AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious disease. But we’re more than one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

Finance at AstraZeneca has a clear vision to become trusted partners, creating value and leading change. As such, Finance has a pivotal role to play in shaping our long-term financial health, partnering to deliver great results through insight, delivering excellence in financial operations and safeguarding AstraZeneca’s assets and reputation.

The role sits with the R2R GPO Function which is fast-paced, dynamic and challenging. We are looking for people who want to seize the opportunity to take an exciting step in their personal development journey and play a fundamental part of delivering a world-class finance organisation.

You will be a pivotal part of the ‘Fit for Future’ project standardising process and operating procedures across R2R ahead of the S/4 Hana deployment. The project will drive a simplified close that allows Group Reporting to focus on external reporting and enables Middle Office to become trusted partners to Embedded Finance, liberating them from error handling to providing insights.

As the Change and Deployment Lead for the project, you will be using your project management and communication skills to work between key stakeholders, team members and external partners to ensure the successful delivery of the project roadmap and its deliverables being the bridge between the programme and the business.

You will manage the delivery of the full Change and Training deliverables within the project, which includes development, agreement and delivery of E2E change & deployment strategies, change impact & stakeholder need assessments, change/comms/ training/deployment & cut-over plans, relevant and impactful communications, effective training, go-live readiness as well as Hypercare and closure of the BAU implementation. Supported by the Central Business Change, Training and Deployment teams you ensure alignment with AZ Change Management & Deployment framework, quality assurance of work products and project governance.

You must be able to gain the trust and respect of internal stakeholders who will rely on your advice, guidance and management on required business change. Excellent and demonstrable writing ability, project management, planning and multi-channel communications experience (particularly digital communications) is essential, with a proven track record of deploying successful process and system change to diverse audiences. A sound Financial background and lease accounting process experience is desirable.

Typical Accountabilities

As Change and Comms Manager you will deliver the full Change, Training and Deployment within the project, which includes development, agreement and delivery of E2E change & deployment strategies, change/comms/ training/deployment & cut-over plans, go-live readiness as well as Hypercare and closure of the BAU implementation. You will also:

Plan, manage and execute the change, training and change communications activities, which include

• Selling the Project vision to all levels of the Enterprise while encouraging cross-functional collaboration

• Conducting Change Impact Assessment and Change Plans to include comms, training and required Policy/Documentation changes

• Develop the stakeholder engagement strategy and ensure effective management

• Build and maintain the Stakeholder register, analysis, mapping and action delivery

• Deliver change communication planning, development and delivery plus related activities

• Deliver training to all impacted audience

• Captures employee voice to ensure messages are landing appropriately and with desired behavioural change

• Improves digital channel engagement

Plan, manage and execute all deployment activities (integration, cutover and testing), which include

• Create, agree and deliver the overarching Deployment Strategy

• Manage highly diverse activities, multiples stakeholder groups, significant scope, schedule and resources to ensure support for the variety of changes and implementations

• Work closely with business and IT leads to understand, identify and recommend technical software design & specification opportunities

• Understand and actively manage/mitigate key internal and external dependencies within the project including necessary escalation of potential Deployment related risks and issues

• Achieve successful sign off and handover to post implementation support function, ensuring all projects are handed over fully to BAU organisations

Create and support an effective high-performance delivery culture

• Build an effective working relationship with project stakeholders especially IT, Change, Comms, and Training as well as key regional business colleagues

• Regularly review and report on project status, milestones, challenges and key accomplishments to the program team.

• Bring together your cross-functional skills and strengths in business analysis, problem solving and team coaching to constantly search for improvements

• Identify, manage and resolve dependencies, risks and issues, which could affect the successful delivery

• Prioritise requests, resources and deliverables throughout the solution implementation life cycle

Essential skills and experience

• Proven track record in delivering projects in business transformation with a hands-on approach, across different national and business boundaries

• Deep knowledge of software (SAP and BI) development projects and delivery in dynamic environments

• Strong collaboration, project management, planning and multi-channel delivery experience

• Proven experience of developing and implementing change plans in a complex multi-stakeholder environment

• Experience of managing different stakeholder relationships, developing cross-cultural networks and tactfully challenging opinions to achieve desired outcomes

• Strong creative design and execution of digital communications assets

Competitive salary and benefits apply

Date Posted

Closing Date

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.