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Director, R&D IT Operational Excellence, ChangeManagement& Communication

Gaitherburg, MD

IT

Hybrid Work- on average 3 days/week from office

The Director, R&D IT Operational Excellence, ChangeManagement& Communicationis a senior leadership role responsible for driving governance, operational performance, workforce strategy, financial stewardship, organizational effectiveness,and changeadoption across R&D IT.

As a member of the Operational Excellence organization, this rolepartners with Capability, Portfolio, Finance, HR, Strategy, and Quality leaders to ensure disciplined execution of strategic priorities, effective decision-making, transparent performance management, and alignment to enterpriseobjectives.

You'll serve as the operational leader for assigned R&D IT capability portfolios, supervising governance, planning, workforce and capacity management, performance reporting, financial oversight, and continuous improvement. The Director connects strategy to execution byestablishingscalable, data-driven operating models that improve organizational effectiveness and support AstraZeneca's digital, data, and AI ambitions.

In addition, this roleleadsenterprise-wide change management, communications, employee engagement, and AI enablement initiatives that accelerate technology adoption, strengthen organizational capability, and enhancethe employeeexperience across R&D IT.

What you'll do

Operational Excellence & Governance

• Lead operational excellence activities across assigned R&D IT capability portfolios, ensuring alignment to organizationalobjectivesand enterprise governance standards.

• Partner with senior leaders toidentifyand assessoperational inefficiencies,prioritize,drive processstandardization andoptimization, automation, and AI-enabled improvements that increase organizational effectiveness, consistency, scalability, and employee productivity.

• Partner with R&D IT Operations Leads tofacilitateprocess standardization across functional areas, fostering a one-team approach.

• Drive operational rigor through governance reviews, compliance monitoring, risk management, and corrective action planning.Provide regular reporting against targets, broken down by functional area, and partner with stakeholders to course-correct where needed.

• Lead operational cadences includingbut not limited to conductingbusiness reviews, governance forums, operational reviews, and planning activities, including defining agenda and recapping decisions and meeting minutes.

• Build strong partnerships across Finance, HR, SP&Q, Operational Excellence, Enterprise Functions, and broader R&D organizations.

• Influence stakeholders across a complex, matrix environment to achieve organizationalobjectivesand drive sustainable outcomes.

Performance Management & Executive Reporting

• Own development and maintenance ofbusiness, R&D andcapabilityscorecards, frameworks, and executive performance reporting.Provide narrative and speaking-note support for senior stakeholders, including presentation materials for executive-level review and quarterly performance storytelling.

• Establish,reviewandmaintainoperational health indicators&dashboards,KPIs, OKRs, and executive reporting mechanisms.

• Translate complex operational, financial, workforce, portfolio, and AI adoption data into concise, actionable insights for senior leadership.

• Establish&leverageexistingreporting frameworks that improve organizational visibility, accountability, and decision-making.

• Supportsannual and multi-year planning activities including Mid-Term Planning (MTP), Long-Term Planning (LTP), business planning cycles, strategic roadmaps, and investment prioritization.

Workforce Strategy, Capacity & Resource Management

• Supportworkforce planning activities across assigned portfolios, ensuring workforce capacity aligns with strategic priorities and deliveryobjectives.

• Supervise organizational headcount governance, including permanent employees and Outside Service Providers (OSPs).

• Track workforceutilization, organizational capacity, AI and digital skill demand trends, and future capability requirements to proactivelyidentifyworkforce risks and opportunities.

• Lead workforce readiness initiatives focused on AI literacy, digital capability development, and adoption of emerging technologies across R&D IT

• Support long-term sustainabilitygoals, including but not limited to reducing our carbon footprint.

Financial Stewardship & Business Operations

• Supportcapability leaders and business partners inbusiness case development, investment planning, value realization assessments, and funding prioritization decisions.

• Lead operational oversight of budget performanceagainst plan, financial governance processes, investment tracking, resource-related expenditures,and recommend corrective actions

• Ensure compliance with AstraZeneca financial policies, governance standards, and planning requirements.

Change Management & Communications:

• Develop and implement the Change and Communications Events Plan, including R&D-facing engagement events.

• Design and lead a forward-looking learning and technology adoption strategy, including ownership of recurring learning sessions and acceleration events, in partnership with learning & development teams.

• Own communications related to technology upskilling and employee relations matters, ensuring clear,timelymessaging across channels.

• Lead a flagship feedback program designed tomonitorand improvethe stakeholderexperience in real time.

Essential for the role

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Engineering, or related field

• 5-7+ yearsexperience in IT operational excellencegovernance, business operations, organizational effectiveness roles,financial management, and performance reporting
  

• R&D Clinical experience

• Experiencein seniorstakeholder managementanddeveloping executive-level dashboards, KPIs, scorecards, and operational reporting

• Experience measuring business outcomes and organizational value derived from digital, automation, and AI investments.

• Experience leading cross-functional continuous improvement and organizational transformation initiatives.
  

• Experience leading AI adoption, Generative AI initiatives, Copilot deployments, intelligent automation programs, or workforce AI transformation efforts.

• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills.

• Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills.

Desirable for the role

• Experience supporting Digital, Data, AI, Technology, R&D, or Product organizations.

• Pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or regulated industry experience.

• Experience with strategic planning cycles, investment governance, and business case development.

• Knowledge of Lean, Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement, Agile, or equivalent methodologies.
  

• Understanding of GDPR and data privacy
  

• Understanding of SDTM delivery

• Experience with workforce planning, supplier governance, and outsourced service provider management.

• ExperienceusingServiceNow,Power BI,Jira,AirFocus.

• Experience withemployee engagement or survey programs.

• Familiarity with technology adoption and enablement programs in large, matrix organizations.

• A can-do attitude and eagerness to build experience across employee engagement, learning & development, and the broader business of R&D.

• Confidence in building relationships across the business and constructively challenging behaviors.

• Independence and ability to lead a small, cross-functional team.