At AstraZeneca, we’re not afraid to do things differently. We’re building a new kind of organization. This means we’re opening up new ways to work, groundbreaking methods and bringing unexpected teams together. Join us on our journey of building a new type of organisation to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be!

Build unrivalled capabilities in a place that promotes learning agility and offers development opportunities. We never stand still so you’ll have the chance to constantly grow your abilities, skills and knowledge. Here we are a combination of challenging and interesting work, in a dynamic, energising and inspiring environment.

Make a meaningful impact on people’s lives with life-changing medicines

External Supply and Manufacturing (ESM) supports the Operations strategy by establishing global robust, stable processes and standards with our external suppliers across the world. We manage the sourcing, planning and supply of all our externally manufactured products (small and large molecule) into the AstraZeneca network. We currently work with ca 200 suppliers across 28 countries handling ca 2000 Product SKU’s with a procurement value of over $1 billion. We also support the introduction of new and in-licensed products.

The ESM Projects team leads a broad range of projects such as establishing external supply for new products, expanded supply for existing products, business continuity planning and projects responding to new legislation. To be successful in this role, you will have experience of delivering in an global environment through a cross-functional project team across our suppliers and internal functions.

Your role

As our Project Director you will be leading global programmes and projects across multiple organisations, geographies and business areas. You will define goals and lead delivery performance to deliver projects or programmes to time, cost, and quality standards and regulatory compliance. Implementing new and redesigned supply chains globally through a cross-functional team is key for this role. This will include activities such as in-sourcing, out-sourcing and technology transfer of devices and critical materials.

Other accountabilities:

• Identifying and managing significant risks and developing associated mitigation plans
• You will engage with senior internal sponsors/customer, external partners and be their single point of accountability
• Actively develop capability across the function and act as a coach and mentor to other members of the teams

Essentials for the role

Key to this role is the ability to identify and manage significant risks, develop mitigation plans, bringing clarity and solutions to complex situations with high ambiguity and lead the delivery of several, diverse projects at the same time. You will possess excellent communication and influencing skills, be able to give clear clarity and direction and hold people accountable on time critical activities. You will be able to balance business needs and costs for a range of issues across the life-cycle of a project.

• Minimum 7 years project and programme management experience from the pharma industry with validated delivery
• Technical experience of small and/or large molecule manufacturing and ideally technical experience across the following technologies – active pharmaceutical ingredients/drug substances, analytical technology transfers, new product launches, excellent partner management, stakeholder management, presentation and influencing skills
• Experience of working with external suppliers
• Experience of application of Lean and problem solving in a complex environment
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a scientific, engineering or business field

Why AstraZeneca…

Working with medicines that address unmet needs fills us with pride. The potential to make people’s lives better is an incredible feeling. We get to support and positively impact local and global communities, from patients and their families to all of society.

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.