Manager, R&D Business Operations

Your Profile:

Required qualifications and experience:

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in pharmaceutical/biotech business operations, procurement operations, finance operations, or contract-to-PO management.
• Demonstrated experience creating and managing purchase orders within enterprise systems (e.g., SAP, Ariba).
• Strong understanding of procure-to-pay (P2P) processes, including requisitioning, PO generation, invoice matching, and accruals.
• Experience working cross-functionally with R&D, Finance, Strategic Sourcing, Legal, and Accounts Payable.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret contract financial terms and translate them into operational system requirements.
• Working knowledge of pharmaceutical/biotech regulatory and compliance considerations impacting vendor payments and financial controls.
• Ability to identify financial discrepancies or operational risks and escalate appropriately.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple purchase orders, vendors, and deadlines simultaneously.

What ICON can offer you:
Our success depends on the quality of our people. That's why we've made it a priority to build a diverse culture that rewards high performance and nurtures talent.

In addition to your competitive salary, ICON offers a range of additional benefits. Our benefits are designed to be competitive within each country and are focused on well-being and work life balance opportunities for you and your family.

Our benefits examples include:

• Various annual leave entitlements
• A range of health insurance offerings to suit you and your family's needs.
• Competitive retirement planning offerings to maximize savings and plan with confidence for the years ahead.
• Global Employee Assistance Programme, LifeWorks, offering 24-hour access to a global network of over 80,000 independent specialized professionals who are there to support you and your family's well-being.
• Life assurance
• Flexible country-specific optional benefits, including childcare vouchers, bike purchase schemes, discounted gym memberships, subsidized travel passes, health assessments, among others.

Manager, R&D Business Operations

The Manager, R&D Business Operations provides operational and analytical support to R&D business functions, with primary responsibility for the creation, generation, and management of purchase orders following contract execution

The Manager works independently in managing purchase order workflows and system processes, operating with moderate autonomy while escalating complex financial, compliance, or risk-related matters as appropriate.

Key responsibilities include:

• Create, generate, and manage purchase orders in Ariba/SAP following full contract execution, ensuring alignment with contract terms, budgets, and approved scopes of work in compliance with company policies and service level standard turnaround times.
• Translate contractual payment terms, milestones, and fee structures into accurate and compliant purchase order structures.
• Review executed agreements to ensure proper financial setup, including funding allocations, payment schedules, and budget tracking.
• Process and manage change orders, PO amendments, closures, and funding adjustments in accordance with contract modifications.
• Partner with R&D, Finance, and Strategic Sourcing to ensure timely PO issuance and resolution of system or budget discrepancies.
• Monitor purchase order lifecycle activities, including invoice matching, goods receipt confirmations, accrual support, and PO reconciliation.
• Ensure compliance with internal financial controls, delegation of authority policies, and procurement procedures prior to PO release.
• Serve as system subject matter expert (SME) for Ariba/SAP purchase order workflows and provide guidance to internal stakeholders.
• Train business partners on purchase requisition and PO processes, including proper documentation and system requirements.
• Facilitate weekly or monthly operational status meetings related to PO issuance, budget tracking, and financial metrics as appropriate.
• Generate reports and dashboards to track PO cycle times, open commitments, spend against budget, and operational KPIs.
• Support month-end and year-end close activities, including accrual validation and financial reconciliation.