Associate Directors - Mechanistic Biology & Profiling

Are you a passionate and forward-thinking scientific leader with great experience of pre-clinical drug discovery? Are you also thriving to drive scientific and technical innovation and support a great team of scientists? Perfect, we have two Associate Director openings at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg!

As Associate Director within the Mechanistic Biology & Profiling (MBP) team at AstraZeneca in Gothenburg, Sweden you have the opportunity to pursue world-class medicines by combining our people's exceptional skills with those of people from all over the globe. You will also play a key part of our multi-faced Discovery Sciences organisation and drive early drug discovery decisions across AstraZeneca's global Research & Development portfolio.

Mechanistic Biology & Profiling is a global and multidisciplinary department responsible for mechanism-of-action studies and compound profiling for efficacy, DMPK Wave 1 profiling and pre-clinical safety in support of the therapy area project portfolios. The department supports a broad portfolio of biochemical and cellular assays across a range of drug modalities that include small molecules, PROTACs, Oligonucleotides, etc., providing critical day-to-day support for projects from lead identification to candidate selection.

What you will do:
As an Associate Director you will lead one of three high-performing teams to deliver data that (i) drives chemistry optimization through the DMTA (Design Make Test Analyse) cycle and; (ii) provides deep mechanistic insight for projects at the lead optimization/candidate selection phase, primarily in the Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolic Diseases and Respiratory & Immunology therapy areas.

These are two Associate Director roles - both positions encompass additional responsibilities on top of main duties listed above:

* The first role will be accountable for establishing and driving capabilities across the global Mechanistic Biology & Profiling department to the AZ Oligonucleotide Discovery platform and act as point-of-contact for oligonucleotide based projects Lead Generation planning.

* The second role will have an additional small team embedded, led by a team leader, with the responsibility to accelerate our primary SAR profiling.

Continuous improvements will be at the core of everything you do and you should be able to represent the department across a broad range of therapeutic projects and global initiatives within Discovery Sciences, the disease areas and also externally. You will nurture scientific innovation internally and through external collaboration and partnership.

Essential for the role:
To be successful in the AD role you should be able to inspire, recruit and develop a world-class group with an energetic leadership style, while optimizing team performance in a matrixed discovery project environment. To achieve this we believe you are future orientated and strategic in your thinking style. A proven ability to manage internal expertise, capacity and resources to drive governance and decision-making regarding scientific portfolio support and technology development is of great importance.

We also believe you have:

* PhD and 10+ years of related experience, or a Master's and 15+ years of related experience
* Formal training and proven expertise in a quantitative biology-based discipline (enzymology or in vitro pharmacology)
* 8+ years' experience in pre-clinical drug discovery, with deep knowledge of the use of mechanistic enzymology to aid translation from model systems through to clinical dose prediction
* Extensive experience of establishing and leading external collaborations and technology change projects to advance organisational capability
* Either a proven track record of career progression, and significant external reputation in pharmacology and/or enzymology, gained through professional recognition, external presentation and publication in high-impact journals or substantial experience delivering results across a diverse project portfolio by driving strategic, scientific, financial and people performance.
* Proven expertise in oligonucleotide in vitro pharmacology*

*AD role responsible for the oligonucleotide pharmacology

Desirable for the role:

* Articulate a vision for disease-agnostic Discovery missions, set direction and inspire commitment for preclinical Discovery.
* Robust decision making informed by business and financial acumen and an understanding of competitor strategy.

Why AstraZeneca?
This is the place to make an impact. Here we ensure everyone can reach their full potential, perform at their best and make a valued contribution to the enterprise. You will be valued. Not only for your unique contribution, skills and background, but because we recognise people are our greatest asset. Here we are dedicated to being a Great Place to Work.

What's next - apply today! We look forward to your application, but no later than April 16th 2021.

For more information about the position please reach out to hiring manager Per-Erik Strömstedt at per-erik.stromstedt@astrazeneca.com.

Additional information:
Our Gothenburg site: https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-science/gothenburg.html
Life in Gothenburg: https://www.movetogothenburg.com/
About BioPharmaceuticals R&D: https://www.astrazeneca.com/r-d.html