Senior Agile Project Manager

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven Biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious diseases. But we’re more than one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

At AstraZeneca, we're dedicated to being an excellent Place to Work. Where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and ignite your ambitious spirit. There’s no better place to make a difference to medicine, patients and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration. Always committed to lifelong learning, growth and development.

About the Role

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 chronic diseases for the better.

Join us in IGNITE, a vibrant function in AstraZeneca IT, who are on an exciting journey to accelerate the adoption and value of technology and data in AstraZeneca. We are a global function, comprising of Business Operations & Transformation, Enterprise Data Office, Enterprise AI Services, Enterprise Architecture, Integration & API Management and Digital Services.

As a Senior Agile Project Manager, you will be part of Business Operations & Transformation and will be responsible for delivering projects and initiatives into one of the other key areas.

Key typical organizational accountabilities include:

• Identifying and leading the agile delivery of easy-to-use Data & AI services such as Unification, Engineering Orchestration, AI Ops etc.

• Leading the delivery of advanced AI products in NLP, Computer Vision, Recommendation Engines and Predictive Modelling, supporting other IT Functions in tech solution selection, product build and the run of business-critical AI solutions

• Leading the strategy of and innovation in Data & AI technology for the enterprise, working closely with Enterprise Architecture and Tech Innovation teams

• Ensuring, through Information Architecture, that the resultant data products are FAIR by design enabling effective re-use

• Functional data provision and data product delivery to other IT Functions to functional and global standards and policies ensuring compliant and secure data assets

The Senior Agile Project/ Programme Manager will manage a portfolio of delivery activities or one of a set of interrelated major global projects/ programmes across IGNITE with a value of up to $5M. 

The role reports to the IGNITE Programme Lead in Business Operations and Transformation and maintains project accountability, from initiation to close, to deliver effective solutions that meet approved customer and business needs. The role is accountable for determining and delivering solutions to approved budget and schedule commitments whilst meeting required quality and compliance standards.

Typical Accountabilities

• Oversee, drive, and approve plans for projects/ programmes, including activities, resources, costs, roles, responsibilities and quality

• Analyze and rationalize requirements to determine agreed, achievable project objectives that align to organizational goals, strategies, and objectives

• Manage and coordinate project/ programme budgets, forecasts, tasks, schedules, risks, change management, and status to support effective decisions and project reporting to stakeholders and review boards

• Manage and coordinate interdependencies between projects and programme workstreams (intra-program and across portfolio). Track and remove impediments for the project team.

• Manage relationships with senior 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

• Work with Product, Technology and Business Owners to define release plans, grooming and prioritizing backlog.

• Facilitate agile ceremonies such as Sprint Planning, Sprint Demo, Sprint Retrospective.

• Influence changes that sustainably increase scrum team velocity

• Drive effective risks & issues management, ensuring processes are in place and effectively used. Ensure these are resolved and escalate as appropriate.

Must Haves:

• Technical, Science or Business degree (or relevant working experience in these areas)

• At least 5 years of Project Management experience, ideally in a Pharmaceutical IT environment (with experience of GxP and validation solution delivery)

• Experience working in global organization and across cultural boundaries

• Experience of Programme Increment Planning and in Agile delivery methodologies

• Proven large IT delivery experience, working in a matrixed team, in the following areas: delivering, leading and controlling large projects/programmes (developing and leading project/programme level plans; co-ordinating and tracking deliverables and tasks from multiple delivery teams to achieve a single goal;  running IT budgets (~$2million or greater); risk and issue management and mitigation; ability to apply change management and generate status reports to support effective decisions and reporting to partners and review boards

• Experience working with third party suppliers

Who you are:

• You are an excellent communicator; you have demonstrated skills interacting with Senior Leaders

• You are a skilled influencer with excellent relationship management skills

• You are curious, with an entrepreneurial attitude and the proven ability to shape innovative solutions

• You have well-developed organizational, interpersonal, written, and verbal comms skills

• You can work independently or within a team proactively in a fast-paced AGILE-SCRUM environment.

• You take responsibility for the successful delivery of the solutions.

Desirable Skills/ Experience:

• Programme/Project Management certifications preferred (Prince, PMP, MSP, Agile – Scrum, SAFe)

• Experience with planning tools (MS Project, JIRA, MIRO)

• Experience with resourcing/budgeting and reporting tools (SNOW PPM)

• Experience with data management tools and techniques such as ETL and data virtualization

Don’t meet every single requirement? We encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right candidate for this, or other roles.

What you will get:

• Limitless growth and learning opportunities

• A collaborative and positive culture - join a diverse team of professionals that are as smart and driven as you.

• A chance to make an impact – your work will contribute directly to enabling the delivery of programs and solutions that are critical in our mission to develop life changing medicines for patients

• Exciting experience working on the hottest technologies and leading platforms in a highly dynamic, highly skilled, and diverse global team

• And much more!

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash 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 ambitious world.

Why AstraZeneca?

At AstraZeneca, we dare to lead by applying our problem-solving mindset to identify and tackle opportunities across the whole enterprise. Our spirit of experimentation is lived every day through our events like hackathons. We enable AstraZeneca to perform at its peak by delivering world-class technology and data solutions. Our work unlocks the potential of science. We optimise and revolutionise AstraZeneca by maximising efficiencies and finding new ways to drive productivity. From automation to data simplification. We're part of a global company that's investing in a bold digital strategy; to become a truly data-led enterprise that disrupts the entire industry.

Ready to make a meaningful impact? Apply now and join us in our mission to develop life-changing medicines.

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 authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.