Sr Director, US Medical Early Assets – Insights
Are you ready to turn ideas into life-changing medicines? At AstraZeneca, we are committed to addressing the unmet needs of patients worldwide through scientific innovation. In this role, you will play a crucial role in leveraging our scientific capabilities to positively impact patients' lives. Reporting directly to the Executive Director, US Medical Early Asset Team Lead, you will be part of a team focused on the development of ambitious US medical strategies for our early pipeline. This is an opportunity to seize, design, and influence across a complex matrix system to ensure US needs are integrated into global development plans.
Accountabilities:
Sr Director, US Medical Early Asset – Insights will own US insight generation and decision analytics for pipeline assets from late discovery through Phase 2. You will translate ambiguity into clear, evidence-based recommendations by integrating secondary analytics, custom market research, competitive intelligence, epidemiology, and early forecasting. Partnering closely with Global/US Commercial, Medical, Clinical Development, Market Access, HEOR, and Finance, you will shape target product profiles, influence trial design, pressure-test differentiation hypotheses, and inform investment decisions at stage gates.
Key Responsibilities
- Insight Strategy and Roadmap: Define the US insights learning plan across asset stages; prioritize critical unknowns and decision points, and map research/analytics to governance milestones.
- Primary Market Research: Design and lead payer/HCP/patient qualitative and quantitative studies (concept tests, message/value testing, conjoint/DTU, ethnography, discrete choice, max-diff) to refine positioning and evidence needs.
- Secondary Analytics: Synthesize syndicated data, claims/EMR analyses, epidemiology, treatment paradigms, and policy trends to size opportunities, refine segmentation, and anticipate adoption barriers.
- Competitive Intelligence: Maintain dynamic competitor profiles, trial readouts, label trajectories, and access precedents; run competitor simulations and implications for differentiation and timing.
- Target Product Profile and Asset Shaping: Pressure-test TPP elements (endpoints, attributes, device/format, administration setting, line of therapy, subsegments) via research and rapid experiments; recommend trade-offs to maximize US value.
- Early Forecasting and Scenarios: Build and refine early demand/adoption forecasts, market maps, and scenario trees; partner with Finance on rNPV and sensitivity analyses that reflect uncertainty and key inflection points.
- Evidence and Trial Design Input: Translate insight into guidance on endpoints, comparators, PROs, inclusion/exclusion, and RWE priorities that support future US adoption, labeling, and access.
- Customer and Ecosystem Mapping: Identify priority segments (HCPs, treatment centers, IDNs, payers, patient pathways) and define decision drivers across the care continuum to inform early brand strategy and initial field teams' structure.
- Value Proposition Development: Co-create early value narratives and differentiation hypotheses; test resonance and credibility with customers and iterate with Medical/HEOR and Market Access.
- Rapid Test-and-Learn: Stand up lightweight experiments (concept sprints, ad boards, rapid quant) to answer time-sensitive questions ahead of governance gates and external catalysts.
- Communications and Governance: Craft clear, concise readouts and recommendations for asset teams and governance; ensure traceability from insight to decision and document assumptions/risks.
- Vendor and Budget Management: Select and manage research/analytics vendors; ensure methodological rigor, compliance, and on-time, on-budget delivery.
- Compliance and Ethics: Conduct research and external engagements in line with US regulations and company policies for pre-approval communications and data privacy.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred (MBA, MPH, MS in Market Research/Statistics, PharmD, or related).
- 8+ years in pharma/biotech or consulting focused on market insights, new product planning, or early commercial strategy; US market experience required; early development experience (Phase 1–2) strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated impact shaping TPPs, influencing clinical/evidence plans, and informing investment decisions via robust insights and analytics.
- Significant experience developing enterprise data and analytics strategies, navigating complex matrix teams, and translating emerging insights into business-critical decisions across multiple therapeutic areas, assets, or portfolios.
- Exceptional executive communication and influencing skills, with the ability to translate complex analytics, assumptions, risks, and uncertainties into clear strategic recommendations for senior leadership, governance bodies, and cross-functional decision-makers (Clinical, Medical, Market Access/HEOR, and Finance)
- Demonstrated capability to align diverse stakeholders around a common strategic direction and drive action in highly matrixed environments.
Preferred Qualifications
- Hands-on experience with qualitative and quantitative methods (e.g., conjoint/DCE, segmentation, ATU/DTU, message testing) and vendor oversight.
- Proficiency with forecasting basics, epidemiology inputs, claims/EMR analytics, and triangulation across data sources; comfort with uncertainty and sensitivity testing.
- Ability to translate competitor clinical and access moves into implications for positioning and evidence.
- Working knowledge of analytics and visualization tools (e.g., Excel, PowerPoint; familiarity with data platforms/BI tools is a plus).
- Practical experience using AI/ML-enabled tools for insights work (e.g., NLP for unstructured text, predictive modeling, synthetic respondent methods, automated coding of qual, prompt engineering for analysis/synthesis) with an understanding of data privacy, bias, and validation best practices.
This position is based at our Wilmington, DE campus headquarters for our US Biopharma business. 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.
Next Steps – Apply Today!
Are you ready to make a difference? Apply now and join our mission to transform lives with our science!
Date Posted
01-Sept-2026
Closing Date
14-Sept-2026
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.