BioPharma Fellows Program - Associate Director, Clinical Development

Are you an experienced clinician, orscientist, with clinical research experience in either immunology & autoimmune disease, gastrointestinal, respiratory disease, cell therapy or cardiorenal and metabolism-related diseases? Would you like to be part of a talented and high performing team of clinical research professionals, clinical scientists, and physicians who are translating rigorous scientific discoveries into early or late phase clinical development plans and studies across a wide range of chronic and debilitating diseases? 

The AstraZeneca BioPharma Fellows Program, is a competitive, 12-month immersive research and training program in clinical development for early-career physicians and scientists who are inspired by science and by how clinical development has the potential to transform patient care.  As part of the selected cohort of fellows, you’ll have an opportunity to learn from a diverse group of experts across the drug development continuum and play a pivotal role in channeling our scientific capabilities to make a positive impact on changing patients’ lives.We are currently recruiting the 2026 fellowship cohort for a summer 2026 start.

This is an office-based role that is located at AstraZeneca’s vibrant R&D site in Boston (Seaport Blvd), Massachusetts in the United States, transferring to our purpose-built facility in KendallSquare once it opens in 2026.

At AstraZeneca, we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work with an inclusive and diverse team who work in a solution-oriented, trusting, and collaborative work environment.  We’re pushing the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines to patients, with a passion for discovery and a pipeline to show for it. We are dedicated to improving the health care and quality of life for patients across a wide range of diseases and disorders by developing innovative therapies that address unmet clinical needs and provide clinicians with novel evidence-based treatment options to optimize the care of their patients.

Who we Are

In the Respiratory and Immunology (R&I) Late Clinical Development team, we are investigating the novel and advanced science of R&I diseases to deliver life-changing medicines to patients. Our ambition is to pioneer innovative research and explore novel therapeutic pipelines to become the worldwide leading company in immunology. With such passion, our portfolio includes various gastrointestinal, rheumatology, dermatology, immunology, and respiratory diseases.

In Immunology Cell Therapy, we are advancing our growing ambition in immunology by driving next-generation cell therapies (including CAR-T cells and other modalities) with the potential to restore immune tolerance and even cure immune-mediated and inflammatory diseases. Our innovative approaches and deep expertise in cell therapy give us an opportunity to deliver life-changing therapeutics to patients. This is an excellent program to provide medical and scientific input to T-cell therapy clinical stage assets working in collaboration with and learning from cross-functional teams including basic research, clinical pharmacology and translational medicine, clinical operations, medical directors, safety, regulatory affairs, biostatistics, cell product manufacturing, and commercial. 

In the Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism (CVRM) Translational Science & Early Clinical Development (TSCD) team, we are investigating the drivers of CVRM disease progression through ground-breaking scientific methods and data-driven drug discovery approaches. In this context, we are investigating a wide range of different drug modalities from our rich CVRM portfolio of compounds across diverse metabolic patient populations including obesity, T2DM, and MASH.

TSCD, part of the Early CVRM organization, is where science meets clinical drug development with a focus upon delivering innovative, early phase clinical studies and accelerating human target validation while collaborating closely with our late phase clinical development and regulatory colleagues who guide our pivotal phase 3 clinical studies. We are a diverse team of experienced physicians and clinical scientists who collaborate to delineate early phase clinical development strategies, design innovative phase I-IIa clinical trials, develop and validate novel surrogate endpoints, and translate scientific ideas to proof-of-concept studies in targeted patient populations.

What you’ll do

The 2026 AstraZeneca BioPharma Fellows will join AstraZeneca at a time of tremendous growth and acceleration in the BioPharma portfolio.  You will be assigned to a team in Early or Late Clinical Development for the duration of the program and spend up to 50% of your time rotating across functions concluding with a fixed placement on a development team.  You will work in a fast-paced and dynamic setting, with increasing responsibility, following a structured learning plan across the following domains:

• Scientific support: contribute to clinical projects strategy, including mechanisms of disease, diagnostic approaches, treatment options, drug development trends, and regulatory requirements in relevant disease and therapeutic areas.
• Provide long-range clinical development planning.
• Plan and manage clinical development programs.
• Collaborate with pre-clinical and translational sciences, providing clinical input and expertise.
• Learning and working with regulatory and biostatistics teams.

In addition, you will participate in regular clinical and scientific meetings related to your project, attend training throughout the program, and engage in internal and external AstraZeneca and scientific meetings. You will serve as the lead for a longitudinal clinical project. Specific duties and major responsibilities may include any of the following: 

• Establish and approve scientific methods for clinical protocol design and implementation, data collection systems, and final reports.
• Assist in designing of clinical development plans and overall strategy for compounds, therapeutic classes of compounds or indications.
• Collaborate with pre-clinical, early clinical, and translational sciences and senior management to assess requirements for emerging products.
• Participate in Clinical Research Organizations selection and management
• Supervise project team members in planning, conducting and evaluating clinical trials.
• Plan and manage investigator meetings, advisory boards and scientific committees.
• If you are medically qualified, serve as the medical monitor with primary responsibility for patient safety, trial conduct, data interpretation and safety surveillance.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Experienced scientist with a PhD qualification or an MD
• At least five years’ experience working in a clinical practice or research setting and a good publication track record.
• Demonstrable scientific knowledge in one of the areas of interest
• Evidence of strong collaborative working, a delivery focus and good communication skills is essential.
• Must also be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Additional advanced academic degrees, such as PhD, MPH, etc.  
• If you are medically qualified, medical specialty and sub-specialty training and board certification.
• If you are a PhD qualified scientist, experience in clinical trials or relevant clinical/basic research.
• Results driven to achieve creative and sound outcomes.
• Proven leadership skills and demonstrated ability to interact collaboratively in a cross-functional environment.
• Ability to make sound and timely decisions; agile in learning and action-oriented.
• High level of emotional intelligence; able to deal with ambiguity.
• Able to relate to varied level audiences across the organization; able to set priorities for team and maintain accountability; skilled in negotiating organizational boundaries and hierarchy; able to build effective teams.

So, what’s next?

• Complete your application before the below closing date.

• This role is open from 11/28/2025, we invite you to apply no later than 01/15/2026.

Where can I find out more?

Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/

Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/

Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en

The annual base pay (or hourly rate of compensation) for this position ranges from $177,699.20 - 266,548.80 USD . Hourly and salaried non-exempt employees will also be paid overtime pay when working qualifying overtime hours. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  In addition, our positions offer a short-term incentive bonus opportunity; eligibility to participate in our equity-based long-term incentive program (salaried roles), to receive a retirement contribution (hourly roles), and commission payment eligibility (sales roles). Benefits offered included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans. Additional details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors. 

Date Posted

28-Nov-2025

Closing Date

14-Jan-2026

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.

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.