Executive Director, Vaccine and Immune Therapies Operations

If you have the passion and the drive to accelerate growth and make people’s lives better – then AstraZeneca is the place for you.  In Operations we have a big ambition – to deliver more medicines to patients, quicker and more affordably. Backed by the investment, leadership and a clear plan to get there, we bring personal dedication and out of the box thinking. 

AstraZeneca turns molecules to medicines, bringing our Research & Development pipeline to life through a rigorous process of development, manufacturing, testing and delivery.  Operations is accelerating, fast. We are on track for Our Bold Ambition 2030, delivering 15+ new medicines driving us forward across different modalities including biologics, vaccines, cell therapy, ADCs and small molecules. 

Position Summary

The Executive Director, Vaccine and Immune Therapies Responsible for managing strategic analysts and resources on a regional and/or global level for Business Strategy and Portfolio. Will be responsible for establishing a functional and/or global strategy. Recognized as a thought leader and expert within own area of specialization.

The position will report into the Senior Vice President, Global Biologics Operations and President, AstraZeneca AB.  The position can be based in Gaithersburg, MD or Philadelphia, PA.

Responsibilities

• Support the build of and oversee the Vaccine Operations Strategy and build a portfolio of critical projects to deliver on our ambition, ensuring that all functions and departments have the resources they need to deliver their part.
• Develop the Vaccines Operations Strategy and deliver Portfolio objectives for inclusion into AstraZeneca’s annual business objectives.
• Chairperson for the Flu Governance Leadership Team, accountable for the end to end seasonal delivery of the live attenuated influenza vaccine.  Leading cross function, cross site organization to drive manufacturing performance.  Ensure connection with CAPEX planning and capacity uplift projects.
• Provide expert advice in the V&I area, influencing the development of strategies in the most complex and challenging functions
• Communicate and implement change successfully, leading others through transformation and deployment
• Maintain a high degree of understanding and awareness on new strategic and portfolio management trends and developments. Incorporate trends effectively into the TA strategy.
• Proactively contribute and lead the development of the senior management team in area of expertise
• Inputs significantly to the regional Business Strategy and Portfolio strategy
• Leads, guides, evaluates and develops the team within own area of Business Strategy and Portfolio to ensure that the area achieves its objectives and complies with all relevant regulations and laws
• Leads or oversees a diverse range of initiatives to improve quality, compliance, cost or time and where appropriate lead the development of new methodology or processes to provide business benefit
• Maintain cross functional support from Global Supply Chain and Strategy leads and Global Technical Operations leads to ensure supply chain readiness for V&I products.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in appropriate discipline
• Minimum 15 years in life science operations with relevant amount of experience in biologics or vaccines.

Preferred Requirements

• PhD in scientific discipline
• Expert reputation within the business and industry
• Extensive knowledge of the latest technical and regulatory expectations
• Operational expertise in risk management and contingency planning
• Familiarity with the latest research and thinking
• Effective problem and conflict resolution skills and proven team focus
• Excellent knowledge of AstraZeneca policies, procedures and teams

Desirable Education, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Professional qualification
• Ability to lead cross functional working groups and teams
• Proven leadership ability promoting, motivating and empowering others to accomplish individual, team and organizational objectives
• Significant understanding of strategy formulation and evaluation and the management of a vast portfolios within a clinical or pharmaceutical environment
• Experience of leading a development team and working in a global environment
• Conceptual, analytical and strategic thinking
• Ability to influence strategically and persuade tactfully, to obtain desired outcomes while maintaining effective, positive, organizational relationships

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we fuel bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need