Associate Director, Early Commercial Strategy

AstraZeneca•Gaithersburg, MD

15d•Hybrid

About The Position

At AstraZeneca, we turn ideas into life-changing medicines. Working here means being entrepreneurial, thinking big, and working together across disciplines to make the impossible a reality. The Biopharmaceuticals Business Unit (BBU) bridges science and commercial—integrating therapy area and product strategies from early-stage research through to commercialization. Within the Global Vaccines & Immune Therapies (V&I) Therapeutic Area, we are building a portfolio that addresses urgent and emerging infectious disease threats and immune-mediated conditions. Join a global team filled with diverse perspectives where everyone is empowered to share ideas openly. We work in person, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office to connect, work at pace, and challenge perceptions, while respecting individual flexibility. Position Summary Reporting to the Head of Early Commercial – V&I, the Associate Director, Early Commercial Strategy partners with early-stage product teams to shape winning Target Product Profiles (TPPs), guide clinical development choices, and build robust business cases for investment decisions up to and including Phase 3 Investment Decision (Ph3ID). You will provide strategic commercial input that connects deep customer and market insights to product strategy, valuation, and portfolio shaping across viral and bacterial vaccines and immune therapies. This role is accountable for generating clear commercial line-of-sight for assets with evolving product profiles, coordinating cross-functional commercial evaluations (including external opportunities), and ensuring evidence plans address unmet need, value demonstration, pricing and access requirements, and competitive differentiation. You will operate in a matrix environment with R&D, Medical, Regulatory, Clinical, Market Access, Business Insights & Analytics, Competitive Intelligence and Business Development, with a focus on G8–12 priority markets.

Requirements

Education: Bachelor’s degree required in Business, Medical, Life Sciences, or related field.
5–10 years’ experience in healthcare or biopharma, with strong exposure to vaccines and/or immune therapies or adjacent infectious disease areas.
Demonstrated experience crafting brand or asset strategy while product understanding is incomplete and evolving.
Hands-on experience with product profiling and positioning, forecasting, pricing and reimbursement, market research methodologies, and competitive intelligence.
Proven ability to generate sales forecasts and business cases for global assets, including scenario planning and sensitivity analyses.
Experience engaging external customers (KEEs, prescribers, payers) and translating insights into development and strategy decisions.
Comfortable working in a matrix environment and influencing cross-functionally without formal authority.
Skills: Strong planning and project management; ability to manage complex multi-stakeholder initiatives.
Strategic thinking and decision-making under ambiguity; simplify complexity and prioritize effectively.
Leadership and influencing skills with high collaboration across functional and geographic boundaries.
Analytical, organizational, and communication skills (written and verbal), including governance-ready presentation capabilities.
Ability to gauge feasibility, impact, and risk of programs and bring ideas to action.

Nice To Haves

Experience with chronic viral infections such as Hepatitis (e.g., HBV) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV), including market dynamics, clinical endpoints, and evidence requirements.
Experience with serious bacterial infections such as C. diff and Staph, including market dynamics, clinical endpoints, and evidence requirements.
Graduate business degree (MBA)
Graduate degree in science (MSc or PhD)
Strategy Consulting experience
Experience leading commercial evaluation of Business Development opportunities.
Prior global exposure, including US market considerations for pricing, access, and evidence generation.
Established relationships with Key External Experts in vaccines, immunology, or infectious diseases.

Responsibilities

Commercial strategy for early assets: Shape asset vision, segmentation, positioning, and value proposition while the product profile is incomplete and evolving; drive alignment of TPPs and clinical/regulatory plans to commercial needs.
Investment case development: Build data-driven revenue forecasts, scenario analyses, and business cases supporting governance milestones up to Ph3ID; present strategy and trade-offs to TA leadership and governance committees.
Customer and market insight generation: Lead optimized insight plans to address key outstanding questions (unmet need, usage, burden of disease, payer evidence); synthesize market research and competitive intelligence into actionable recommendations.
Portfolio shaping and BD support: Coordinate commercial evaluations of internal and external opportunities; collaborate with Business Development to assess in-licensing & acquisition options aligned to the V&I portfolio strategy.
Cross-functional leadership: Represent the commercial voice on global product teams; influence without authority across Research, Development, Medical Affairs, Pricing & Market Access, Regulatory, BI/Analytics, and Regional Commercial teams.
Advocacy and external engagement: Engage Key External Experts (KEEs), payers, and other stakeholders to validate TPPs, evidence strategies, and market access assumptions; support congress planning and advisory boards as needed.
Planning and execution: Produce strategic and operational commercial plans for late-stage assets (positioning, segmentation, target markets, pricing corridors, access considerations); ensure readiness for governance reviews and global alignment with G8–12 markets.
Risk, feasibility, and trade-off assessment: Evaluate the feasibility, impact, and risks of clinical and commercial options; recommend smart risks and simplifications to accelerate decision-making.
Patient centricity and innovation: Embed patient and HCP needs into asset and portfolio decisions; challenge the status quo to deliver differentiated solutions.

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