Technical Practice Lead

About the role

The Technical Practice Lead will develop key relationships with Business Development and M&A deal delivery functional teams, and partner with them to build an in-depth understanding of priorities, gaining early insight into changing needs to ensure customers gain appropriate value from IT services, capabilities and innovations. The role will drive the delivery of innovative business solutions to create maximum competitive advantage and exceed business objectives with M&A deals (Aquisistions, Divestments, and Collaborations). The role combines in-depth understanding of AstraZeneca business area strategy and domain knowledge of our end to end value chain from R&D through to Commercialization along with deep relevant technical expertise to drive 'Best in Class' IT M&A, and Alliance activity.



The Technical Practice Lead will work with business units in Business Development, Alliance & Integration and Deal Delivery Teams. The role will focus on domain specific activities across a range of deals/projects, and partner with other IT functions such as Infrastructure, Commercial and Operations IT where required. The role will be an advocate for M&A IT at AZ, will work collaboratively with business stakeholders and with other BRMs, PMs and BAs in Science & Enabling Units IT, and be part of a team of R&D M&A IT experts. The role is expected to develop and leverage relationships with external partners and a global IT matrix of people across the US, UK, Sweden, Poland, Guadalajara and India. All M&A IT business engagement team members are expected to develop domain and technical expertise across all Science & Enabling Units IT capabilities and on occasion take on opportunistic projects outside of his/her core domain.



The core accountabilities of the role include:

* Build strong relationships with stakeholder groups, developing a deep understanding of the short-term and long-term M&A business direction and requirements within a specific M&A related business domain.
* Manage relationships with key business stakeholders to ensure the effective capturing of business requirements and commitment to project/program objectives. Responsible for steering / stakeholder meetings, communication of status, issues, risks.
* Assess and prioritise requirements in line with IT strategy.
* Develop and maintain the customer account plan, including accurate customer forecasting, demand planning and effective delivery of the plan within a specific deal delivery domain.
* Develop business impact assessment, identifying risks and issues that may affect current and future business units and roles, and create business readiness plan in a specific deal delivery domain.



Education, Qualifications and Experience

This role requires a hybrid set of technical, business domain, and project management skills. You are expected to perform as a leader-doer within a specific deal delivery domain (such as Regulatory, Safety, Clinical etc.) and on occasion lead a cross functional project team (s). This role is a mix of delivering 'Best in Class' IT and building a relationship of trust with our stakeholders, anchored by strong technical and domain expertise and continuous learning and development.

* Experience in, and knowledge of pharma industry.
* Proven ability to deliver strong results, and proven implementation track record in R&D.
* Degree or relevant business qualification - Technical, Science or Business degree; Master's degree preferred.
* Deep knowledge and understanding of the Scientific domain in Pharma, with knowledge of scientific and/or clinical pharma processes.
* Proven ability to interpret and communicate technical and scientific information.
* Experience in managing and delivering business change through IT projects and delivering results.
* Project Management experience, ideally in a Pharma IT environment.
* Comfortable working across domains and with ambiguity, has good judgement and can "get stuff done" without an overreliance on process.