Senior Manager, Finance

ICON plc; Dublin; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave entitlements

Health insurance

Retirement planning

Global Employee Assistance Programme (

LifeWorks

Life assurance

Flexible country-specific benefits

Job summary

ICON, a global healthcare intelligence and clinical research organisation, seeks a Senior Manager, Finance to lead financial governance, forecasting and strategic management for client programmes. You will partner with senior leaders to ensure strong financial performance and robust budgeting across portfolios.

As a leader within Project Finance, you will drive governance, improvements and cross-functional collaboration, while mentoring team members and building capability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, or Business with a recognised professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent).
• Significant experience in Project Finance, financial management, business partnering or portfolio financial leadership.
• Proven experience partnering with senior operational leaders to influence decisions, manage financial risk and improve portfolio performance.
• Minimum of 2-3 years' people management experience, including coaching and talent development.
• Strong financial analysis, forecasting and financial modelling skills with the ability to translate complex financial information into clear business insights.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills with the ability to influence executive, operational and client stakeholders.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to lead through change, ambiguity and organisational growth.

Responsibilities

• Provide financial governance for a portfolio of client programmes with strong budgeting and forecasting discipline.
• Deliver portfolio analysis and insights to operational leadership, highlighting issues and driving actions to improve performance.
• Lead financial governance across portfolios, ensuring risks are escalated and recovery actions owned and monitored.
• Act as primary finance partner for strategic clients, coordinating resolution of financial issues with operations and revenue teams.
• Drive transformation initiatives to enhance governance, systems, and reporting capabilities.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance/Accounting/Business with a recognised professional accounting qualification (ACA/ACCA/CIMA or equivalent)

Job description

Senior Manager, Finance

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 a senior leader within the Project Finance organisation, the Senior Manager is responsible for the financial governance, performance oversight and strategic financial management of a portfolio of client programmes and relationships. Serving as the lead finance partner for assigned clients, the role works closely with operational and commercial leadership to ensure strong financial performance, effective budget management and robust forecasting discipline.

What You Will Do:

The Senior Manager provides leadership across portfolio financial governance, ensuring financial risks are identified, understood and actively managed through robust analysis, reporting and accountability. The role plays a critical part in maintaining client confidence through effective stewardship of client budgets and resolution of complex financial matters.

In addition, lead strategic initiatives that strengthen Project Finance capabilities, including the design and implementation of governance frameworks, controls, systems and processes. Working across Finance, Operations and Technology functions, the role identifies opportunities to improve efficiency, enhance financial visibility and deliver scalable solutions that support the continued growth and maturity of the organisation.

Key responsibilities include:

• Portfolio Financial Leadership
  • Provide financial leadership and oversight for a portfolio of client programmes and strategic customer relationships, ensuring strong financial performance, effective budget management and robust forecasting discipline.
  • Deliver meaningful portfolio analysis and insights to operational leadership, highlighting emerging financial issues, challenging assumptions and driving actions that improve portfolio performance.
  • Drive financial accountability across the portfolio through proactive review of study-level assumptions, risks and recovery plans.
  • Lead financial governance across assigned portfolios, ensuring financial risks are escalated appropriately, recovery actions are clearly owned and progress is monitored through to resolution.
• Client & Business Partnership
  • Act as the primary finance partner and escalation point for assigned strategic clients, coordinating the resolution of financial issues and working closely with Operations, Commercial, Revenue and other internal stakeholders.
  • Support client governance meetings and business reviews through the preparation and presentation of financial insights, portfolio performance updates and value-added analysis that helps clients understand key trends and portfolio performance.
  • Ensure the timely and accurate delivery of client financial reporting and governance materials, maintaining high standards of quality, consistency and responsiveness to client needs.
  • Build strong relationships with client stakeholders and internal leadership teams to support effective financial management and client satisfaction.
• Transformation & Continuous Improvement
  • Lead strategic initiatives that enhance Project Finance capabilities, governance frameworks, systems and processes, delivering scalable solutions that improve financial visibility, operational effectiveness and business decision-making.
• People Leadership
  • Lead, coach and develop Project Finance colleagues, supporting both performance and long-term career growth.
  • Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement across the team and broader organisation.
  • Support talent development, succession planning and capability building to ensure the continued growth and effectiveness of the Project Finance function.

Your Profile:

We are seeking a finance leader who combines strong technical expertise with commercial acumen, strategic thinking and excellent stakeholder management skills. The successful candidate will be comfortable partnering with senior leaders, influencing decision-making, leading change and driving strong financial performance across complex client portfolios.

Required qualifications and experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business or a related discipline, together with a recognised professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent).
• Significant experience in Project Finance, financial management, business partnering or portfolio financial leadership within a complex, project-based environment.
• Proven experience partnering with senior operational leaders to influence business decisions, manage financial risk and improve portfolio performance.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives that enhance financial processes, governance, systems, controls or reporting capabilities.
• Minimum of 2-3 years' people management experience, including coaching, performance management and talent development.
• Strong financial analysis, forecasting and financial modelling skills, with the ability to translate complex financial information into clear business insights.
• Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to distil complex financial information into clear, actionable insights and confidently influence executive, operational and client stakeholders.
• Strategic mindset with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to lead through change, ambiguity and organisational growth.

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