Manager, R&D Business Operations

Manager, Business Operations (Purchase Order Management)

At ICON Strategic Solutions, you will work in a sponsor-dedicated model, supported by ICON’s global expertise.

As the world’s largest FSP organisation, with over 90 sponsor partnerships, we offer stability, career development and a collaborative environment where your work contributes to the development of treatments that benefit patients worldwide.

What You Will Do:

• 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.

• Identify and implement process improvements to enhance PO accuracy, system efficiency, and compliance with internal policies and external regulations.

• Support audit requests and compliance reviews related to procurement and purchase order activities.

Your Profile:

• 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.

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), with strong Excel skills for financial tracking and reporting.

• Experience supporting internal or external audits related to procurement or financial operations.

• Strong attention to detail and ability to interpret and apply company financial policies, procedures, and internal controls.

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.

Visit our careers site to read more about the benefits ICON offers.

At ICON, inclusion & belonging are fundamental to our culture and values. We’re dedicated to providing an inclusive and accessible environment for all candidates. ICON is committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please let us know or submit a request here

Interested in the role, but unsure if you meet all of the requirements? We would encourage you to apply regardless – there’s every chance you’re exactly what we’re looking for here at ICON whether it is for this or other roles.

Are you a current ICON Employee? Please click here to apply