AstraZeneca

Associate Director, Pharma Sales Force - Incentives and Awards

AstraZeneca$120K — $145K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
  • 3+ years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or healthcare related environments.
  • Experience with incentive compensation or sales operations support activities.
  • Proficient in analyzing performance data to derive actionable insights.
  • Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

  • Support the improvement of incentive compensation programs and processes.
  • Translate commercial strategies into effective incentive and recognition programs.
  • Analyze sales performance and payout trends to generate insights.
  • Collaborate across departments to address inquiries and enhance stakeholder experiences.
  • Prepare governance materials and track issues for decision-making support.
  • Assist in executing award programs and ensuring compliance.
  • Drive modernization initiatives to streamline functions and enhance reporting.

Benefits

  • Professional development opportunities and exposure to senior stakeholders.
  • Engagement in high-impact projects and transformation efforts.
  • Opportunity to gain hands-on experience in governance and analytics.
  • Ability to influence and implement best practices across the organization.
Full Job Description
Associate Director, Incentives and Awards

Location: Wilmington, DE - remote option is not available for this role.

Reports to: Director, Incentives and Awards

About the role

The Associate Director, Incentives and Awards will support the strategy, execution, governance, and continuous improvement of field incentive compensation and commercial awards across the BBU portfolio. Reporting to the Director, Incentives and Awards, this role will help translate commercial priorities into clear, compliant, motivating incentive and recognition programs that strengthen field focus, improve payout transparency, and support better business decision-making.

This is an opportunity for a growing commercial operations or incentive compensation professional to build depth in a high-impact function while gaining exposure to senior stakeholders, governance forums, analytics, awards, vendor management, and transformation work. The role is designed for someone early in their incentives career with strong potential, as well as a more tenured professional who is close to Director readiness and wants broader enterprise experience under the oversight of the Director.

LOCATION: This position is an onsite position in our Wilmington, DE offices. AstraZeneca follows a hybrid working model, with employees expected to be onsite at least three days per week in their assigned location. Candidates must possess the legal right to work in the relevant country. Remote work is not offered.

Key objectives
  • Support the execution and continuous improvement of field incentive compensation programs, including annual plans, special incentive plans, performance tracking, payout analysis, communications, and awards processes.
  • Work under the oversight of the Director to translate commercial strategy into incentive and recognition programs that support compliant field focus, launch and lifecycle priorities, territory dynamics, and account-based selling complexity.
  • Develop clear analytics and recommendations by assessing sales performance, payout trends, plan effectiveness, data quality, and budget implications.
  • Partner with Sales, Commercial Excellence, Finance, HR, Legal, Compliance, Analytics, vendors, and field leaders to resolve questions, support governance decisions, and improve stakeholder experience.
  • Support Incentive Compensation Governance Committee preparation, including issue documentation, exception tracking, decision support, action follow-up, and audit-ready records.
  • Contribute to Circle of Excellence and related awards programs by supporting eligibility review, stakeholder alignment, communications, vendor coordination, and compliant execution.
  • Help modernize the function by simplifying processes, improving manager and field communications, strengthening reporting, identifying automation opportunities, and building scalable ways of working.


Essential qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
  • 3+ years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, consulting, or a related commercial environment, including exposure to at least one of the following areas: Sales Operations, Commercial Excellence, Field Operations, Incentive Compensation, Finance, Analytics, or a comparable commercial function.
  • Experience supporting incentive compensation, sales operations, commercial analytics, finance, or field operations workstreams, including planning, implementation, performance tracking, payout analysis, reporting, or field-facing processes.
  • Ability to analyze performance data, identify trends, assess business implications, and summarize findings into clear recommendations for manager or leadership review.
  • Experience partnering cross-functionally with at least two stakeholder groups, such as Sales, Marketing, Commercial Excellence, Finance, HR, Legal, Compliance, Analytics, or vendors.
  • Strong communication, organization, attention to detail, problem-solving, and follow-through skills, with the ability to manage deadlines in a regulated business environment.


Preferred qualifications
  • 5+ years' experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, consulting, or a related commercial environment, with direct exposure to incentive compensation, sales operations, commercial analytics, field operations, or finance.
  • Experience supporting annual incentive planning, special incentive plans, sales crediting, payout modeling, dispute or exception processes, governance materials, or field communications.
  • Experience with rare diseases, specialty care, account-based selling, market access, or other complex commercial structures.
  • Experience with incentive systems, dashboards, analytics platforms, process automation, vendor coordination, sales awards, or Circle of Excellence programs.
  • Demonstrated readiness to grow toward Director-level accountability through ownership of workstreams, stakeholder influence, analytical judgment, and continuous improvement leadership.


Ready to Apply?

Advance your career in a role that builds deep commercial incentives expertise, expands enterprise exposure, and prepares you to take on broader leadership in a world class science and manufacturing organization.

Date Posted
19-Aug-2026

Closing Date

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company that specializes in the research, development, and manufacturing of prescription drugs. The company was formed in 1999 through the merger of Astra AB and Zeneca Group plc. AstraZeneca's products are used to treat a wide range of medical conditions, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and diabetes. The company has operations in over 100 countries and employs more than 76,000 people worldwide. AstraZeneca is committed to developing innovative medicines that improve the health and well-being of people around the world.
Learn more about AstraZeneca
Size
83,100 employees
Market Cap
$211.5 billion
Industry
Net Income
$3.1 billion
Founded
1999
5 Year Trend
+10.2%
Revenue
$26.6 billion
NASDAQ

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