Head of Department - Bioscience, Early CVRM

Are you ready to lead our Bioscience department within the Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism therapy area, bringing your combined scientific, leadership, strategic and drug discovery skills? Join us at the cutting edge of science to develop the ground-breaking medicines of the future!

At AstraZeneca, you will be empowered to be innovative and creative where difference is valued. We work without barriers between functions at the cutting-edge of science, it’s a place to rethink the future of medicine. That’s why we love it – this is the place to make a more meaningful impact to patients’ lives around the globe.

We hear our patients’ stories and see the burden that cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic (CVRM) diseases poses on populations across the world. We work daily to discover targets and drive projects to develop therapies to ultimately improve lives and address unmet needs.

Early CVRM within AstraZeneca is accountable for the discovery and early development (up to phase 3 ID) of new drugs in the CVRM arena within three main strategic areas - cardiovascular/heart failure, metabolism (obesity, diabetes and MASH), and chronic kidney diseases. CVRM has a rich early discovery and clinical pipeline across the three areas. Today, we believe we are the only pharmaceutical company with a full portfolio of potential CVRM solutions.

The Head of Bioscience Early CVRM will report to the Senior Vice President of Early CVRM and be accountable for the development and implementation of the Early CVRM Research strategy. The position can be located at any of AstraZeneca’s strategic R&D sites; Gaithersburg US, Boston US, Cambridge UK, or Gothenburg Sweden.

What you’ll do

As Head of Bioscience Early CVRM you will lead a department of about 140 coworkers together with a newly formed Bioscience Leadership Team (BLT) comprising of the Heads of Departments (HoDs) for Obesity/CNS, weight control and comorbidities, CKD and cardiovascular (incl Heart failure), fostering a ‘One Bioscience’ culture and cross-disease area working to deliver the best-in-class therapies for patients.

Responsibilities include:

• Provide strong scientific and people leadership to the Bioscience department
• Secure nomination of attractive targets into the portfolio
• Secure state of the art in vitro and in vivo disease models are in place to support target validation and optimisation of novel therapeutics
• Provide an understanding of the competitive context with focus on delivering differentiated therapies
• Secure the right expertise in cardiorenal, metabolic including obesity and related pathophysiology’s (CNS, muscle, adipocyte etc) is present in the department
• Secures execution of the bioscience part of project plans to deliver timely investment decisions
• Identifies and initiates collaborations with world leading academic and biotech organisations, delivering novel science and innovation through successful partnerships
• Identifies strategic BD opportunities (with BDL)

• Be an active member of the Early CVRM Leadership team, representing the Bioscience function throughout the AstraZeneca organisation.
• Build external network and collaborations to secure scientific excellence
• Recruit, retain and develop staff to build a dynamic, innovative, and science-driven team
• Manage the team to ensure departmental goals and targets are achieved and the performance of individuals is managed effectively
• Oversee processes and standards to ensure their appropriateness and guarantee compliance to all internal and external processes.

Essential for the role

This highly visible, strategic role will require a well-trained and experienced scientist in physiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology, driven by science and has strong leadership and communication skills . You have a PhD and strong research background in a preclinical and/or translational scientific discipline. Scientific excellence measured by scientific publications is a must as well as conceptual, analytical, and strategic thinking. In addition you have:

• Significant experience in senior strategic roles – more then 10 years experience
• Demonstrated track record in innovative Bioscience across CardioRenal and Metabolic areas and in drug project delivery - more then 15 years experience
• Demonstrated ability to effectively working in a global organisation, with direct experience leading other leaders - more then 10 years experience
• Track record of scientific excellence measured via scientific publications

With your excellent interpersonal, communication, and collaboration skills you have the ability to influence strategically and persuade tactfully to obtain desired outcomes while maintaining effective, positive organizational relationships. You operate effectively across boundaries in a global matrix research environment to influence both internal and external stakeholders, including senior management. Your passion, strong vision and drive to succeed will be key to success together with an agile approach to life-long learning.

So, what’s next?

Are you already imagining yourself leading Early CVRM Bioscience? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you!

Welcome with your application no later than May 6th, 2024

Where can I find out more?

CVRM therapy area: https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-therapy-areas/cardiovascular-renal-and-metabolism.html

AZ Gaithersburg: https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-company/our-locations/gaithersburg.html

AZ Gothenburg: https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-company/our-locations/gothenburg.html

AZ Cambridge: https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-company/our-locations/cambridge.html

Why AstraZeneca?

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company proud to provide a unique workplace culture that inspires innovation and cross-boundary collaboration. Within this environment employees are empowered to express diverse perspectives, and are made to feel valued, energized and rewarded for their ideas and creativity. There’s no better place to see what science can do.

Date Posted

29-Apr-2024

Closing Date

06-May-2024Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.AstraZeneca requires all US employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 but will consider requests for reasonable accommodations as required by applicable law.