Senior Global Medical Affairs Leader

Location: Gaithersburg

Hybrid: 3 days a week on site

Reporting to the Medical Head of Emerging Medicine, the Senior Global Medical Affairs Leader is an experienced medical affairs leader with a strong record of vision and impact. This role designs and drives bold global medical strategies within the CVRM Emerging Medicine therapy area, steering cross-functional and cross-regional teams to deliver ambitious outcomes. Acting as a key enterprise leader, the Senior GMAL shapes global medical agendas through leadership of Global Medical Teams, Global Product Teams and Disease Area Teams, while partnering closely with Medical and Commercial colleagues across markets and regions. This position champions innovative, disruptive thinking, identifies breakthrough opportunities, reimagines market dynamics, and accelerates high-impact evidence generation and medical change initiatives. It calls for someone ready to navigate and transform health systems, harness digital and advanced analytics, drive stakeholder engagement, and ensure AstraZeneca’s science leads both externally and internally through world-class evidence and strategic partnerships. Are you ready to set a new standard for what medical affairs can achieve?

Accountabilities
The Senior GMAL leads the design and execution of global product and disease area strategies, translating scientific insight and healthcare system understanding into clear, practice-changing medical plans. This includes shaping ambitious practice change initiatives that influence care pathways, market access, and treatment adoption across diverse geographies. The role is responsible for the global evidence generation strategy, from interventional trials (Phases 2–4) to real-world evidence programs, ensuring that clinical research, registries and RWE studies are aligned with brand, access and healthcare transformation objectives. It drives optimisation and communication of data across scientific platforms, ensuring differentiated evidence reaches regulators, payers and healthcare professionals in a timely and impactful way.

A core responsibility is to blend advanced scientific expertise with digital skill, using digital health tools, analytics and data platforms to transform how evidence is communicated and how stakeholders are engaged. The Senior GMAL crafts compelling scientific narratives, leads digital dissemination of evidence, and safeguards accuracy, impact and compliance in all scientific communications. The role builds and sustains influential relationships across the healthcare ecosystem, including global and regional KOLs, professional societies, regulators, payers, patient organisations, digital innovators and health systems. It mobilises support for medical strategy and healthcare change initiatives, while mentoring cross-functional teams and encouraging scientific leadership and collaboration.

The Senior GMAL also brings deep regulatory insight to the design of clinical trials and evidence programs, anticipating evolving regulatory and payer requirements to ensure robust, compliant data generation and communication. This includes guiding teams on regulatory expectations, shaping evidence packages for submissions and HTA processes, and ensuring that medical plans are fully integrated with commercial, access and lifecycle strategies. Throughout, the role acts with urgency, challenges the status quo, spots new opportunities in data and science, and leads teams through complex decision-making to deliver significant impact for patients worldwide.

Essential Skills/Experience

• Master’s degree in any field with at least 5 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry (Medical, Marketing, R&D, Market Access), or extensive experience within a health system (clinical, pharmacy, pathway design, etc.). 

• Demonstrated leadership in complex, global healthcare environments, including leading franchise/TA business in key markets, driving brand performance, and leading large, diverse teams. 

• Significant expertise and strategic insight into healthcare system pathways, regulatory landscapes, market-shaping, and external stakeholder engagement. 

• Consistent track record of internal and external network building, collaboration across geographies and matrix teams, and effective mentoring of junior colleagues or peers. 

• Digital proficiency, maximising digital health tools and data platforms to advance evidence generation and communication. 

• Deep understanding of patient care pathways, evolving treatment protocols, scientific literature, and contemporary approaches to healthcare transformation. 

• Shown ability to guide, influence, and align diverse stakeholders—including thought leaders, regulatory bodies, patient groups, and payer organisations. 

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Doctoral-level degree (MD, PhD, PharmD) in a relevant field. 

• Recognised expertise in the relevant or related therapeutic area, often evidenced by a history of clinical practice, research leadership, or significant external engagement. 

• Advanced experience designing, leading, and interpreting clinical research programs, including pivotal clinical trials (Ph2–Ph4), practice-changing RWE studies, and implementation of innovative evidence generation approaches. 

• Broad experience beyond Medical Affairs; for example, prior roles in Marketing, R&D, or Market Access. 

• Long-standing relationships with global KOLs, societies, regulators, digital health partners, and innovative healthcare organisations. 

• Track record of launching new products or indications in multiple, diverse markets (e.g., US, China, EU), and successfully developing and delivering global medical strategies. 

AstraZeneca offers an environment built on innovation and curiosity where difference is valued and questioning minds are encouraged to challenge convention; teams reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, work closely together across disciplines and geographies, embrace digital and data to solve complex challenges at pace, learn continuously through shared insight and feedback, and channel their entrepreneurial spirit into developing the next generation of therapeutics that improve outcomes for patients and society.

If this role matches your experience and ambitions, apply now to join us on this journey!

Are you ready to bring insights and fresh thinking to the table? Brilliant! We have one seat available, and we hope it’s yours. Apply today. 

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 follow all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements. 

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $243,586.40 - $336,379.60 USD , Hourly and salaried non-exempt employees will also be paid overtime pay when working qualifying overtime hours. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  In addition, our positions offer a short-term incentive bonus opportunity; eligibility to participate in our equity-based long-term incentive program (salaried roles), to receive a retirement contribution (hourly roles), and commission payment eligibility (sales roles). Benefits offered included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans. Additional details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.