Director, Strategic Site Partnerships – Cell Therapy

Introduction to Role

As Director, Strategic Site Partnerships - Cell Therapy, you will serve as the accountable leader for AstraZeneca’s end-to-end relationship with a defined portfolio of priority cell therapy sites. You will combine strategic alliance leadership with clinical and operational expertise to translate enterprise priorities into integrated site strategies, coordinated action, stronger portfolio execution, and lasting partnerships spanning scientific collaboration, early clinical development, and launch readiness.

As AstraZeneca’s strategic point of contact for select Cell Therapy Strategic Partnership Sites, you will align the Alliance Joint Steering Committee (JSC), investigators, site leadership, and AstraZeneca’s cross-functional partnership team around shared priorities, clear accountabilities, and measurable outcomes. You will help remove barriers across the patient and site journey, enable high-quality clinical trial delivery, and ensure site insights inform decisions across the broader cell therapy portfolio.

Why This Role

This is an opportunity to shape high-impact partnerships at the forefront of cell therapy and oncology. You will represent the breadth of AstraZeneca’s cell therapy portfolio at the site level, strengthen collaboration with leading treatment centers, and help improve activation timelines, enrollment, protocol adherence, patient access, and site experience.

By creating a continuous feedback loop between strategic sites and global teams, you will identify recurring barriers early and help convert site-level insights into scalable solutions. Your leadership will support clinical development today while preparing strategic sites for future programs, new indications, and clinical-to-commercial transitions.

Accountabilities

Strategic Site Ownership and Governance

• Serve as Alliance Manager for the Cell Therapy Strategic Partnership Joint Steering Committee.
• Act as the primary AstraZeneca relationship owner and enterprise-level escalation point for assigned strategic sites across the cell therapy portfolio.
• Partner with the Senior Director, Cell Therapy Partnership and Strategy and the Strategic Partnership Joint Steering Committee to develop and maintain a multi-year site partnership plan.
• Integrate clinical development priorities, site capabilities, mutual value, risks, and readiness for future programs into a cohesive site strategy.
• Lead joint governance and executive-level partnership reviews with clear agendas, decisions, actions, owners, and follow-through.
• Ensure required internal governance approvals are obtained.
• Build trusted relationships with site leadership, investigators, cell therapy program leaders, research operations, pharmacy, apheresis, inpatient and outpatient care teams, and administrative stakeholders.
• Maintain a comprehensive view of AstraZeneca’s portfolio and engagement at each site.
• Coordinate the timing and sequencing of site interactions to reduce duplication, conflicting requests, and relationship fatigue.
• Lead the cross-functional site partnership team, mobilize the appropriate AstraZeneca expertise, clarify accountabilities, and drive coordinated execution.

Portfolio Execution and Performance

• Establish an integrated site performance plan across active and planned studies, with clear priorities, performance measures, and proposed mitigations.
• Support improvements in site activation, enrollment, patient flow, retention, protocol adherence, patient access, site experience, and issue resolution.
• Partner with Clinical Development, Study Management, Site Management and Monitoring, Patient Operations, Supply and Logistics, Country Operations, and other functions to identify root causes and accelerate the resolution of cross-study barriers.
• Use performance data and site intelligence to identify emerging risks, distinguish local challenges from systemic patterns, and focus resources where intervention can have the greatest portfolio impact.
• Track commitments, risks, actions, and outcomes through a consolidated partnership dashboard.
• Provide concise, decision-oriented updates to AstraZeneca and site senior leaders.
• Inform feasibility and site selection through an enterprise view of site capacity, competing clinical trials, patient access, investigator interest, and operational readiness.

Clinical Field Leadership and Protocol Enablement

• Maintain deep working knowledge of AstraZeneca’s cell therapy portfolio, protocols, patient populations, treatment pathways, and site delivery requirements.
• Partner with assigned sites and AstraZeneca’s cross-functional teams to assess protocol and educational needs.
• Coordinate targeted, compliant education with the appropriate study, clinical, and medical experts.
• Help sites translate complex eligibility criteria, safety requirements, care pathways, and operational procedures into practical workflows that support appropriate patient identification and high-quality execution.
• Identify drivers of screen failure, protocol deviation, patient attrition, and treatment delays.
• Facilitate cross-functional root-cause analysis and the development of sustainable corrective actions.
• Escalate medical, safety, or protocol interpretation questions through established channels and help ensure sites receive coordinated and timely responses.

Enterprise Insights and Continuous Improvement

• Capture structured insights related to referral pathways, patient access, site capacity, protocol feasibility, operational burden, and the end-to-end patient journey.
• Synthesize themes across sites and studies, quantify their impact where possible, and recommend portfolio-level improvements to protocols, processes, tools, and resource deployment.
• Share site best practices across the strategic site network.
• Partner with global teams to scale solutions that improve speed, quality, and consistency across the cell therapy portfolio.
• Bring an external perspective on the evolving cell therapy landscape, competitive clinical trial activity, and site operating models while maintaining compliant scientific exchange.
• Create a continuous feedback loop between strategic sites and global teams so recurring barriers are identified early and translated into scalable portfolio-level solutions.

Long-Term Partnership and Launch Readiness

• Partner with Medical, Commercial, Development, Manufacturing, Market Access, and Patient Services to assess strategic-site readiness for future indications and potential launches while maintaining appropriate role boundaries.
• Support strategically aligned and appropriately governed initiatives involving referral-network development, workforce and capacity planning, clinical-to-commercial continuity, data collaborations, education, and innovation.
• Represent AstraZeneca at selected scientific meetings, investigator forums, and partnership events to strengthen engagement and advance agreed site objectives.
• Help strategic sites prepare for upcoming programs, new indications, and clinical-to-commercial transition milestones.

Role Accountability and Functional Partnership

The Director is accountable for:

• Site relationship: The integrated site strategy, relationship health, governance, stakeholder map, engagement sequencing, and enterprise-level escalation.
• Cross-functional coordination: Convening the site partnership team, clarifying owners and timelines, and driving closure of issues that cross studies or functions.
• Performance insight: Maintaining a portfolio-level view of site performance and translating data and field intelligence into prioritized actions.
• Partnership execution: Maintaining one current strategy, one governance rhythm, and one consolidated view of commitments and risks for each assigned site.

Functional ownership for medical judgment, safety reporting, protocol interpretation, monitoring, data management, regulatory decisions, contracting, and study-specific execution remains with the designated accountable functions.

Essential Skills/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in health sciences, life sciences, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience or professional qualification.
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in one or more of the following areas:
  • Clinical care involving direct patient interaction
  • Clinical research within an academic setting
  • Clinical development
  • Clinical operations
  • Medical affairs
  • Field clinical practice
  • Strategic alliances
  • Site partnership management
• Relevant experience within cell therapy, oncology, hematology, advanced therapies, or another complex treatment environment.
• Demonstrated ability to engage credibly with investigators, advanced practice providers, scientists, site leadership, and multidisciplinary clinical and operational teams.
• Success leading senior external relationships and complex cross-functional initiatives without direct authority in a highly matrixed environment.
• Strong understanding of clinical trial conduct, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), protocol execution, site operations, and applicable regulations and codes of practice.
• Ability to translate complex scientific, clinical, and protocol information into clear, practical actions for investigators and site teams.
• Ability to interpret performance data, identify root causes, prioritize enterprise-level risks, and translate insights into actionable plans.
• Executive presence, sound judgment, and strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to move effectively between strategic discussions and detailed problem-solving.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally based on site and portfolio needs, anticipated to be up to 50%.

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Advanced clinical or scientific degree or equivalent professional qualification, such as NP, PA, PhD, PharmD, MD, MSc, or equivalent.
• Experience within an apheresis, cellular therapy, stem cell transplant, or complex specialty-care program.
• Direct experience with cell therapy or another operationally complex advanced therapy.
• Strong understanding of the cell therapy patient journey and multidisciplinary site delivery model.
• Previous experience as an alliance manager, field clinical advisor, clinical development leader, or in a comparable site-facing strategic role.
• Experience with strategic research agreements, master clinical trial agreements, shared investment models, or joint governance.
• Experience supporting the transition from clinical development to commercial launch in cell therapy or another complex treatment model.
• Experience working across countries or regions.
• Additional language capability.

Why AstraZeneca

Here, courage, curiosity, and collaboration fuel a relentless focus on transforming cancer outcomes, powered by a pipeline that fuses cutting-edge science with advanced technology. You will work in an environment where unexpected teams come together to spark bold ideas, backed by meaningful investment and a clear path from discovery to impact. We value kindness alongside ambition, and we empower leaders at every level to ask sharp questions, take smart risks, and turn data into decisions that help patients sooner.

Compensation & Benefits

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $249,827.20 - $374,740.80. Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives-an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles. Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.

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 world.

Date Posted

Closing Date

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.