Clinical research team expansion / Philippines

From one hire to a full offshore clinical research team.

It began with a single offshore receptionist. Within the first year, a clinical research site platform had 33 people in the Philippines across ten roles, covering patient recruitment, quality, regulatory, compliance, data and eSource work. CORE® found, hired, trained and managed the team, and this page walks through how.

Clinical research1 to 33 FTEs in year oneTen role types

Team size, first year

1→33

1 at launch+32 added in the first year10 role types

ClientClinical research site platform

Team locationPhilippines

Starting point1 Offshore Receptionist

First-year result33 FTEs, 10 role types

The starting point

If your research operation is growing faster than your team, this will sound familiar.

A growing research operation asks for more of everything at once: more participants to recruit and screen, more records to review, more regulatory paperwork to keep in order, and more data to read.

This client’s research operations and patient recruitment needs were growing, and it wanted more capacity and specialized support next to the teams it already had. CORE® built an offshore clinical research team to supply both. Research sites and networks often face the same question: how do you add the right people, in the right specialties, without every hire waiting on a local hiring timeline? This client started with the simplest answer available.

The engagement started with one person at the front desk and added each next role when the work called for it.

The first year in numbers

One FTE at launch. Thirty-three by the end of the first year.

At launch

FTE, an Offshore Receptionist

End of first year

FTEs across the team

+32 FTEs

Role types

From front desk to BI and eSource development

1 at launch+32 added in the first year33 FTEs

How it unfolded

Three stages, and a team that grew with each one.

At launch

A receptionist at the front desk

The engagement opened with one Offshore Receptionist, supported by CORE®. The job covered front-desk coordination, appointment scheduling, confirmations and participant communications. It was a small commitment, and it gave the client a working relationship to build on.

As the work widened

Recruitment, review, regulatory and data roles joined

Recruiters came in to handle outreach and screening. A Recruitment Patient Quality Assurance role began checking participant profiles against study requirements to cut down on errors and rework. Regulatory, quality control and compliance people took on documentation and procedures. Analysts, SQL and BI developers turned recruitment activity into reports the client could read, and an eSource development team supported the client’s study execution function.

RecruitersRPQARegulatory and QCComplianceData AnalystSQL DeveloperBI DevelopereSource

By the end of year one

33 people with a Team Lead running the day

With that many people across that many functions, someone had to own the daily running of the team. A Team Lead took on operations, staffing, quality, performance and escalations, and became the point of contact with the client’s leadership. The result was 33 FTEs across ten role types, built over a single year.

Why it grew. The reason was operational. As research operations and recruitment needs increased, the client needed more capacity and specialized support alongside its existing teams, and the CORE® offshore model could supply both.

The team

Ten role types in the offshore clinical research team, and what each one does.

The roles cover the working parts of a research site operation: participant-facing coordination, people who check quality and compliance, data and reporting specialists, technical builders and a lead who ties them together. Choose a function to see the roles inside it.

Offshore Receptionist

Front-desk coordination, appointment scheduling, confirmations and participant communications.

Clinical Research Patient Recruiter

Participant outreach, preliminary eligibility screening, appointment scheduling and recruitment coordination.

Recruitment Patient Quality Assurance (RPQA)

Reviews participant profiles, screening information and study requirements to help reduce errors and downstream rework.

Regulatory and Quality Control Team

Regulatory coordination, documentation review, quality control and compliance processes.

Offshore Compliance Team

Compliance requirements, documentation standards and established operational procedures.

Clinical Research Data Analyst

Recruitment performance monitoring, enrollment data analysis and operational reporting.

SQL Developer

Database development, SQL queries, data extraction and data management, so operational data is accurate and easy to reach.

BI Developer

Business intelligence reports, dashboards and data visualizations that support performance monitoring and decisions.

eSource Development Team

Technical support for eSource development within the client’s study execution function.

Team Lead

Oversees daily operations, staffing, quality, performance and escalations, and coordinates with the client’s leadership.

Worth noticing

The roles go well past administration. Front-line staff and quality reviewers work next to data and development specialists, which let the client see how recruitment was performing and keep supporting systems running.

How CORE® helped

CORE® handled the people side from first search to daily oversight.

Every one of those 33 people had to be found, hired, set up and looked after. CORE® took on that whole cycle through its end-to-end recruitment and clinical research workforce support, so the client’s own staff could stay focused on research.

The services behind the team

Sourcing

Finding candidates for each role type as the client needed it, from a receptionist to SQL, BI and eSource developers.

Hiring

Selecting and hiring the people who would join the team in the Philippines.

Onboarding

Getting each new team member set up and working with the client’s teams.

Training

Training for the work each role does, including the training required for the confidential research work the team supports.

HR administration

The employment administration for a growing team, handled by CORE® so the client did not have to add it to its own workload.

Performance management

Ongoing review of how each person and function was performing.

Operational oversight

Day-to-day supervision of the team, with a dedicated Team Lead.

Matching solutions to what the client needed

What the client neededWhat CORE® put in place

Front-desk and participant communicationsAn Offshore Receptionist, where the engagement started

More patient recruitment capacityClinical Research Patient Recruiters, with a Recruitment Patient Quality Assurance role reviewing profiles against study requirements

Regulatory, quality and compliance supportA Regulatory and Quality Control Team and an Offshore Compliance Team

Clear visibility into recruitment and enrollmentA Clinical Research Data Analyst, SQL Developer and BI Developer for data, reports and dashboards

Technical support for study executionAn eSource Development Team within the client’s study execution function

Someone to keep it all coordinatedA dedicated Team Lead for operations, staffing, quality, performance and escalations

Support for new markets and sitesOffshore recruitment and administrative support while local hiring continues for on-site roles

Operational leadership

A Team Lead oversees daily operations, staffing, quality, performance and escalations. As functions were added, that role kept recruitment, quality, data and technical work coordinated, and gave the client’s leadership one point of contact.

Ongoing client coordination

CORE® works with the client’s leadership so service quality, workforce stability and the client’s business requirements stay in step as the team changes. The offshore model adds capacity and specialized support next to the client’s existing teams.

Start small

The engagement opened with one role. No large hiring plan was needed on day one.

Add specialists as you need them

Recruiters, reviewers, developers and analysts joined as the work called for them.

Have one lead to talk to

A dedicated Team Lead ran the day and kept the client’s leadership informed.

Keep expanding

The same team can support new markets and new sites while local hiring continues for on-site roles.

What changed for the client

Five parts of the operation got stronger support.

The partnership strengthened the client’s recruitment, quality assurance, compliance, data management and administrative support, and gave it access to a wider range of specialized offshore capabilities.

Each of those areas sits close to the center of running research sites, and each tends to need people long before an organization has time to hire them all locally.

RecruitmentOutreach, screening and coordination
Quality assuranceReview before errors travel downstream
ComplianceDocumentation and procedures
Data managementReporting, SQL and BI
Administrative supportFront desk to operations

Supporting new markets and expansion

Capacity in place while local hiring catches up.

When the client enters a new market or expands an existing one, CORE® can provide offshore recruitment and administrative support. That puts additional operational capacity in place while local hiring continues for positions that need someone on site. For research leaders opening new sites, it means recruitment and administrative work does not have to wait for every local role to be filled.

Compliance and data handling

Participant data stays where the client keeps it.

CORE® follows established data protection and compliance requirements in support of the client’s operations. In clinical research, how participant information is handled matters as much as how fast the team grows, so the arrangements were set out clearly.

No participant data is stored on CORE® infrastructure.

Confidentiality agreementsIn place for the team supporting the client.

Required trainingTeam members complete the training their work calls for.

Controlled accessAccess to client-managed systems is controlled, and participant data access follows the applicable agreements and approved protocols.

Client IT coordinationCORE® works with the client’s IT team on access and requirements.

A partnership built to scale

From a single front desk to an extension of the client’s operational team.

CORE® has grown beyond its initial staffing engagement. Through its people, processes and operational leadership, it now supports the client across recruitment, quality, compliance, data and technical work, and continues to help it scale efficiently, keep continuity and meet changing business requirements.