Associate Director, Diagnostic Partnerships, Oncology

Location: Barcelona - Spain (3 days working from the office and 2 days working from home)

Are you ready to make a significant impact in the world of oncology diagnostics? As the Associate Director, Diagnostic Partnerships within the Oncology Business Unit, you will play a pivotal role in delivering the Global Diagnostics (GDx) mission of shaping the patient testing landscape and ensuring no patient is left behind. Reporting to the Senior Director, Diagnostic Partnerships, you will lead key partnership activities within GDx; your expertise will be crucial in refining business needs, engaging with prospective diagnostic partners, and collaborating on scoping, negotiation, and contracting.

Accountabilities

• Shape GDx projects towards meeting business requirements, fitting into overarching strategies while considering cost, quality and timeline requirements.
• Develop and manage relationships with external diagnostic partners and potential partners in a compliant and professional manner, ensuring AstraZeneca is regarded as a partner of choice by third parties.
• Lead specific schedules of work according to project needs, owning the deal process and aligning with cross‑functional colleagues to support execution.
• Ensure post‑contract activities are successfully completed with optimal handover of solutions to wider GDx colleagues for implementation.
• Work with Business Development colleagues in the negotiation, contracting and deal‑closing processes for enterprise‑wide agreements.
• Ensure that diagnostic partnering opportunities are evaluated thoroughly and objectively with ownership of certain due diligence processes.
• Present partnering opportunities to the oncology business effectively and efficiently.
• Build personal networks to aid early identification of relevant partnering opportunities and efficient delivery of partnership projects.
• Attend key external scientific congresses to identify partnership opportunities and nurture existing relationships.
• Work collaboratively and flexibly to accommodate projects which arise from varied parts of the business.
• Provide broader diagnostics teams with inputs and expertise according to personal domain and partnerships knowledge.
• Support or lead in building business cases for specific partnership projects.
• Report on project activities and achievements to senior management, feed into OBU updates as appropriate.
• Positively develop, manage and maintain stakeholder relationships with colleagues across Oncology Business Unit, Business Development, Legal, Compliance, in‑country diagnostic teams, R&D, and other cross‑functional colleagues as needed.

Essential Skills/Experience

• Post‑graduate level education in a relevant subject (e.g. Masters/MBA/MSc or above)
• +5 years of relevant contracting, business development, strategy, consulting and/or pharma/diagnostic partnership experience
• Knowledge of pharmaceutical and diagnostic company businesses, processes and activities
• Knowledge of scientific, commercial and financial evaluation techniques
• An understanding of governance procedures relevant to deal progression and business development work (CDAs, agreement structures, delegation of authorities, due diligence processes, etc.)
• Analytical skills and ability to ascertain the relevant issues from large volumes of information
• Interpersonal and teamwork skills, demonstrating flexibility and a proven ability to deal with complexity under time pressure and contribute skills to deliver projects
• Experience and effectiveness in the presentation of written and oral business cases to senior management
• Numerate and having financial literacy, excellent spoken and written English
• Tenacity and resourcefulness, an ability to deliver under pressure, intuitive prioritization and sense of urgency
• A clear self‑starter approach, ability to extract practical steps for contracting and project design from ambiguous high‑level vision

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Experience through education or work in a relevant area of oncology diagnostics, providing credibility to scientific audiences.
• Experience in international, multi‑functional project teams to deliver to time, cost and quality.
• A working understanding of diagnostic regulatory frameworks.
• Understanding of commercial in‑market needs for novel oncology diagnostics.
• Knowledge of alternative deal structures and legal principles applicable to a range of deal types.
• Negotiation skills and experience of working in a deal environment.
• Good knowledge of disease areas, and drug/diagnostic development activities and commercial processes.
• Existing deep diagnostic scientific knowledge and an established external network is an advantage.

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.