Senior Director, Biostatistics and Programming
ICON plc is a world-leading healthcare intelligence and clinical research organization. We’re proud to foster an inclusive environment driving innovation and excellence, and we welcome you to join us on our mission to shape the future of clinical development.
We are currently seeking a Senior Director, Biostatistics and Programming to join our diverse and dynamic early phase team.
As a Senior Director at ICON, you will play a critical leadership role in shaping and delivering biostatistics and statistical programming strategies across complex clinical development programs. This is a highly visible global leadership position with a strong emphasis on strategic transformation, change management, and future-focused innovation.
You will be instrumental in driving organisational evolution, leading through periods of change, navigating team restructure, and ensuring alignment and engagement from senior stakeholders and managers. This role requires a leader who can bring clarity and direction in times of ambiguity, building trust across teams while embedding new ways of working. You will take ownership of change initiatives from design through to execution, ensuring that structural, cultural, and operational shifts are successfully implemented and sustained.
You will work closely with senior leadership to shape and deliver transformation strategies, supporting organisational redesigns and evolving operating models.
A key part of this role will be influencing managers and stakeholders to adopt new approaches, ensuring they are engaged, accountable, and aligned to long-term strategic goals. Success in this role will come from balancing people, process, and technology, ensuring that change is not only implemented but fully adopted across the function. With a forward-thinking mindset, you will also champion the adoption of AI, advanced analytics, and emerging technologies, embedding these capabilities into ways of working to enhance efficiency, scalability, and decision-making.
What You Will Be Doing:
- Providing strategic leadership and oversight for biostatistics and statistical programming activities across the newly formed early phase biostatistics and programming team within IEB (Early Clinical and Bioanalytical).
- Leading and delivering complex change management initiatives, including organisational transformation, restructuring efforts, and implementation of new operating models
- Acting as a key partner to senior leadership, helping to define and execute long-term transformation strategies across the function
- Driving engagement and alignment across stakeholders and managers, ensuring adoption of new structures, processes, and ways of working
- Ensuring scientifically robust and regulatory-compliant methodologies are practiced
- Embedding AI, automation, and innovative technologies into biostatistics and programming workflows to drive efficiency and scalability
- Partnering with cross-functional stakeholders, including clinical development, data management, medical writing, regulatory affairs, and sponsors, to align on study objectives and delivery strategies
- Driving operational excellence, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery of statistical and programming outputs across studies and submissions
- Leading, mentoring, and developing high-performing global teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement
- Identifying opportunities to enhance processes, tools, and methodologies to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability
Your Profile:
- Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in Biostatistics, Statistics, or a related discipline
- Extensive experience in biostatistics or programming within clinical research, with a strong focus on early phase development preferred
- Proven leadership experience managing global biostatistics and or statistical programming teams within a CRO or pharmaceutical environment
- Demonstrated success leading large-scale change management initiatives, including organisational redesigns, reorgs, and transformation programmes
- Strong experience influencing senior stakeholders and managers, with the ability to drive engagement, alignment, and accountability through periods of change
- Strong experience or exposure to AI, advanced analytics, and technological innovation preferred, with the ability to translate these into practical and scalable solutions
- Deep expertise in clinical trial design, statistical methodologies, and regulatory requirements such as FDA and EMA preferred,
- Strong knowledge of statistical programming practices and standards
- Proven ability to operate at a strategic leadership level, driving long-term vision and direction in a global environment
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- A proactive and forward-thinking leader who thrives in a fast-paced and evolving environment
This is a unique opportunity to step into a high-impact strategic leadership role, where you will shape not only the delivery of biostatistics and programming, but also play a central role in driving transformation and defining the future direction of the early phase function at ICON.
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
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