Senior Director, Global Oncology Innovation & Solution Scaling

AstraZeneca Oncology is redefining its role in cancer care by moving beyond medicines to enable scalable, dedicated innovation that improves access, quality, and outcomes for patients worldwide! Transform Care is a strategic pillar of this ambition, focused on translating innovation into sustainable, real-world impact across healthcare systems.

The Senior Director, Global Oncology Innovation & Solution Scaling is an enterprise leadership role accountable for shaping, scaling, and operationalizing oncology innovation solutions across global markets. This role exists to ensure that high-value innovation initiatives do not remain pilots or concepts, but are designed for scale, successfully deployed into markets, and embedded through robust go-to-market strategies.

Operating in a matrixed environment, this role mobilizes high-performing, cross-functional teams without direct authority, builds durable internal coalitions, and secures investment from senior partners to advance priority initiatives. The role serves as a strategic partner to senior Oncology, Medical Affairs, and Commercial leadership, ensuring innovation is translated into sustained impact at scale.

Accountabilities:

Enterprise Innovation & Scaling Strategy

• Define and lead the global strategy for scaling oncology innovation solutions, aligned to Oncology Business Unit (OBU) priorities and Transform Care objectives.
• Establish clear scale-readiness criteria to assess which solutions warrant enterprise investment and global deployment.
• Translate strategic ambition into multi-year roadmaps guiding solution development, deployment, and adoption across markets.

Go-to-Market & Market Enablement Leadership

• Design and lead global go-to-market strategies for innovation solutions, including positioning, value articulation, and deployment models.
• Partner closely with Medical, Commercial, Market Access, and Digital leaders to ensure solutions are field-ready, compliant, and market-relevant.
• Drive engagement with training, learning, and field force organizations to enable effective adoption and execution in markets.
• Develop scalable playbooks and enablement frameworks that markets can adapt while maintaining strategic consistency.

Cross-Functional Coalition & Team Leadership

• Assemble and lead strongly bonded, cross-functional teams across Medical Affairs, R&D, Commercial, Digital, Market Access, Legal, Compliance, and regional organizations, without direct line authority.
• Build shared purpose, transparency of roles, and accountability across diverse collaborators with competing priorities.
• Serve as an integrator and connector, aligning expertise and resources toward common outcomes.

Internal Investment & Resource Mobilization

• Actively secure funding and resourcing for priority innovation initiatives by developing compelling business cases and value narratives.
• Influence senior leaders to commit financial and human capital to initiatives through data-driven advocacy and strategic storytelling.
• Balance investment trade-offs across initiatives to improve enterprise value and patient impact.

Solution Deployment & Adoption

• Lead systematic approaches to solution deployment across regions and markets, ensuring consistency while enabling local adaptation.
• Establish adoption and performance metrics focused on patient impact, utilization, and sustainability, not just activity.
• Identify and address barriers to scale, including capability gaps, operational friction, or cross-functional misalignment.

Executive Advisory & Governance

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior Oncology, Medical Affairs, and Commercial leadership on innovation scaling, deployment, and investment decisions.
• Represent Global Medical and Transform Care initiatives in senior governance forums and steering committees.
• Design and operate governance frameworks that clarify decision rights, critical issues, and accountability.

Operating Model, Risk & Sustainability

• Design and evolve global operating models for innovation execution and scaling across markets.
• Ensure initiatives transition into business-as-usual operations where appropriate.
• Ensure all innovation activities are compliant by design, proactively managing regulatory, operational, and reputational risk.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Graduate degree or equivalent experience in Science, Medicine, Pharmacy, Business, or a related life sciences field.
• 12–15+ years proven experience in life sciences, pharmaceutical innovation, medical affairs, commercial strat