Senior Manager, Regional HR Operations, UK & Ireland in Reading

Senior Manager, Regional HR Operations. Reading office. Hybrid based

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.

Senior Manager, Regional HR Operations – UK & Ireland

ICON is a global healthcare intelligence and clinical research organisation, driven by a mission to advance and improve patients’ lives through innovative clinical research and technology-enabled solutions.

We are seeking a Senior Manager Regional HR Operations to lead HR operations across one of ICON’s largest employee populations, supporting approximately 4,000 employees across Ireland and the UK. This role will ensure HR delivery is commercially aligned, legally robust, data-led, and able to support business growth, workforce change, and organisational effectiveness.

This is a senior leadership role for an HR professional who can move beyond operational delivery to shape how HR enables business performance, manages employment risk, and drives consistent employee and manager support in a complex, matrixed organisation.

The Role

Reporting to the EMEA Regional HR Operations Director, you will lead a team of HR managers delivering high-quality HR operations across Ireland and the UK while translating regional business priorities into clear, practical people actions.

You will be accountable for service quality, employee relations governance, employment risk management, and continuous improvement, ensuring HR operations provides scalable and effective support to leaders and employees.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a regional team of HR Managers and HR professionals, building capability, accountability, and consistency across Ireland and the UK.
• Translate business priorities into focused HR operational plans across employee relations, performance management, policy execution, workforce support, and organisational change.
• Partner with senior business leaders, using judgement and data to shape people solutions that support performance, retention, workforce effectiveness, and risk management.
• Own regional employment risk management, ensuring compliance with Irish and UK employment legislation, company policy, governance standards, and audit expectations.
• Provide oversight on complex employee relations matters, investigations, restructures, and change programmes, ensuring decisions are consistent, defensible, and commercially balanced.
• Use HR metrics, case trends, service performance, and workforce data to identify risk, improve delivery, and provide actionable insight to HR and business leadership.
• Drive continuous improvement across HR processes, manager self-service, employee experience, and operational efficiency.
• Partner across HR Shared Services, Talent Acquisition, Reward, Payroll, Legal, and HR Business Partners to ensure joined-up delivery and clear ownership across the HR model.

To be successful in this role, you will ideally have:

• Significant HR Operations or HR Business Partnering experience in a large, complex, multinational environment, with evidence of leading at scale.
• Proven experience leading HR teams, including setting direction, raising capability, managing performance, and creating accountability through managers.
• Strong Ireland HR and employment law expertise, with sound judgement in complex employee relations, restructuring, and organisational change scenarios.
• Ability to influence senior business leaders and challenge constructively where people, compliance, or execution risks are not sufficiently understood.
• Track record of improving HR service delivery, simplifying processes, and driving operational consistency across teams or countries.
• Strong data literacy, communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making skills, with the confidence to operate in a fast-paced, matrixed leadership environment.

Preferred Experience

• Experience leading HR delivery across both UK and Ireland in a regional or multi-country leadership role.
• Working knowledge of UK employment legislation and HR practice.
• Experience in a Multi National Company
• Experience leading HR transformation, operating model improvement, process optimisation, or workforce change programmes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or a related discipline.
• CIPD qualification or equivalent HR certification preferred.

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.