Director, Customer Engagement & Transformation Portfolio

Location: Gaithersburg, US (Hybrid)

Function: MESO – Customer Engagement & Transformation

Reports to: Head of Global Medical Affairs, Customer Engagement & Transformation

About the Role

The Director, Customer Engagement & Transformation Portfolio will provide strategic portfolio leadership, operational governance, and disciplined delivery across the Customer Engagement & Transformation portfolio. The role will help translate strategic priorities into integrated plans, coordinate delivery across functions and geographies, and ensure that key initiatives progress with clarity, accountability, and measurable impact.

Working across Global Medical Affairs, Medical Excellence Strategy & Operations, Digital, Data, Communications, Finance, and other enabling functions, the Director will connect strategy with execution and strengthen the organization’s ability to deliver consistently at scale.

The role will oversee portfolio planning, project and program governance, budget and resource management, change enablement, leadership-team effectiveness, and continuous improvement. It will also support the implementation of medical standards and compliant ways of working across relevant functional activities and global-to-local interfaces.

The successful candidate will be able to operate effectively in a complex, multicultural, and highly matrixed environment; influence senior stakeholders and diverse teams without relying solely on formal authority; and provide decisive, pragmatic leadership in a changing and sometimes ambiguous environment.

The Director will operate as a strategic partner to the function head and leadership team, progressing priority strategies from ideation through implementation and strengthening global-to-local interfaces for effective execution.

This role will also contribute to the development of scalable operating practices, stronger cross-functional collaboration, and more consistent ways of working across Customer Engagement & Transformation.

Key Accountabilities

1. Strategic Portfolio Partnership
   • Partner with the Head of Customer Engagement & Transformation, functional and initiative leads, and relevant Strategy, Operations & Innovation leaders to translate strategic priorities into objectives, roadmaps, integrated delivery plans, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
   • Provide project-management expertise and operational insight to support the development and execution of Customer Engagement & Transformation strategy.
   • Maintain an integrated view of initiatives, interdependencies, resource requirements, risks, expected benefits, and strategic contribution to support prioritization and leadership decision-making.
2. Cross-Functional and Matrix Team Leadership
   • Lead and coordinate cross-functional initiatives, ensuring that workstreams are aligned and integrated plans are delivered effectively.
   • Establish a collaborative and accountable project environment across teams, functions, and geographic locations.
3. Planning, Monitoring, and Delivery
   • Facilitate planning, forecasting, phasing, and prioritization across relevant business-planning cycles, including RBU, MTP, and Long-Range Plan processes, where applicable.
   • Coordinate portfolio-level budget planning, spend tracking, purchase-order management, vendor coordination, and financial reporting, where applicable.
4. Governance, Communications, and Information Management
   • Develop and maintain fit-for-purpose governance structures, ways of working, decision rights, templates, reporting standards, and escalation processes.
   • Lead effective, agenda-driven leadership meetings, steering groups, councils, and cross-functional forums.
5. Change Management and Adoption Enablement
   • Develop and coordinate change-management plans for new capabilities, processes, operating models, customer-engagement approaches, and ways of working.
   • Coordinate stakeholder engagement, communications, training, and adoption activities in partnership with relevant teams.
6. Entrepreneurship and Continuous Improvement
   • Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and improve processes across Customer Engagement & Transformation and Medical Excellence.
   • Collaborate with other project and portfolio leaders to embed best practices, reusable tools, and effective delivery approaches.

Key Deliverables

The role will be accountable for delivering or enabling:

• An integrated Customer Engagement & Transformation portfolio plan, roadmap, and prioritization framework.
• Regular portfolio reporting, including progress against milestones, strategic goals, dependencies, budgets, risks, issues, decisions, and benefits.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Minimum of seven years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare, life sciences, or a closely related regulated environment.
• Minimum of three years of Medical Affairs experience at global, regional, or local level, or equivalent experience working directly with Medical Affairs teams and priorities.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Graduate-level degree in science, business, or a related discipline.
• Experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare, or life sciences.

Why This Role Matters

Customer Engagement & Transformation is helping shape how AstraZeneca engages with customers, delivers value, and operates across a changing healthcare environment. The Director, Customer Engagement & Transformation Portfolio will provide the structure, connectivity, and delivery discipline needed to turn strategic ambition into measurable progress.

Our Culture and Your Impact

At AstraZeneca, we believe the future of medicine depends on courageous innovation, collaboration, and relentless curiosity. In this role, you will have the opportunity to connect people and priorities, bring clarity to complexity, and help create practical new ways of working across Customer Engagement & Transformation.