Director, Data Science & AI Platforms – Commercial

At AstraZeneca, we’re not afraid to do things differently. We’re resetting expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, groundbreaking and ground-breaking methods and bringing unexpected teams together.  

The Oncology therapy area at AstraZeneca is unparalleled. We have built and strategically acquired one of the most promising Oncology pipelines in the industry. You will be among inspiring oncology industry leaders who will keep you engaged and empower you to be the best. We seek out opportunities to do dynamic and significant work which means we won't just follow the same course of action time and again if we can see potential in a different way of building life changing medicines.  

Director, Commercial Data Sciences & AI is a key leader in the Commercial Data Science & AI team whose mission is to take a Patient centric, Data driven approach to Personalize & Transform healthcare delivery to the millions of patients along with multi-disciplinary team of Physicians who care for them. This responsibility involves working closely with cross functional Science, Medical and Business leaders to identify, prioritize, and develop DS & AI Products and solutions across AZ Oncology and Bio-pharma Business.  

The scope of this role is Global serving all the markets where AstraZeneca’s life changing medicines are approved to help Patients live longer and realize AZ’s bold ambition of eliminating Cancer as a cause of death.  

Accountabilities  

• Recruiting and mentoring a global Data Science team  

• Scouting, Identifying cutting edge innovation in Data Science, AI and ML (Start-ups & Industry/Academic experts).  

• Leading development of new capabilities to add to AZ’s Commercial Data Science & AI platform and working with Start-ups and partners to integrate “Best in Class” technology for particular use cases  

• Deep understanding of AZ’s priority disease areas, treatment guidelines across all Cancer types and Bio-pharma  

• Deep understanding of real-world data sets like Claims, EMR etc.  

• Deep understanding of AZ internal sales, marketing data & scientific content  

• Own and lead Data Science & AI products per Cancer tumor type and /or Bio pharma disease area. Product features include: 

• Development of ML Models & Classifiers for deeper understanding of patient journey  

• Development of Predictive ML/AI models around patient disease progression, Adverse events and other medical outcomes 

• Development and validation of genAI capabilities and products that provide deeper insights into AZ’s business, patient journeys, and related medical and commercial content    

• Development and validation of genAI capabilities and products that provide content-related insights and enable new content generation and validation related to AZ’s business, patient journeys, and related medical and commercial content.  This could include genAI models using unstructured notes, Scientific, Clinical documents, Research publications, marketing materials, social media, etc.   

• Own and lead development of Personalized ML models around dissemination of Scientific, Medical content and messages across personal and non-personal channels 

• Development of Knowledge Graphs incorporating both structured and unstructured data to aid insight and content generation across a diverse set of DS&AI products   

• These products include application of specialized approaches in classification, regression, clustering, genAI (LLMs, LMMs, agents, evaluation), NLP, image analysis, deep learning, knowledge graphs, forecasting and time-series analysis, and/or other advanced techniques.  

• Using domain-specific understanding, translate unstructured, complex business problems into the appropriate data problem, models and analytical solutions across multiple disease areas  

• Develop effective relationships with commercial and medical leaders to ensure utilization and value of information resources  

• Responsible for Evangelizing & Applying advanced data science capabilities across multiple cross-business teams including Sales, Marketing, Medical, Market Access that drive value to AstraZeneca Commercial Business  

• Lead and apply ongoing knowledge and awareness in trends, standard methodology and new developments in data science to influence functional practices.  

• Collaborate across the AstraZeneca Data and AI community to develop best practices and cross functional opportunities that drive value  

• Oversight of partnerships with multiple third parties, academic or outsourced partners to shape and drive project outcomes and knowledge building. 

Essential Skills/Experience  

• Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent numbers of years of experience) in mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics, statistics, economics, computational sciences or a related quantitative field.  

• Experience working in Pharma, Bio-tech or related Healthcare Industry or proven ability to acquire medical domain knowledge in Oncology and Biopharma  

• Proven ability to obtain required business and domain knowledge essential for framing data science problems and solving them  

• Demonstrated Ability to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams across the organization  

• Demonstrated ability to independently lead and run complex data science projects where timely decision making is required in a fast-paced environment  

• Track record of Developing Data Science and AI products that has generated business value, impact across multiple Industries.  

• In-depth experience with modern data science approaches, including genAI (LLMs, LMMs, agents, eval), unsupervised and supervised classification and regression algorithms such as k-means clustering, support vector machines, random forests, neural networks and deep learning, and knowledge graphs. May also have expertise in advanced statistical modelling, or broader aspects of applied mathematics such as dynamical systems or optimization.  

• Significant experience in the modelling of complex datasets in applied business and/or scientific application domains  

• Advanced software development skills in at least two of the standard data science languages (such as Python, R, or Julia) and familiarity with database systems (e.g. SQL, NoSQL, graph)  

• In-depth experience of manipulating and analyzing large high dimensionality unstructured datasets, drawing conclusions, defining recommended actions, and reporting results across team members  

• Understanding of algorithm design, development, optimization, scaling and applications  

• Excellent written and verbal communication, business analysis, and consultancy skills. 

Desirable Skills/Experience  

• Master or PhD degree in mathematics, computer science, engineering, physics, statistics, economics, or a related quantitative field.  

• Comfortable working in high performance computing or cloud environment  

• Consistent track record of publishing relevant predictive modelling results and tools in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and other scientific proceedings.  

• Experience in understanding bio-medical data sets and real-world data sets relevant to life sciences and healthcare  

• Experience in novel methods' development, validation, and application  

• Experience in a complex global organization  

• Experience in recruiting, leading and mentoring Data Science, Machine learning, AI, and GAI Engineers  

• Experience in influencing and controlling budgets.  

The annual base pay for this position ranges from 196.868,80 - 295.303,20 USD Annual (80% - 120%). Hourly and salaried non-exempt employees will also be paid overtime pay when working qualifying overtime hours. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition, our positions offer a short-term incentive bonus opportunity; eligibility to participate in our equity-based long-term incentive program (salaried roles), to receive a retirement contribution (hourly roles), and commission payment eligibility (sales roles). Benefits offered included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans. Additional details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.  

AstraZeneca is an exciting global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company. We’re inspired by what science can do. Driven by the desire to meet unmet patient needs in our core therapeutic areas. Bold in our thinking. Proactive in pursuing discoveries beyond imagination. At sites across the world, we bring teams together in a spirit of collaboration to turn great ideas into life-changing medicines – strengthening our product portfolio and harnessing the potential of a pipeline across all stages of the drug development process.  

You’ll be part of a team that’s rolling back the frontiers of science to turn yesterday’s impossible into the normal of tomorrow. So, if you share our focus and passion, join us and make a difference to patients – and in return, we’ll help you develop way beyond what you thought possible.  

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.  

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.