AstraZeneca

Cell Therapy Strategy and Commercial Executive Director

AstraZeneca$267K — $401K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • BA/BS with 10 years, MS/MBA with 8+ years, or PhD/MD with 5+ years in life sciences or consulting focusing on life science programs.
  • Ability to effectively communicate with senior executive teams.
  • Proven leadership skills with the capacity to influence experienced professionals.
  • Strong critical and creative thinking skills for problem-solving.
  • Experience navigating fast-paced, highly matrixed work environments.

Responsibilities

  • Deliver end-to-end strategy for cell therapy including strategic vision and integrated clinical strategy.
  • Develop industry-leading competitive intelligence and market analytics to identify business opportunities.
  • Oversee insights generation to inform R&D and commercial activities.
  • Lead cross-functional collaboration to develop disease area strategies.
  • Provide strategic counseling to senior leadership regarding clinical and commercial affairs.

Benefits

  • Minimum three days per week in-office working with flexible arrangements.
  • Eligibility for short-term incentive bonuses and equity-based awards.
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Qualified retirement programs and paid time off for vacations and holidays.
Full Job Description

The Strategy and Commercial Executive Director, Cell Therapy Strategy and Commercial (CTSC), is a high-impact leadership role accountable for shaping and driving the end-to-end strategy for a defined indication or disease area within Cell Therapy. You will lead global commercial and strategic initiatives within the Cell Therapy Enterprise CTU)—including business development and competitive intelligence—partnering with Therapeutic Areas on clinical strategy, collaborating with in-market commercial and medical affairs on launch readiness, and aligning with global pricing and brand teams. Working cross-functionally with senior leaders, you will define early asset, disease, and portfolio strategies through PH3IDs. Reporting to the VP, Cell Therapy Strategy and Commercial, you will be a key architect of the company’s Cell Therapy strategy and lead cross-functional execution.

Key Accountabilities:

Deliver end-to-end Strategy,including:

  • Clear understanding and prioritization of current and future unmet needs
  • Indication-level strategic vision for both near-term and long-term
  • Integrated clinical strategy across all cell therapy platforms within the same indication
  • Work with global Clinical and ClinOps within respective TAs to develop comprehensive development strategy
  • Competitive early pipeline / long-term portfolio and life cycle management
  • Above-asset initiatives (e.g., Translational Medicine, Precision Medicine, Data Sciences)

Own insights generationfor R&D and commercial activities

  • Overseesand guides development and integration of industry-leading competitive intelligence, customer insight, market intelligence and analytics helping the organization to frame business problems and opportunities
  • Shape future-proofed strategies and deliver sustainably differentiated brands/early assets, business developmentopportunitiesand TA strategies
  • Responsible for the robustness and transparency of the forecasts for PH3IDs
  • Bring an intelligence-driven perspective to strategic recommendations by synthesizing insights from diverse sources and publicly available information at the brand and Therapeutic Area level for internal and external communication
  • Responsible for creating and curating evidencebankfrom real world data sources to support the PH3ID forecasts created within the team

Lead global commercial cell therapy within indication

  • Build the referral capabilities between specific disease areas and the Cell Therapy delivery centers
  • Partners closely across different areas of Cell Therapy, Global Commercial, in-market commercial and medical affairs teams to ensure execution of global strategy
  • Lead and collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., GPTs, Clinical Development, Discovery, BD, Lifecycle and Pipeline, Competitive Intelligence) to develop disease area strategy content
  • Provide strategic counselling to Global Clinical Strategy Head (GCSH), Global Commercial and Medical Affairs leadership, and other senior leaders

Basic Qualifications:

  • BA/BS and 10 years of experience in life sciences or consulting firm with focus in life science programs
  • OR MS/MBA and 8+ years of experience in life sciences or consulting firm with focus in life science programs
  • OR PhD or MD and 5+ of experience in life sciences or consulting firm with focus in life science programs
  • Ability to interact and communicate effectively with senior executive teams.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead and influence experienced professionals.
  • Ability to think critically,creativelyand toanticipateand solve problems.
  • Ability to navigate and be successful in a fast-paced,highly-matrixedwork environment

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Strong analytical and communication skills
  • Strong business acumen and strategic thinking skills preferablydemonstratedin apharma relatedenvironment.
  • Effective interpersonal and relationship management skills with consultative approach and ability to interact and build trust
  • Operational effectiveness, highly organized process with follow through
  • Strong initiative to understand our core business goals andestablishprocesses or programs to set direction, generate alignment and push forward
  • Financial background and understanding of forecasts, budgets, financialactivitiesand tools
  • Resourceful, motivated,influentialand proactive; able to prioritize in a fast-growing organization
  • Experience in strategic planning processes and tools
  • Scientific background
  • Understanding of the pharmaceutical business (including R&D)
  • Experience in translating business needs into a coordinated plan from cross-functional senior leadership team
  • Ability to develop creative and simple solutions to complex problems

In-Office Working Requirements

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 ofthree days per weekfrom the office. But that doesn’t mean we’re not flexible. This role can be based in Gaithersburg MD, Boston MA, South San Francisco CA, New York NY.

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $267,914 to $401,870. 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.

Date Posted

05-Aug-2026

Closing Date

27-Aug-2026

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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