Director, Risk & Compliance Management

When our values align, there's no limit to what we can achieve.
 
At Parexel, we all share the same goal - to improve the world's health. From clinical trials to regulatory, consulting, and market access, every clinical development solution we provide is underpinned by something special - a deep conviction in what we do.

Each of us, no matter what we do at Parexel, contributes to the development of a therapy that ultimately will benefit a patient. We take our work personally, we do it with empathy and we're committed to making a difference.

arexel is in the business of improving the world’s health. We do this by providing a suite of biopharmaceutical services that help clients across the globe transform scientific discoveries into new treatments.  We believe in our values, Patients First, Quality, Respect, Empowerment & Accountability.

This role will work within our innovative Data & Technology group that continues to evolve to meet business needs, fuel Parexel's growth and enable improved support for stakeholders, including customers and ultimately patients, who will benefit from Parexel's integrated processes and systems.

This role will be based in the UK and can be fully home based and remote working anywhere in the UK only.

As the Director, Process, Governance, Vendor & Risk Management you are responsible for supporting the Executive Director in leading enterprise wide quality compliance, governance, operational process excellence, vendor governance and risk management functions across Parexel’s global Data & Technology (D&T) organisation.

This leadership role provides strategic and operational oversight for governance frameworks, Quality Management System (QMS) alignment, SDLC governance, supplier oversight, risk management and compliance by design practices supporting regulated and non-regulated technology environments.

You will also serve as a senior leader responsible for strengthening operational discipline, inspection readiness, regulatory confidence and enterprise governance maturity while enabling modern, scalable and agile technology delivery.

Compliance, QMS & Regulatory Excellence

• Support enterprise audit, regulatory inspection readiness, inspection coordination, audit responses and remediation activities.

• Own and continuously improve QMS processes, SOP governance, controlled document lifecycle management and associated standards, templates and work instructions.

Process Governance, SDLC & Operational Excellence

• Support enterprise SDLC governance, change management, release management and operational control processes across the technology lifecycle.

• Drive standardisation, harmonisation, process simplification and compliance by design across governance and delivery processes.

SI Vendor & Third Party Risk Management

• Lead vendor qualification, governance, oversight and risk management for suppliers, cloud providers, strategic technology partners and outsourced delivery teams.

• Define and maintain supplier governance strategies, technical agreements, service expectations, performance monitoring and risk frameworks aligned to regulatory and operational expectations.

Risk Management & Quality Governance

• Develop, maintain and continuously improve D&T quality and operational risk frameworks, including criteria, tolerance, appetite, dashboards and executive-level reporting.

• Lead proactive risk identification, escalation, mitigation, governance assessment and continuous improvement activities across regulated technology environments.

Cross-Functional Leadership & Enterprise Partnership

• Act as a key member of the Quality Leadership Team and partner closely with D&T, Quality, Regulatory, Clinical, Security and Operational stakeholders.

• Influence senior leaders on governance, risk, compliance and operational excellence matters, supporting enterprise transformation and strategic governance programmes.

Leadership, Organisational Development & Strategic Enablement

• Lead, develop and mentor teams of governance, process, vendor and risk management professionals across functions and geographies.

• Foster a culture of accountability, compliance, operational excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement.

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Technology, Quality, Engineering, Life Sciences or related discipline required.

• Master’s Degree in Business, Technology, Quality or related discipline preferred.

• Relevant certifications such as PMP, ITIL, Lean Six Sigma, COBIT, ISO, SAFe or equivalent preferred.

Skills:

• Proven leadership capability with experience building, developing and leading high-performing teams across complex, global and regulated environments.

• Deep expertise in governance, QMS, SOP management, compliance, operational process management and risk-based quality oversight.

• Strong understanding of SDLC governance, Agile, DevOps, cloud, SaaS and modern technology delivery models within regulated or GxP environments.

• Demonstrated ability to lead vendor governance, supplier oversight, third-party risk management and enterprise transformation or governance maturity initiatives.

• Excellent stakeholder management, executive communication, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance compliance, innovation and operational efficiency.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Advanced level relevant experience in IT governance, compliance, process excellence, operational risk management or related disciplines, including significant experience within global organisations.

• Strong leadership and people management experience, including leading governance, operational excellence, compliance or transformation functions in complex matrix environments.

• Strong experience supporting regulated environments, including audits, inspections and regulatory engagements.

• Significant experience with SDLC governance, change management, operational controls, vendor governance, third-party risk management, cloud governance and SaaS oversight.

• Demonstrated experience driving enterprise transformation, process improvement, operational planning, budget management and engagement with executive leadership, clients and external stakeholders.

Parexel is in the business of improving the world’s health. We do this by providing a suite of biopharmaceutical services that help clients across the globe transform scientific discoveries into new treatments.  We believe in our values, Patients First, Quality, Respect, Empowerment & Accountability.

This role will work within our innovative Data & Technology group that continues to evolve to meet business needs, fuel Parexel's growth and enable improved support for stakeholders, including customers and ultimately patients, who will benefit from Parexel's integrated processes and systems.

This role will be based in the UK and can be fully home based and remote working anywhere in the UK only.

As the Principal IT Project Manager you will be accountable for the end-to-end delivery of technology projects that are of critical importance and/or high complexity, ensuring predictable execution, strong governance, and measurable business outcomes.

This role will lead cross-functional delivery teams in a matrix environment, applying expert project management discipline to manage scope, schedule, budget, risks, dependencies, and stakeholder expectations.

You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, provide delivery assurance for key initiatives, and mentor other Project Managers through coaching, standards adoption, and escalation support.

In this role you will provide:

Delivery Leadership for Critical & Complex Technology Projects

• Lead the full project lifecycle for critical and/or highly complex technology initiatives, ensuring delivery to agreed scope, timelines, budgets, and quality outcomes.

• Establish and maintain integrated delivery plans, milestone tracking, delivery governance cadence, and execution discipline across multi-team workstreams.

• Drive alignment across business and technology stakeholders to achieve outcomes, manage trade-offs, and resolve delivery blockers quickly and transparently.

Stakeholder Management, Governance & Executive Communication

• Act as the primary delivery point of contact for senior stakeholders, providing clear status, forecasting, decision points, and recommendations.

• Chair and run project governance forums (e.g., steering, working groups), ensuring risks, issues, scope changes, and dependencies are surfaced early and managed through to resolution.

• Manage stakeholder expectations through structured communications, change control, and transparent reporting, including executive-ready updates on progress, risk posture, and delivery impacts

Delivery Assurance & Risk / Dependency Management

• Proactively manage delivery risk by identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks, issues, and cross-project dependencies; implement recovery plans where required.

• Apply expert judgement to anticipate delivery failure modes (capacity, integration, vendor, compliance, operational readiness) and escalate with clear options and impacts.

• Support portfolio-level delivery by contributing to prioritisation discussions, dependency mapping, and capacity-aware planning for major initiatives

Education:

• Educated to degree level in Business, Technology, Engineering, Life Sciences, or an equivalent discipline.

• Professional certifications desirable: PMP, PgMP, PfMP, SAFe, MSP, or similar.

• Equivalent experience in enterprise IT project/portfolio management leadership also considered.

Skills:

• Expert knowledge of enterprise project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, hybrid) and governance practices, with strong delivery assurance capability.

• Proven ability to lead delivery of large-scale, complex technology projects in matrixed, cross-functional environments.

• Exceptional stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills, including confident engagement with senior executives.

• Strong risk, issue, dependency, and change control management, with a practical, outcomes-focused approach to decision-making and trade-offs.

• High proficiency in project delivery and reporting tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, Jira, Smartsheet, MS Project, ServiceNow).

• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, and benefits/value tracking for technology investments.

• Able to operate with autonomy, resilience, and composure under pressure; adept at navigating ambiguity and organizational change.

• Open and collaborative mindset, willingness to work as a team with integrity, honesty, and transparency.

Knowledge and Experience:

• Demonstrated experience delivering complex, cross-functional technology programmes / projects at enterprise scale with multiple workstreams, vendors, and dependencies is essential.

• Strong understanding of digital, data, and technology ecosystems, ideally within life sciences, CRO, or regulated industries is desirable.

• Experience working within governance models that require clear audit trails, decision logs, and structured change control.

• Experience influencing without authority, aligning diverse stakeholder groups, and driving delivery through clear outcomes and disciplined execution.

• Knowledge of GxP validation, or regulated technology environments are desirable.

In return we will be able to offer you a structured career pathway and encouragement to develop within the role including awareness and understanding of the industry.  You will be well supported and in return for your hard work you will be rewarded with a competitive base salary, car allowance, bonus and holiday as well as other leading benefits you would expect with a top company in the CRO Industry.

Apply today to begin your Parexel journey!

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