Senior Director, Delivery Cell Therapy

AstraZeneca•Gaithersburg, MD

6d•$170,457 - $255,685•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Delivery will lead the global enabling team responsible for strengthening and protecting the third-party supplier ecosystem across AstraZeneca’s Cell Therapy portfolio. The role shapes supplier risk management, strategic supplier relationships, and assurance of direct materials and external capabilities supporting in-vivo, autologous, and allogeneic cell therapies. It will move the organization toward proactive supply assurance and resilient, scalable networks that support clinical development through commercial delivery. Based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the role reports to the Executive Director, External Supply & Delivery and includes global travel to suppliers as needed. The position develops risk and Supplier Relationship Management frameworks, provides forward-looking visibility of portfolio-wide supply continuity risks, leads relationships with critical suppliers and logistics partners, and improves on-time, in-full performance. It advances dual sourcing, business continuity, supplier development, new material introduction, and the use of analytics, digital capabilities, and AI for risk monitoring and supply assurance. The Senior Director owns end-to-end direct materials delivery from sourcing outcome through receipt, leads first-line supply assurance and escalations, and guides the Direct Sourcing organization through the Director, Supply & Delivery – Direct. The role builds and develops a global Delivery team, embeds a risk-aware culture, and works across functions and regions. Delivery establishes risk and SRM frameworks and leads critical non-CDMO supplier relationships; External Supply remains accountable for CDMO execution and manufacturing, quality, and cost performance. The position is based in an in-person work model averaging a minimum of three days per week in the office, with flexibility. The annual base pay range is $170,456.80–$255,685.20. The role is eligible for short-term incentive bonuses and equity-based awards. Benefits include qualified retirement programs, paid time off, and health, dental, and vision coverage.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in supply chain, sourcing, supplier management, or risk management in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences environments, including 5+ years of leadership experience.
Advanced degree, such as an MSc, MBA, or equivalent, in supply chain, life sciences, engineering, business, or a related discipline.
Experience designing and leading supplier risk management and Supplier Relationship Management frameworks in a regulated life sciences environment.
Significant direct materials, supply assurance, or supply chain leadership experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or ATMP environments.
Experience leading critical supplier relationships and executive-level supplier engagements.
Demonstrated experience scaling supplier ecosystems from clinical development through commercial supply.
Experience managing supply-critical escalations, recovery activities, and systemic corrective actions.
Experience developing suppliers and implementing dual-source or alternate-source strategies.
Experience leading cross-functional teams through direct leadership and indirect influence.
Experience managing and developing leaders and subject-matter experts.
Working knowledge of GxP, supplier qualification, quality systems, and cold chain logistics.
Understanding of direct material flows, supply assurance, supplier performance management, capacity planning, and business continuity.
Experience working across global supplier ecosystems, including the United States, Europe, and China.
Strong analytical and digital fluency, including using dashboards and data to evaluate supplier performance, risk, and business priorities.
Ability to balance supply continuity, quality, compliance, cost, and patient impact in complex decisions.
Ability to travel globally to suppliers as needed.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience with CAR-T, autologous cell therapy, allogeneic cell therapy, in-vivo cell therapy, or other ATMP supply chains.
Experience working with CDMOs and complex cell and gene therapy supplier ecosystems.
Experience leading logistics supplier performance for time- and temperature-critical products.
Experience with cold chain logistics supporting patient-critical or advanced therapy products.
Familiarity with plasmids, vectors, critical raw materials, and other specialized cell therapy supply dependencies.
Experience deploying digital risk, supply control tower, or supplier performance analytics platforms.
Experience leveraging SAP, Coupa, supplier portals, analytics, or AI within supply chain or supplier management environments.
Knowledge of supplier scorecards, SLAs, CAPA, Preferred Supplier Lists, supplier segmentation, and quarterly business review models.
Familiarity with BIOSECURE Act implications, geopolitical supply risk, and China sourcing considerations.
Lean/Six Sigma or project management certification.
Experience working across Procurement, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, CMC, PSAT, F&E, Manufacturing, Planning, and Logistics functions.

Responsibilities

Develop, own, and continuously improve the External Supply & Delivery risk framework, including supplier assessment, risk taxonomy and scoring, mitigation standards, escalation triggers, and continuity and contingency planning.
Lead portfolio-level risk management across CDMOs, direct materials, equipment and services, and logistics suppliers, providing consolidated forward-looking visibility.
Address single-source dependencies, dual sourcing, alternate supplier identification, new material introduction, product lifecycle risk, and resilience for critical plasmids, raw materials, and cold chain dependencies.
Monitor supplier sub-tier, geopolitical, and China-related risks, including relevant BIOSECURE considerations, and drive mitigation actions to closure with stakeholders.
Develop and lead the Supplier Relationship Management framework, including supplier segmentation, governance, SLA performance, scorecards, quarterly business reviews, and continuous improvement.
Establish and govern the Preferred Supplier List and set expectations for supplier root-cause analysis and CAPA.
Build supplier performance dashboards covering portfolio health, delivery, quality events, value delivery, and suppliers at risk; enable consistent adoption of risk and SRM frameworks across relevant functions and operations.
Lead strategic relationships with critical materials, logistics, technology, and platform suppliers; establish executive sponsorship, joint planning, capacity commitments, and commercial readiness plans.
Lead strategic business reviews and executive-level supplier escalations, and improve cell therapy logistics performance with attention to patient-centric delivery, cold chain integrity, reliability, and cost optimization.
Own end-to-end direct materials delivery from sourcing outcome through receipt, aligning supplier commitments with manufacturing schedules, CDMO requirements, and patient demand.
Lead day-to-day expediting, first-line supply assurance, and escalations; coordinate recovery actions and sustainable corrective actions with Direct Sourcing, External Supply, Planning, and Logistics.
Lead the Direct Sourcing organization through the Director, Supply & Delivery – Direct, supporting the transition from sourcing and contracting to supplier management, delivery, and performance governance.
Develop suppliers to strengthen capacity, scalability, quality consistency, and business continuity; conduct capacity assessments and scale-up planning for global demand.
Advance dual-source strategies and alternate supplier qualification recommendations, partner on Automation & Robotics supplier readiness, and build joint development plans for emerging CDMOs and critical suppliers.
Build, lead, and develop the global Delivery team, establishing career pathways and capabilities across SRM, supplier risk, and supply assurance.
Embed analytics and AI in risk monitoring, performance management, and expediting, and use enterprise platforms including SAP, Coupa, and supplier portals to support data-driven decisions.
Build a risk-aware culture and lead through influence across External Supply, Procurement, Quality, Regulatory Affairs, CMC, PSAT, F&E, Planning, Logistics, Finance, China, and Automation & Robotics.
Maintain operating-model accountability boundaries between Delivery and External Supply.