Senior Director, Planning and Resource Management

Responsibilities

• Direct portfolio-level resource planning and deployment, ensuring the right people are on the right studies at the right time, at the right cost.


• Portfolio resource strategy-owning demand forecasting and capacity planning across the global clinical delivery portfolio, translating pipeline, bookings and study stage into resource requirements for multiple clinical delivery groups.


• Challenging demand-constructively challenging business partners and functional leaders on their resource demand, using data to distinguish genuine need from over or under calling, and defending decisions in commercial, margin and delivery risk terms.


• Capacity & utilisation-optimising utilisation, bench and ramp up/ramp down across thousands of resources, balancing efficiency against delivery risk, quality and employee wellbeing.


• Leading the team-leading, developing and retaining an established resource management team, adding value without disrupting what already works well.


• Cross functional partnership-partnering with Finance, Project Management, Clinical Operations, Talent Acquisition and Sales/Proposals to align resource supply with revenue forecasts, hiring plans and new business.


• Systems & governance-advancing the forecasting models, tools, metrics and governance that underpin resourcing decisions, and reporting capacity health and risk to senior leadership.


• Compliance & quality-ensuring resourcing practices comply with ICH GCP, applicable regulations and internal quality standards.


• Strategic leadership-providing strategic guidance to support ICON's growth and operational excellence while managing resourcing risks and trade-offs.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline; advanced degree preferred.


• Proven experience leading a resource management, resource planning, workforce planning or deployment function that resourced thousands of specialist professionals across a portfolio of concurrent projects.


• Industry background gained in a project based, billable/utilisation driven environment.


• Contract Research Organisation (CRO) or clinical operations experience is strongly preferred; equally welcome is equivalent experience from a management consultancy or professional services Resource Management Office (RMO), an IT services / systems integrator, an engineering or infrastructure consultancy, or a financial services transformation / PMO function.


• Demonstrated ability to build demand forecasts and capacity models against a project pipeline, and to manage utilisation, bench and ramp up/ramp down across a large, distributed workforce.


• A track record of constructively challenging senior stakeholders on resource demand and defending those positions with data and commercial reasoning.


• Experience leading and retaining high performing teams, including inheriting capable teams and elevating them without unnecessary disruption.


• Understanding of operating in a regulated, quality driven environment; familiarity with ICH GCP and clinical delivery roles (PM, CTM, CRA, CTA, Data Management, Study Start Up) is an advantage, and the ability to learn the domain quickly is essential.


• Excellent communication, organisational and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels, up to and including executive leadership.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in resource management and capacity planning within a clinical delivery portfolio, ensuring compliance with ICH GCP standards while optimizing resource utilization and team performance. Proven ability to lead cross functional partnerships and effectively communicate with stakeholders at all levels.