Search and Evaluation Associate Director

Gaithersburg or Wilmington, US

Competitive salary and benefits

The Search and Evaluation Associate Director, is a key role in Biopharmaceuticals Business Development R&D, AstraZeneca.

The role holder supports global Business Development initiatives and has a direct impact on the scientific strategy and portfolio.

The Search and Evaluation (S&E) group is responsible for driving search efforts of external innovation throughout the Biopharmaceuticals community. Also conducting technical due diligence activities that ensure an in-depth understanding of investment opportunities and provide effective decision-making tools for the organization. The role holder will have an impact on strategic development of Biopharmaceuticals ensuring that the portfolio is delivered and that the science, capabilities and portfolio are fit for future challenges and opportunities.

The successful candidate will have a strong R&D scientific background, experience of drug discovery projects, and excellent communication skills. In addition, an ability to engage and collaborate across boundaries with an entrepreneurial attitude and delivery focus.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Reporting to the Global Head of S&E, he/she is responsible for Search and Evaluation of external in-licensing opportunities from academia, biotech’s and peer-pharma including early research projects, new modality platforms, clinical stage candidates and Life Cycle Management (LCM) opportunities

• Responsible for supporting and leading cross functional project teams and integrating input from various functional areas across the organization to create high quality, clear and concise confidential evaluation and due diligence reports of external assets and provide recommendations to senior governance bodies.

• Works constructively with key stakeholders and cross-functional teams including commercial to ensure effective communication, efficient decision-making for business cases, to support completion of transactions with BD teams in a timely manner

Culture

• Create a dynamic, entrepreneurial and externally facing organization which enables an internally and externally collaborative culture with calculated risk taking.

• Collaborate closely with colleagues in Business Development, and across business to identify and exploit cross-business opportunities and embed best practice.

Education:

• 5 years PhD or MD and post-doc or MBA experience

Requirements and Qualifications:

• Strong scientific reputation from previous positions

• Ability to interact and communicate effectively

• Proven leadership abilities in pharma / biotech environments with demonstrable knowledge of pre-clinical and clinical R&D

• .

• Ability to think critically, creatively and to anticipate and solve problems

• Ability to navigate and be successful in a fast-paced, highly-matrixed work environment

• Experience in a BD environment and understanding of contractual and transactional matters an advantage

• Looking for individuals with good communication/interpersonal skills and who have had demonstrated an ability to work with a diverse cross-functional team

Leadership and behaviours

• Fulfil leadership and behaviour criteria for roles on lower career ladders

• Excellent communicator who take responsibility for decisions made. Role model engagement and commitment.

• Understand the wider AstraZeneca business priorities

• Appreciate that scientific expertise needs to be balanced with business leadership

• Able to actively seek collaboration in a complex matrix structure

Reporting line

Reports to Global Head of Search and Evaluation, Biopharmaceuticals R&D, R&I, V&I

Closing date: 8th January 2023.

For informal enquires/questions please contact John Taylor. John.D.Taylor@astrazeneca.com