Global Innovations Labs Lead

The AstraZeneca Global IT organization is responsible for defining and executing digital and data strategies across the corporation in support of AstraZeneca’s bold ambitions to provide cures for cancer in every form, to transform the lives of people affected by rare diseases and devastating conditions, and to change the lives of billions of people living with chronicdiseases for the better.

We are looking for a visionary and innovative leader to take on the role of Global Innovation Labs Lead leading teams in Guadalajara (Mexico) and Chennai (India). In this pivotal position, you will be responsible foridentifying and harnessing the power of cutting-edge technologies to drive innovation and transformation within AstraZeneca.

As the Global Innovation Labs Lead within the Insights & Technology Excellence (IGNITE) organizationyou will be expected to have a broad knowledge of Technology, staying abreast of key technology trends. Subject matter experts are expected to provide globally meaningful tech leadership for AstraZeneca in a constantly evolving landscape, rapidly specializing in the latest areas of new technologies. You will showcase, deliver, and prove business value through Proof of Technology (PoT) assessments, work with business stakeholders to deliver Proof of Value (PoV) projects, and where success has been proven help scale the technology into the relevant production teams. 

The role will focus on the identification, rapid assessment, validation and acceleration of innovative ideas and emerging technologies, in the 3-5 year time horizon. We provide insight and recommendations based upon insights and research from within the life sciences industry, but also non-compete industries.

The role will have hands on experience with a vast number of technologies to deliver Proof of Concept projects, as well as to partner directly with vendors to draw outcomes as part of the technology evaluation. We work with everyone from academia to start-ups and open-source technologies, and the tech giants where we get early visibility and access to innovative technologies prior to being announced.

This role is about more than just building prototypes. You will be expected to be able to distil technical information into formats consumable by senior leaders within the company, influencing where future investment should go. Where the business does not have the existing skills for a new technology, you will need to help shape how that capability will be put together. Creating a proof of concept is easy, scaling it into a production business capability is where our team truly offers value. 

Working in partnership with Head of Digital Services, Emerging Technology Lead and Enterprise Architecture to educate, and subsequently enable them to chart a course to adopt emerging technologies will be a critical part of your role.

Responsibilities will include

Lead and manage a global team, who are responsible for scouting, prototyping, and piloting new technologies and solutions in various domains such as drug discovery, clinical trials, manufacturing, supply chain, and customer engagement.

Define and communicate the vision, strategy, and roadmap for emerging technology labs, aligning with the overall innovation and technology strategy and the business objectives.

Establish and maintain strong relationships with senior leaders, key stakeholders, and external partners to understand the business needs, challenges, and opportunities, and to advocate for the value and impact of emerging technologies.

Oversee the end-to-end delivery of emerging technology projects, ensuring that they are executed with agility, quality, and compliance, and that they deliver measurable outcomes and value to the business and the patients.

Monitor and evaluate the performance and impact of emerging technology labs, using data-driven metrics and feedback, and continuously optimize and improve the processes, practices, and capabilities.

Build and nurture a high-performing, diverse, and inclusive team of emerging technology experts, providing them with clear direction, coaching, feedback, and recognition.

Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence within the emerging technology labs team and across the organization, promoting best practices, knowledge sharing, and learning opportunities.

Skills and Competencies

Storytelling is a critical skill for this role, you will be accountable for translating and articulating complex technical and visionary themes, into simple and relevant narratives to ensure comprehension and understanding of the most senior executives in the organisation.

An entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to navigate Senior Stakeholders through uncertainty.

Able to work with external partners to influence, extract and deliver timely product innovation.

You will be proficient at producing Executive briefings, White Papers and articulating strategies .

Able to work with ambiguity and prioritise a demanding workload in an exciting and dynamic space.

Fervent desire to keep abreast of the latest trends and developments across the innovation landscape.

You will have a passion and desire to get hands on, willingness, drive, and ability to learn new skills rapidly.

Familiarity with Design Thinking, Lean principles, Agile and customer led UX.

Validated experience and track record of delivering and implementing solutions with Continuous Development lifecycles.

Demonstratable Experience, 

Track record of delivering innovative technology enabled business change.

Experience in developing partnerships at all levels with emerging tech from Big Tech, start-up’s and VCs, even to the academic research level to translate emerging technologies to practical and potential use cases. 

Knowledge or experience of demonstrating cloud compute and services (AWS, GCP or Azure)

DevOps – rapid prototyping

Knowledge and experience of Lean Start-up methodology, Agile methodologies and frameworks is a plus.

Working knowledge of the latest Data Science trends, strategies, and technologies. Computer Vison, object detection, text extract, synthetic data sets etc

Exposure to, or strong knowledge of real-time 3D technologies, including AR/VR technologies. This would include asset creation, and experience creation. Unity is our engine of choice but expose to other engines such as Unreal would also be acceptable.

Proof of solo development on projects, as well as working as part of a team. Knowledge of source control and project management methodologies.

Knowledge of the drug discovery value chain and medicines development, as well as the restrictions this applies to technologies available for us to use.

Critical capabilities include:

Leading with confidence in a complex service environment – being able to set and adapt the Technology Innovation engagement and delivery model to ensure it aligns to stakeholder’s strategic requirements and agreed ways of working.

Going beyond your role boundaries where there is a gap , including working with the technology leaders across business facings and enterprise architecture teams to develop and maintain emerging technology roadmaps. Making the process sustainable and able to measure progress and impact and value across our enterprise technology landscape. 

Having a service & product lens – pushing the technology innovation and architectural teams to focus on how we leverage all available capabilities, structures, and emerging technologies to accelerate out IT strategy and bold AstraZeneca ambitions.

Persistence & drive to enable the teams across IGNITE to take ownership of emerging technologies and embed/scale relevant technologies at pace to deliver our bold ambition.

Future focus – with Global IT at the forefront our Digital Transformation journey, being genuinely interested in the future direction & strategy. Supporting the Head of Digital Services with thinking about opportunities to optimize our technologies, services, process and practices to accelerate AZ bold ambition

Essential Skills

AWS Associate or Professional (Architect, Developer) or GCP/Azure equivalent. Experience in developing and implementing operating models, process adaptions in complex environments Ability to build strong and credible relationships with excellent communication & interpersonal skills across levels Extensive experience of working in a matrix team in a global environment Ability to adapt to constantly changing needs with an open and constructive mindset Effective analytical skills to identifyopportunities for optimised ways of working, including performance framework at service/portfolio level Effective strategic thinking and problem-solving skills Degree in software engineering, computer science, or a suitable number of years of relevant experience

Desirable Skills

Knowledge and experience of Lean Start-upmethodology Crowdsourcing experience Experience operating in pharma/highly regulated industries Experience in Agile methodologies and frameworks is a plus. Knowledge of IT service management frameworks is desirable

Why AstraZeneca?

At AstraZeneca when we see an opportunity for change, we seize it and make it happen, because any opportunity no matter how small, can be the start of something big. Delivering life-changing medicines is about being entrepreneurial - finding those moments and recognising their potential. Join us on our journey of building a new kind of organisation to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, pioneering cutting edge methods and bringing unexpected teams together.

So, what’s next

Are you already imagining yourself joining our team? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you.

Where can I find out more?

Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn

Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook

Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram

AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer.

Strong English communication skills required.

Positions are open to Mexican Citizens and official residents of Mexico.

Location: Guadalajara (hybrid -

Date Posted

22-feb-2024

Closing Date

29-abr-2024

---