Location: Barcelona - Spain (3 days working from the office and 2 days working from home)
Introduction to the Role The Chief Medical Office (CMO) guides the enterprise to meet the needs of patients today and tomorrow. The CMO organization spans the enterprise and all stages of the drug development pipeline covering Global Patient Safety, Patient Centricity, and R&A Quality Assurance. As the Director, Strategic Projects and Organisational Enablement, you will play an important role by supporting the leaders in the CMO and Global Patient Safety with the strategic planning of the mission and goals and enabling the execution of those goals by driving process improvement and optimization. You will provide cross-functional leadership to ensure the sub-departments within Global Patient Safety are increasing their performance in line with the greater CMO goals and priorities. You will be accountable for leading the Global Patient Safety leadership team meetings and face-to-face events. You will oversee the functional budgets including manpower and non-manpower costs. You will partner closely with the Head of Business Planning and Operations for CMO, the CMO Finance Business Partner, the CMO HR Partner, and the CMO Communications Lead.
Core Accountabilities Performance Improvement and Execution Coordinate business improvement projects across Global Patient Safety, ensuring projects comply with business needs and progress according to established milestones. Implement new operational initiatives that improve business performance and continuity in the complex, fast-moving CMO environment. Support the Global Patient Safety leaders to drive performance on the deliverables across the SET areas. Work cross-functionally and across all 3 TAs (Oncology, Biopharma & Rare Disease) to highlight opportunities for innovation and operational excellence in support of Global Patient Safety functions, proactively engaging with stakeholders. This role will be critical to supporting organizational transformation initiatives to establish new operating models and optimize team outcomes. Coordinate priority initiatives and cross-portfolio activities across multiple teams and regions, maintaining alignment within and beyond sub-departments, and fostering performance, collaboration and accountability.
Global Patient Safety Resource Support and Budget Management Oversee the Global Patient Safety budget forecasting, resource planning, and work with the CMO Leadership Team & Global Patient Safety Leadership Team to coordinate recruitment efforts. Support talent development, retention, and succession planning initiatives. This will include supporting open head count requests and managing the succession planning for the sub-department LTs.
Business Planning and Stakeholder Management Support senior leadership teams through strategic planning, objective setting, and performance monitoring. You will ensure the Global Patient Safety goals are in line with the broader CMO vision and goals. Track progress of goals and deliverables; you will report quarterly milestones for the CMO and Global Patient Safety scorecards and the broader organization scorecards. Facilitate leadership meetings, coordinate annual planning cycles, and ensure measurable metrics and success criteria are defined for all initiatives. Build and maintain relationships across functions to ensure the deliverables align with broader organizational priorities. Lead business and financial planning activities in partnership with Finance (e.g., long-term and medium-term planning) and contribute to CMO-level planning in collaboration with the Head of Business Planning and Operations for CMO. Work with leadership teams to set, lead, and communicate strategic priorities and goals (activities and budget), in close collaboration with portfolio, project and strategy teams, leveraging reporting and analytics tools to communicate results. In collaboration with Communications, develop effective communication plans to drive understanding of strategy within the function and externally with key partners; ensure clarity of vision, priorities and deliverables across functions and regions. Partner with HR and Communications to ensure teams are operating efficiently and support people development, ensuring Global Patient Safety is a great place to work. Lead the development of the annual scorecards ensuring input from all LT members; supervise all actions and critical initiatives to completion, reporting back to the LT on progress as needed.
Member of the Broader CMO Business Planning & Operations Network As the Director, Strategic Projects and Organisational Enablement, you will be part of the broader CMO Business Planning & Operations network which includes the Sr. Director of Business Planning & Operations, the Global Business Support Coordinators, CMO Executive Assistant, and Operations Managers. The team is responsible for organization and execution of the travel and events for the Chief Medical Officer and the CMO LT. This team also supports all CMO-wide events such as Townhalls and Site Engagement events. As the Director, Strategic Projects and Organisational Enablement, you will oversee the travel budget and carbon allocation for Global Patient Safety. Support preparation for critical internal and external meetings and presentations in partnership with Scientific Communications; contribute to CMO-wide strategic priorities working collaboratively with peers across the BPO network.
Essential Qualifications and Experience
Essential:
• Bachelor of Science
• 10+ years industry experience with a focus on project management or operations management
• Strong attention to detail and quality standards
• Experience supporting organizational change or business transformation initiatives
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to present to senior management and external stakeholders
• Proven ability to manage through change and in a fast-paced environment
• Strong knowledge of pharmaceutical development or biotech
• Proven track record of supporting leadership teams or cross-functional teams
• Strong ability to influence across organizational levels and functions
• Demonstrated success in driving strategic initiatives and business improvements
Desirable:
• Advanced degree in scientific discipline;
• Expert reputation within the business and industry;
• Extensive knowledge of the latest technical and regulatory expectations.
Date Posted 10-ago-2026 Closing Date 30-ago-2026
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.