Principal CRA – Lead Monitor (m/w/d)

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)Environmental Conditions

OfficeJob Description

About Us

At Thermo Fisher Scientific, you’ll discover meaningful work that makes a positive impact on a global scale. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Through our PPD® clinical research services, we support clinical trials in more than 100 countries, delivering laboratory, digital and decentralized solutions that help bring life-changing therapies to patients faster.

Our global Clinical Operations teams provide end-to-end clinical trial support — from study start-up through close-out — across commercial and government-sponsored studies.

Why Join Thermo Fisher Scientific / PPD?

• Work on high-quality, global clinical trials across diverse therapeutic areas
• Be part of a stable, well-established organization with long-term career opportunities
• Strong collaboration with experienced CTMs and project teams
• Clear development pathways (e.g. Lead CRA, CTM)
• Flexible working models that support work-life balance
• Permanent employment
• Full-time (40 hours/week) or Part-time (32 hours/week) options available

About the Role

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Clinical Research Associate (CRA) to lead and coordinate all aspects of clinical monitoring and site management for complex clinical trials. Acting as a subject-matter expert and site process specialist, you will ensure trials are conducted in accordance with the approved protocol, ICH-GCP, applicable regulatory requirements, and internal SOPs—ensuring subject safety, data integrity, and continuous audit readiness.

In this principal-level role, you will manage complex and high-risk studies across multiple sponsor and monitoring models (e.g. FSO, FSP, government-sponsored research). You will serve as a key escalation point for sites and project teams, take a leadership role on assigned studies, and actively contribute to the mentoring and development of junior and senior CRAs alike.

What You’ll Do

Principal-Level Clinical Monitoring & Oversight

• Lead monitoring activities for complex, high-risk, or strategically important clinical trials using a risk-based monitoring approach
• Independently conduct on-site and remote monitoring visits in line with approved monitoring plans
• Perform and oversee SDR, SDV, and CRF review, ensuring the highest standards of data accuracy and integrity
• Evaluate investigational product accountability through physical inventory and records review
• Ensure essential documents are complete, inspection-ready, and compliant with ICH-GCP and applicable German/EU regulations
• Lead site initiation, maintenance, and close-out activities, providing expert guidance and recommendations

Quality, Risk & Issue Management

• Apply advanced root cause analysis (RCA), critical thinking, and problem-solving methodologies to identify systemic site issues
• Strategic Project & Stakeholder Collaboration
• Serve as a trusted partner to investigative sites, sponsors, and internal project teams
• Identify trends across sites and studies and provide strategic recommendations to the Clinical Team Manager (CTM)
• Ensure accurate and timely updates of study systems (e.g. CTMS) and perform QC reviews where required
• Participate in investigator meetings and support investigator identification and feasibility activities
• Support investigator payment processes and trial financial oversight as applicable

Leadership, Mentorship & Process Improvement

• Actively mentor, coach, and support the development of junior and senior CRAs
• Contribute to project-specific and functional training initiatives
• Identify opportunities for process optimization and drive implementation of improvements
• Provide exp