Associate Director, Enterprise AI Process & Innovation Center

Are you ready to turn enterprise-scale AI ambition into real outcomes that accelerate how we deliver life-changing medicines to patients? Do you want to shape how intelligence, automation and advanced analytics transform the way a global organisation thinks, decides and operates?

As Associate Director, Enterprise AI Process & Innovation Center, you will partner with senior leaders to identify, shape and deliver high-value AI-enabled initiatives across end-to-end enterprise processes. You will operate at the intersection of business strategy, AI capability and enterprise delivery - connecting bold ideas to robust, scalable solutions that create measurable impact on speed, quality, cost and decision effectiveness.

You will combine credibility in the boardroom with hands-on technical depth, taking solutions from early conceptualisation and rapid prototyping through to production-grade implementation and adoption. Your leadership will help set delivery standards, reduce risk and ensure that AI is deployed responsibly and sustainably across the enterprise.

Accountabilities:

• Business Partnership and Use Case Shaping: Act as a trusted advisor to senior partners to surface, assess and prioritise AI opportunities; translate strategic challenges into clear, outcome-focused use cases with success measures and delivery roadmaps that inform investment and decision-making.
• Enterprise Process Transformation with AI: Build and, where appropriate, lead AI-enabled improvements across end-to-end workflows; embed smart technologies, mechanization, and data analysis to increase speed, quality and efficiency; architect solutions for scale, reuse, robustness and operational sustainability
• Technical Leadership Across the Lifecycle: Engage deeply from prototype to production; build or contribute to proofs of concept; interrogate and validate model logic, data pipelines and system behaviour; write, review and refine code, notebooks, pipelines or configuration artefacts where it accelerates delivery, improve quality or reduce risk; guide engineering and data teams on architecture, delivery approaches and standards.
• Delivery Leadership at Scale: Lead multidisciplinary workstreams spanning business, data, AI engineering, technology, change and risk; own outcomes for defined workstreams from concept to deployment and adoption; proactively manage risks related to data quality, model performance, production readiness and technical debt.
• Governance, Risk and Compliance: Ensure solutions align with enterprise governance, Responsible AI principles, privacy and regulatory expectations; partner with Risk, Legal, Quality and Compliance to embed controls, validation and monitoring; contribute to the evolution of enterprise AI delivery standards, patterns and operating models.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a scientific, engineering, or technical subject area, or equivalent experience.
• Significant experience delivering AI products and large-scale transformation in complex large enterprise and regulated environments.
• Proven ability to work effectively in senior business and stakeholder-facing contexts, including giving engaging technical presentations.
• Proven ability and evidence of work across the enterprise in varied functions.
• Excellent stakeholder management ability and communication skills.
• Competency in business case creation and communication.
• Strong hands-on technical and coding experience, including:
• Writing and reviewing production-quality code (e.g. Python, JavaScript, Java)
• Working directly with data pipelines, analytical workflows, and machine learning models
• Prototyping, testing, and iterating AI solutions from feasibility through to scalable implementation

Practical understanding of:

• Machine learning concepts and model lifecycle
• Generative AI and modern AI architectures
• Data platforms, performance considerations, monitoring, and failure modes

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Experience working in environments combining AI engineering, product delivery, and enterprise transformation
• Familiarity with: Generative AI, LLMs, RAG patterns, and agentic workflows. MLOps / LLMOps practices, model monitoring, and lifecycle management. Knowledge graphs, decision-support systems, or complex analytical platforms
• Experience operating within regulated environments requiring validation, audit-ability, and quality oversight.
• Hands-on experience with modern cloud-based AI tooling and experimentation environments.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we ignite bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and bold world.

Here you will help turn innovative science and advanced technology into concrete outcomes that matter for patients. We bring diverse experts - scientists, engineers, product leaders and operators - shoulder to shoulder to spark bold ideas and turn them into scaled solutions. Backed by strong investment and a clear digital vision, we are reinventing how a global enterprise works, from automation to data simplification, while doing it the right way through responsible AI. You will have the freedom to experiment, the support to grow through hands on learning and community events, and the platform to drive enterprise-wide change where ambition is matched by kindness and collaboration.

Date Posted 31-Jul-2026

Closing Date 11-Aug-2026

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