Senior Director, Operations IT – Strategy and Operational Excellence

AstraZeneca•Gaithersburg, MD

18h•$189,233 - $283,849•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director will lead strategy execution and performance management for Operations IT, aligning technology priorities with Operations objectives to improve efficiency, quality, and delivery reliability. The role translates insights into investment choices, strengthens portfolio governance, and embeds responsible use of AI to improve analysis, decision-making, and execution. It partners with senior leaders across Operations, Finance, and HR to advance a digital, data-led enterprise. The position establishes a performance rhythm across Operations IT, owns OKRs, KPIs, and scorecards, and turns performance analysis and benchmarking into measurable improvements. It partners with Operations IT leadership to shape strategy, evaluate priorities and trade-offs, maintain capability roadmaps, and support medium-term planning. It also embeds operational standards and governance, safeguards the accuracy of operational and portfolio data, simplifies processes, and addresses recurring issues. The role leads end-to-end portfolio governance, maintaining a single source of truth for portfolio health and managing risks, dependencies, change, budgets, forecasts, spending, investment allocation, and benefits realisation in partnership with Finance. It also supports leadership communications and engagement, coordinates initiatives, and leads employee engagement cycles as a Pulse Champion. The role follows a hybrid working arrangement, with an average minimum of three days per week in the office and flexibility around individual needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and a minimum of 10 years of industry experience.
Strong critical thinking and structured problem-solving skills, including the ability to challenge assumptions, assess evidence, identify root causes, and reach sound conclusions.
Ability to interpret sophisticated financial, workforce, operational, and portfolio data and translate it into clear recommendations and action.
Track record of driving measurable results and taking ownership from problem identification through execution and benefits realisation.
Sound judgement in ambiguous situations, including evaluating trade-offs, prioritising effectively, and making timely, evidence-based recommendations.
Hands-on use of AI and generative AI tools in everyday work, with practical examples of improving productivity, analysis, communication, or delivery.
Experience driving strategy alignment, governance, and high-quality delivery across complex enterprise initiatives.
Experience defining and tracking OKRs, KPIs, and scorecards aligned with enterprise and Operations business priorities.
Experience applying analytics and benchmarking to deliver continuous improvement and capability optimisation.
Experience partnering with senior leaders to develop strategy, strategic priorities, capability roadmaps, and medium-term plans.
Strong operational and portfolio governance experience, including data quality, risk management, financial planning, and benefits tracking.
Ability to influence without formal authority, challenge constructively, and secure cross-functional commitment to decisions and delivery.
Strong executive communication skills, including presenting sophisticated information clearly, defending recommendations with evidence, and tailoring messages to different audiences.
Experience leading sustainability agendas, employee engagement, and organisational change across distributed teams.

Nice To Haves

Senior leadership experience within Operations technology environments in life sciences or similarly complex, regulated industries.
Familiarity with long-range digital technology strategies and OKR frameworks across large global enterprises.
Expertise with enterprise portfolio management, objectives and key results, and data visualisation tools to build transparent, decision-ready scorecards.
Track record of leading large-scale operating model changes and capability development across distributed teams.
Experience scaling sustainability programmes and access-to-healthcare initiatives through education and engagement.
Experience embedding AI-enabled workflows or lightweight automation across teams, with measurable improvements in productivity or quality.

Responsibilities

Establish a disciplined performance rhythm across Operations IT, aligning governance and delivery for enterprise initiatives to clear roles, timelines, and quality standards.
Own OKRs, KPIs, and scorecards; analyse performance, benchmark internally and externally, and translate insights into measurable improvements in productivity, cost, quality, and delivery.
Partner with Operations IT leaders to evolve strategy in line with Operations priorities, long-term technology ambitions, and the company’s Bold Ambition.
Structure ambiguous problems, evaluate options and trade-offs, recommend evidence-based priorities, define strategic landmarks, maintain capability roadmaps, and facilitate medium-term planning and reporting.
Embed operational governance, standards, and processes; ensure operational data, including the Configuration Management Database and project portfolio information, is accurate and decision-ready.
Simplify processes, remove unnecessary complexity, and resolve recurring issues through structured problem-solving.
Use approved AI tools in daily workflows for information synthesis, data analysis, communications, leadership materials, and appropriate task automation.
Orchestrate leadership communications and partner engagement, deliver monthly Town Halls, and coordinate initiatives to realise defined outcomes.
Lead employee engagement cycles as a Pulse Champion and convert engagement insights into practical improvements.
Run end-to-end portfolio governance to drive strategic alignment, prioritisation, and delivery to scope, time, and quality.
Maintain a single source of truth for portfolio health; manage risks, dependencies, and change; and produce dashboards and decision-ready narratives.
Partner with Finance to set budgets, forecast and track spend, optimise investment allocation and benefits realisation, and uphold financial controls and funding guardrails.
Use analytical insight to recommend where to invest, accelerate, simplify, reshape, or stop activity, balancing business value, risk, and capacity.