Custom Operations Business Lead

About the Opportunity

A leading global healthcare and life sciences organization is seeking a Customer Operations Business Lead to oversee and optimize Order-to-Cash (O2C) operations within a highly regulated environment. This role serves as the business owner for customer-facing O2C processes, ensuring operational performance, compliance, and customer experience objectives are achieved across multiple business units operating within outsourced service and distribution models.

The position acts as the primary liaison between internal stakeholders, third-party service providers, and distribution partners to drive service excellence, resolve customer-impacting issues, improve operational performance, and maintain regulatory compliance.

Success in this role requires strong cross-functional leadership, stakeholder management, analytical capabilities, and the ability to influence teams and partners without direct authority.

Key Responsibilities

Outsourced O2C Operations Oversight

• Act as the business owner for outsourced O2C operational performance.
• Monitor execution against service levels, SOPs, compliance standards, and customer experience expectations.
• Lead governance reviews, operational meetings, and performance discussions with external providers.
• Drive issue resolution, corrective actions, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure consistent delivery of customer-facing services across the network.

KPI Monitoring & Performance Management

• Monitor operational, customer experience, and business performance metrics.
• Analyze trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Develop and track corrective action plans.
• Partner with internal and external stakeholders to improve service levels and operational efficiency.
• Utilize dashboards, scorecards, and reporting tools to drive performance improvements.

Escalation Management & Service Recovery

• Serve as the primary escalation point for customer-impacting operational issues.
• Lead cross-functional resolution efforts and service recovery activities.
• Conduct root cause analyses and implement corrective actions.
• Partner with Finance and Operations teams to resolve invoicing, chargebacks, deductions, credits, and payment-related concerns.
• Coordinate resolution of fulfillment, warehousing, and distribution issues.

Process Governance & Continuous Improvement

• Maintain and improve O2C processes, SOPs, and operational controls.
• Ensure external partners adhere to established procedures and standards.
• Drive standardization and operational excellence initiatives.
• Support implementation of new policies, processes, and system enhancements.

O2C Operational Support

• Support customer operations governance and performance monitoring activities.
• Manage escalations, issue triage, and process alignment initiatives.
• Provide limited transactional support and exception management when needed.
• Promote adoption of common service standards and KPIs across business units.

Compliance, Risk & Business Continuity

• Ensure operations comply with company policies, quality standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Oversee escalation and management of compliance-related issues.
• Monitor customer eligibility, licensing requirements, and controlled distribution processes.
• Support audits, risk assessments, and business continuity planning activities.
• Lead response efforts during operational disruptions.

Systems, Data & Customer Master Governance

• Oversee customer onboarding and master data maintenance.
• Ensure data accuracy across ERP, EDI, and related systems.
• Support system enhancements, testing, reporting, and issue resolution.
• Monitor customer account maintenance and compliance requirements.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, or a related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in Customer Operations, Customer Service, Supply Chain, or Order-to-Cash environments.
• Experience within regulated industries such as healthcare, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, or similar sectors.
• Experience managing outsourced service providers, BPO partners, and/or third-party logistics providers.
• Strong understanding ofO2C processes, including:
  • Customer onboarding
  • Order management
  • Fulfillment
  • Invoicing
  • Master data management
  • Customer issue resolution
• Experience utilizing ERP systems, EDI platforms, and operational reporting tools.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders.
• Knowledge of regulated operational and compliance environments.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred

• Experience supporting specialty distribution, cold-chain, controlled distribution, or highly regulated supply chain models.
• Experience leading supplier governance and business review meetings.
• Experience with Power BI or similar analytics tools.
• Continuous Improvement, Lean Six Sigma, or Project Management experience.
• Understanding of financial processes related to O2C, including deductions, credits, and chargebacks.