Director, Customer Engagement & Transformation Portfolio

Director, Customer Engagement & Transformation Portfolio Location: Gaithersburg, US (Hybrid) Function: MESO – Customer Engagement & Transformation Reports to: Head of Global Medical Affairs, Customer Engagement & Transformation About the Role The Director, Customer Engagement & Transformation Portfolio will provide strategic portfolio leadership, operational governance, and disciplined delivery across the Customer Engagement & Transformation portfolio. The role will help translate strategic priorities into integrated plans, coordinate delivery across functions and geographies, and ensure that key initiatives progress with clarity, accountability, and measurable impact. Working across Global Medical Affairs, Medical Excellence Strategy & Operations, Digital, Data, Communications, Finance, and other enabling functions, the Director will connect strategy with execution and strengthen the organization’s ability to deliver consistently at scale. The role will oversee portfolio planning, project and program governance, budget and resource management, change enablement, leadership-team effectiveness, and continuous improvement. It will also support the implementation of medical standards and compliant ways of working across relevant functional activities and global-to-local interfaces. The successful candidate will be able to operate effectively in a complex, multicultural, and highly matrixed environment; influence senior stakeholders and diverse teams without relying solely on formal authority; and provide decisive, pragmatic leadership in a changing and sometimes ambiguous environment. The Director will operate as a strategic partner to the function head and leadership team, progressing priority strategies from ideation through implementation and strengthening global-to-local interfaces for effective execution. This role will also contribute to the development of scalable operating practices, stronger cross-functional collaboration, and more consistent ways of working across Customer Engagement & Transformation. Key Accountabilities 1. Strategic Portfolio Partnership Partner with the Head of Customer Engagement & Transformation, functional and initiative leads, and relevant Strategy, Operations & Innovation leaders to translate strategic priorities into objectives, roadmaps, integrated delivery plans, milestones, and measurable outcomes. Provide project-management expertise and operational insight to support the development and execution of Customer Engagement & Transformation strategy. Maintain an integrated view of initiatives, interdependencies, resource requirements, risks, expected benefits, and strategic contribution to support prioritization and leadership decision-making. Lead or support the development of annual and longer-term operating plans, functional roadmaps, strategic priorities, and portfolio scorecards, ensuring alignment with broader organizational priorities. Maintain an integrated view of key initiatives, dependencies, resource requirements, risks, and expected benefits. Own structured prioritization across the business-planning cycle, including forecasting, phasing, trade-off decisions, and alignment to medium- and long-range plans. Bring a broad global business perspective and support effective translation of global strategy into regional and local execution. 2. Cross-Functional and Matrix Team Leadership Lead and coordinate cross-functional initiatives, ensuring that workstreams are aligned and integrated plans are delivered effectively. Establish a collaborative and accountable project environment across teams, functions, and geographic locations. Build strong, trusted working relationships with senior stakeholders, initiative owners, project managers, workstream leads, and delivery teams across multiple time zones. Facilitate effective communication, escalation, and decision-making processes across the portfolio. Support the effective operation of governance forums, including leadership meetings, steering groups, and cross-functional councils. Help onboard new team members to consistent project-management practices across the function. Where assigned, lead and develop project-management colleagues or contingent resources, building trust, providing mentorship, clarifying expectations, and creating a high-performing team environment. Adapt leadership style to the situation, generate commitment, balance short- and long-term needs, and resolve differences constructively. 3. Planning, Monitoring, and Delivery Facilitate planning, forecasting, phasing, and prioritization across relevant business-planning cycles, including RBU, MTP, and Long-Range Plan processes, where applicable. Coordinate portfolio-level budget planning, spend tracking, purchase-order management, vendor coordination, and financial reporting, where applicable. Support contract planning, purchase-order management, vendor coordination, external partner oversight, and appropriate financial and operational governance. Develop and maintain integrated project plans, roadmaps, milestone trackers, and delivery dashboards. Define and monitor deliverables, timelines, budgets, resource requirements, dependencies, and performance measures. Track progress against strategic goals and provide consolidated reporting for Customer Engagement & Transformation leadership. Identify delivery risks, issues, and barriers early, coordinating appropriate mitigation and escalation. Monitor project health and provide clear recommendations when plans, resources, or priorities require adjustment. Ensure that project documentation, decisions, actions, and follow-ups are maintained in accordance with agreed governance standards. Ensure that project outcomes and benefits are captured, measured, and communicated. Maintain a transparent view of resource capacity and workforce needs across the functional group, escalating constraints and recommending practical options. 4. Governance, Communications, and Information Management Develop and maintain fit-for-purpose governance structures, ways of working, decision rights, templates, reporting standards, and escalation processes. Lead effective, agenda-driven leadership meetings, steering groups, councils, and cross-functional forums. Provide strategic input into meeting agendas and ensure that discussions focus on priorities, decisions, risks, dependencies, and actions. Coordinate the collection and consolidation of updates from initiative and workstream leads. Maintain clear records of decisions, actions, risks, owners, due dates, and follow-up commitments to monitor progression across the portfolio. Prepare leadership-ready presentations, pre-reads, walking decks, status reports, scorecards, roadmaps, communications, and decision materials for senior leadership. Partner with Customer Engagement & Transformation and Medical Excellence leaders to prepare communications on key initiatives, strategic priorities, operating changes, and portfolio performance. Support consistent communication across the Customer Engagement & Transformation community through appropriate channels and materials. Promote effective use of collaboration and information-management platforms, including SharePoint, Teams, and other approved tools. Help ensure that project information is accessible, current, and managed in line with AstraZeneca standards and applicable governance requirements. 5. Change Management and Adoption Enablement Develop and coordinate change-management plans for new capabilities, proces