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Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States
Hybrid
About AISI
AI Strategy & Innovation (AISI) sits at the centre of AstraZeneca's R&D AI transformation. Our remit is to build, buy and deliver the AI models and agents that change pipeline outcomes, across discovery, translational science, biomarkers and clinical development.
Introduction to role:
Are you ready to harness AI to design, conduct, and analyze clinical trials faster and with greater confidence for patients who need new medicines most? In this Director role, you will be the strategic bridge between our AI for Clinical Development team and the Biometrics community, turning real needs into an executable AI roadmap that delivers measurable value across studies. Based in Gaithersburg, MD, you will help accelerate high-priority programs, including efforts focused on detecting and treating cancer earlier to change survival outcomes.
You will operate at the intersection of biostatistics, statistical programming, clinical data management, and enterprise-grade AI engineering. From clarifying use cases to deploying production- and audit-ready solutions, you will shape how AI is applied across the trial lifecycle. Can you see yourself translating complex statistical workflows into scalable, compliant AI capabilities that shorten cycle times, raise quality, and stand up to regulatory scrutiny?
This field moves quickly. You will thrive by bringing structure to ambiguity, demonstrating early value, and earning trust with senior leaders across functions. Your ability to align stakeholders, set clear priorities, and drive delivery at pace will determine how rapidly we turn innovation into patient impact.
Accountabilities:
Strategic Business Partnering: Serve as the primary, trusted partner between AI for Clinical Development and Biometrics; represent the function’s needs to the AI team and the AI team’s capabilities, roadmap, and constraints back to the function; build credibility with senior leaders and bring structured decision-making when priorities compete.
Integrated Roadmap and Value Realization: Translate Biometrics priorities into a single, prioritized pipeline of AI opportunities; contribute to a shared Biometrics AI roadmap and delivery plans; define success metrics up front, track adoption, and quantify benefits after delivery to prove impact on efficiency, quality, and cost.
Delivery Leadership: Coordinate execution across teams and therapy areas; sequence dependencies, monitor progress, unblock issues, and escalate early where delivery is at risk; keep leadership informed and ensure commitments convert into outcomes from early pilots to scaled capabilities.
Data, Standards, and Infrastructure Alignment: Partner with IT and data teams to align on access, pipelines, compute, and governance; ensure solutions meet clinical data and biostatistical standards and are validated, audit-ready, and regulatory-grade; set appropriate performance, cost, and latency expectations for shared AI services.
External Landscape and Methodology: Continuously scan the external environment; assess and prioritize promising ideas; partner with Biometrics to identify methodological needs, evidence gaps, and advocacy opportunities that responsibly advance clinical AI in a highly regulated context.
Essential Skills/Experience:
Master's degree in AI/ML, biostatistics, data science, health informatics, or a related field. We welcome strong candidates from adjacent fields whose experience maps to the role.
5+ years of experience in digital health, AI/ML, or a technology-driven environment within healthcare or drug development, with a demonstrated track record of identifying, articulating, and realizing the value of AI and data products in a real business setting.
Demonstrated stakeholder management ability, including building credibility with and influencing senior stakeholders across functions.
Demonstrated ability to coordinate delivery in a matrixed environment; building roadmaps and delivery plans, sequencing dependencies, and driving execution to completion.
Track record of assessing external innovation and converting a fast-moving landscape into prioritized, actionable recommendations.
Ability to understand and reason about data, data and compute infrastructure, and pipelines, and to translate fluently between technical teams and business or domain audiences.
Strong knowledge of Biometrics standards and workflows (e.g., biostatistics, statistical programming, and clinical data management) in drug development.
Comfort interfacing with IT and enterprise data functions on data access, governance, infrastructure, and compute.
Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, with the ability to operate in an international matrix environment and bring structure and clarity to ambiguous problems.
Comfort with ambiguity and a bias for action in a fast-moving, build-from-the-ground-up environment.
Desirable Skills/Experience:
Hands-on experience in Biometrics (biostatistics, statistical programming, or data management) within biopharma.
Familiarity with clinical data and biostatistical standards and compliance.
Experience with cloud data platforms, data pipelines, and MLOps, sufficient to engage credibly with data engineering and infrastructure teams.
Experience with generative AI or agentic systems applied to statistical analysis, programming, and/or clinical text.
Experience supporting buy-vs-build decisions, vendor evaluation, or AI/data product management.
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.
The annual base pay for this position ranges from $186,014.40 - $279,021.60 USD Annual [80% - 120% ]. 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.
Why AstraZeneca:
Here you will fuse cutting-edge science with advanced AI to move a robust pipeline forward across multiple indications, including programs that aim to change the course of cancer. We bring surprising combinations of experts together—biostatisticians with AI engineers, clinicians with product leaders—to make faster, smarter decisions that accelerate breakthrough medicines. Backed by significant investment and a culture that values kindness alongside ambition, you will be trusted to lead, challenged to think boldly, and supported to turn ideas into real-world impact for patients.
Call to Action:
If you are ready to turn strategic intent into scaled AI that transforms clinical development and speeds medicines to patients, we want to hear how you will lead this next chapter—send your application today!
Date Posted
17-Aug-2026Closing Date
03-Sept-2026Our 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.