Director, R&D IT Operational Excellence, Change Management & Communication

Director, R&D IT Operational Excellence, Change Management & Communication

Gaitherburg, MD

IT

Hybrid Work- on average 3 days/week from office

TheDirector, R&D IT Operational Excellence, Change Management & Communication is a senior leadership role responsible for driving governance, operational performance, workforce strategy, financial stewardship, organizational effectiveness, and change adoption across R&D IT.

As a member of the Operational Excellence organization, this role partners 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 enterprise objectives.

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 by establishing scalable, data-driven operating models that improve organizational effectiveness and support AstraZeneca's digital, data, and AI ambitions.

In addition, this role leads enterprise-wide change management, communications, employee engagement, and AI enablement initiatives that accelerate technology adoption, strengthen organizational capability, and enhance the employee experience 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 organizational objectives and enterprise governance standards.

• Partner with senior leaders to identify and assess operational inefficiencies, prioritize, drive process standardization and optimization, automation, and AI-enabled improvements that increase organizational effectiveness, consistency, scalability, and employee productivity.

• Partner with R&D IT Operations Leads to facilitate process 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 including but not limited to conducting business 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 organizational objectives and drive sustainable outcomes.

Performance Management & Executive Reporting

• Own development and maintenance of business, R&D and capability scorecards, 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, review and maintain operational 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 & leverage existing reporting frameworks that improve organizational visibility, accountability, and decision-making.

• Supports annual 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

• Support workforce planning activities across assigned portfolios, ensuring workforce capacity aligns with strategic priorities and delivery objectives.

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

• Track workforce utilization, organizational capacity, AI and digital skill demand trends, and future capability requirements to proactively identify workforce 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 sustainability goals, including but not limited to reducing our carbon footprint.

Financial Stewardship & Business Operations

• Support capability leaders and business partners in business case development, investment planning, value realization assessments, and funding prioritization decisions.

• Lead operational oversight of budget performance against 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, timely messaging across channels.

• Lead a flagship feedback program designed to monitor and improve the stakeholder experience in real time.

Essential for the role

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

• 5-7+ years experience in IT operational excellence governance, business operations, organizational effectiveness roles, financial management, and performance reporting
  
  

• R&D Clinical experience

• Experience in senior stakeholder management and developing 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.

• Experience using ServiceNow, Power BI, Jira, AirFocus.

• Experience with employee 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.

Office Working Requirements

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That’s why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn’t mean we’re not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $153,018.40 - 229,527.60 USD. Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives—an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles. Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans. ​

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Date Posted

Closing Date

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.