Global Head of Planning & Resource Management

Job description

Senior Director, Planning and Resourcing - UK or IRE ICON is a global healthcare intelligence and clinical research organisation united by a mission to bring new medicines and treatments to patients faster. As a values-driven organisation, integrity, collaboration, agility, and inclusion are at the heart of how we work and interact with each other, customers, patients and suppliers. As Senior Director, Planning & Resource Management at ICON, you will lead the function that plans, forecasts and deploys clinical delivery talent across our global portfolio. Reporting to the EVP, Business Operations, you will own the balance between resource demand and capacity for thousands of professionals spanning Project Management (PM), Clinical Trial Management (CTM), Clinical Research Associates (CRA), Clinical Trial Assistants (CTA), Study Start-Up, Data Management, Biostatistics, Pharmacovigilance, Medical Affairs and other clinical delivery groups. You will inherit an established, high-performing team that runs the resourcing process well. Your mandate is leadership and commercial judgement rather than rebuild: bringing rigour, foresight and the credibility to challenge business partners on whether their stated resource needs are justified by real pipeline growth or contraction — protecting both delivery quality and margin as the business scales up and down. The core of this role is portfolio-level resource demand and capacity planning at scale. While clinical research experience is an advantage, we actively welcome leaders who have built this capability in adjacent, project-based industries — management consulting and professional services (Resource Management Offices), IT services and systems integrators, engineering and infrastructure consultancies, and financial services transformation / PMO — provided the resourcing discipline was applied to a large, specialist global workforce. What you will do You will direct portfolio-level resource planning and deployment, ensuring the right people are on the right studies at the right time, at the right cost. Key responsibilities include: 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. Your Profile You are a commercially credible resourcing leader who has run demand-versus-capacity planning at scale in a project-based, professional-services environment, and who is comfortable holding the line with senior business partners. Required qualifications and experience: Bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline; advanced degree preferred. Resourcing at scale — 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. Forecasting & capacity planning — 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. Commercial influence — a track record of constructively challenging senior stakeholders on resource demand and defending those positions with data and commercial reasoning. People leadership — experience leading and retaining high-performing teams, including inheriting capable teams and elevating them without unnecessary disruption. Regulated environment — 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. Stakeholder skills — excellent communication, organisational and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective relationships with stakeholders at all levels, up to and including executive leadership. Employment with ICON is contingent upon having the legal right to work in the country where the role is based. Rewards & Benefits ICON offers a competitive and comprehensive total rewards package designed to support your health, wellbeing, and career development. Benefits may include: Competitive base salary and performance related incentives Health and wellbeing programmes including medical, dental, and vision coverage where applicable Retirement and pension plans Life assurance and disability coverage Employee assistance programmes and wellbeing resources Learning and development opportunities through structured training and career pathways Benefits may vary depending on role and location. Visit our careers site to read more about the benefits ICON offers. Inclusion and Accessibility ICON is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building an inclusive and accessible workplace where everyone feels valued and supported. If you require reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know or submit a request here . Are you a current ICON Employee? Please click here to apply