potential sites and works closely with them to develop strong clinical research capabilities.
- Mentors / buddies junior CRAs on process/study requirements and performs co-monitoring visits where appropriate.

**Your Qualifications**:

- B.A./B.S. required with strong emphasis in science and/or biology.
- Excellent communication skills in German and English (verbal and written).
- Excellent understanding and working knowledge of clinical research, phases of clinical trials, current GCP/ICH & country clinical research law & guidelines.
- Excellent understanding of Global, Country/Regional Clinical Research Guidelines and ability to work within these guidelines.
- Demonstrated ability to mentor/lead.
- Hands on knowledge of Good Documentation Practices.
- Proven Skills in Site Management including independent management of site performance and patient recruitment.
- Demonstrated high level of monitoring skill with independent professional judgment.
- Experience with conducting site motivational visit designed to boost site enrollment.
- Capable of mentoring junior CRAs on process/study requirements and is able to perform co-monitoring visits where appropriate.
- Direct site management (monitoring) experience in a bio/pharma/CRO.
- Willingess to travel up to 75% within Germany

**Our Benefits**:

- Trustbased working hours (40 hours/week) and an attractive company pension scheme
- Competitive salary package: 13 monthly salaries + annual holiday pay + target bonus achievement
- 30 days holiday entitlement
- Company car
- Basic equipment for the home office
- Internal further training and promotion opportunities
- International cooperation
- On-the-job training
- Contribution of own ideas to the process design
- Corporate benefits
- Company health management system

We are a research-driven biopharmaceutical company. Our mission is built on the simple premise that if we “follow the science” that great medicines can make a significant impact to our world. We believe that a research-driven enterprise dedicated to world-class science can succeed by inventing medicine and vaccine innovations that make a difference for patients across the globe.

**Who we are**

We are known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA in the United States and Canada and MSD everywhere else. For more than a century, we have been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world's most challenging diseases. Today, our company continues to be at the forefront of research to deliver innovative health solutions and advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and animals around the world.

**What we look for**

Imagine getting up in the morning for a job