Senior Director, Head of Alliance Management - Business Development and Licensing - Biopharma

AstraZeneca•Gaithersburg, MD

27d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Head of Alliance Management BioPharmaceuticals will provide strategic leadership across the portfolio of AstraZeneca’s BioPharmaceuticals R&D collaborations. The role sets the alliance vision, builds a high-performing team, establishes joint governance, translates complex contracts into clear operating plans, and manages milestones, escalations, and renegotiations. It works closely with the deal team during contracting, oversees integration of new in-licensing deals, externalizations, and informs senior leadership on collaboration status and health. The role also requires directly managing some of the high priority strategic alliance relationships as well as closely collaborating with other alliance groups across the AZ organization. The Head of Alliance Management will lead a group of high performing Alliance Managers as well as strategically lead cross-functional efforts with Legal, Business Development, Project Management, and Finance.

Requirements

Graduate degree (Masters, MBA) in a related field; business, legal, finance, or life sciences, etc.
Minimum 10 years experience in relevant pharmaceutical/biotech industry
Understanding of end-to-end R&D and demonstrated collaboration conflict resolution examples
Demonstrable abilities to translate complex contract terms and conditions into operational elements for both internal and external parties
Demonstrated ability to identify, prioritize and resolve partnership issues
Uses tact and diplomacy in interacting with people from different cultures and at all levels of the organization
Strong interpersonal skills, cross-cultural diplomacy, and conflict resolution; effective stakeholder management without direct authority
Capacity to work cross-functionally and to influence people without direct authority.
Collaborative mind-set

Nice To Haves

Line management experience preferred

Responsibilities

Leads a team of Alliance Management professionals; builds a high-performing, inclusive team—recruit, coach, motivate, and retain talent; enable professional growth; develop high-performing Alliance Managers and align capacity to portfolio priorities.
Oversee alliance management activities, plan and resource the collaboration projects and portfolio.
Develop high-performing Alliance Managers, and align capacity to portfolio priorities
Partner with BD functions during contracting to design governance frameworks, define measurable success criteria, and translate complex contract terms into clear plans and accountabilities
Establish joint governance (e.g., JSC/JWG cadence, decision rights, issue logs) swiftly after deal signature; track milestones and payments; manage escalations; negotiate amendments and renegotiations when scope or value drivers change
Leads the assessment of partnership health, performance risks, and potential value proposition; provide visibility and recommendations to Senior Management and follow-up with action plans
Ensure clear objectives, measures, and accountabilities for each collaboration. Escalate the right issues.
Proactively obtain collaborator input and drive changes to sustain highly effective partnerships. Engage decision makers to reach solutions and protect collaboration spirit in a proactive manner
Contribute to the process and decision making around the conclusion or termination of alliances when they reach the end of their term or any other termination event
Lead integration post-acquisition, plan and execute externalization/wind-downs with cross-functional teams
Leads the development of internal tools, systems, processes, and best practices for smooth operation of the alliance management function
Coordinate Legal, Finance, Project Management, and scientific teams; ensure effective communications and stakeholder engagement across AZ and with partners