Senior Director, Global Regulatory Affairs

Location: Boston Seaport, MA (US Headquarters for Alexion) 

Additional Location: Gaithersburg

Hybrid: 3 days a week onsite

About Alexion 

For over 30 years, Alexion has been dedicated to transforming the lives of people living with rare diseases. We lead with breakthrough science, deep disease understanding, and an unrelenting commitment to patients. As part of AstraZeneca, we are uniquely positioned to accelerate innovation and reach more patients globally. 

Working here means being driven by purpose, acting with integrity, and fostering a culture where people feel valued, connected, and empowered. You'll join a community that puts patients first, plays to win, and supports your development at every step. 

The Senior Director, Global Regulatory Affairs will be responsible for providing senior regulatory leadership across execution teams and US regulatory strategists, with the intention of achieving successful registration and lifecycle management of unique and technologically complex products serving patients with rare diseases and unmet medical needs.

This individual will bring a high sense of urgency, strategic leadership, and organizational influence to the Regulatory organization, mentoring teams, driving operational efficiencies and innovation, and advancing standard processes to ensure high-quality execution across programs. The role will also develop effective communication and constructive working relationships with business partners and representatives of regulatory authorities.

You will be responsible for:

• Provides senior leadership to regulatory staff responsible for developing and implementing strategies and driving products and/or projects in the relevant regulatory jurisdictions, as assigned, aligned to overall Enterprise objectives and global regulatory strategies through initial registration and subsequent lifecycle management.

• Serves as a senior leader across regulatory execution and/or regional strategist teams, collaborating with other Regulatory functions to strengthen organizational capability, support talent development, and ensure delivery against resource and business needs for assigned products/programs (e.g. clinical trial applications, marketing authorization applications, orphan drug designation applications, paediatric submissions, etc.).

• Leads across assigned regulatory team(s) as a senior strategic partner, collaborating with Global and Regional regulatory cross-department leaders to promote effective prioritization, balanced workload distribution, and high-quality delivery of key regulatory activities and achievements.

• Provides senior oversight to execution and regional strategy teams in the planning and conduct of regulatory authority meetings in relevant jurisdictions, supporting to submission strategy and other critical regulatory documents. May represent Alexion as point of contact with relevant Health Authorities and/or lead interactions with such authorities or other relevant external partners.

• Supports provision of advice and input from execution and regional strategy teams to internal Governance and advisory bodies from which GRA staff can seek insight on strategic and procedural/operational issues as they arise.

• Actively collaborates with Senior Management and Enterprise functions (e.g. Clinical, Commercial, Medical Affairs, amongst others) to provide regional regulatory insight, broader drug development expertise, and leadership on critical business priorities and high-impact programs.

• Champions continuous improvement across regulatory operations, finding opportunities to improve efficiency, enhance cross-functional ways of working, and implement innovative approaches that strengthen execution and organizational effectiveness.

• Leads the development and adoption of standard processes, ensuring consistency, quality, and operational excellence across regulatory activities and enabling teams to respond effectively to evolving business and regulatory demands.

• Actively stays up to date on latest regulatory requirements and trends, and supports to shaping the regulatory science environment, supporting regulatory intelligence and policy priorities based on Alexion and AstraZeneca's internal knowledge and expertise.

• Ensures exemplary behavior, leadership, ethics and visibility within the Enterprise, with Health Authorities and other external partners.

You will need to have:

Qualifications

• 12+ years of Regulatory experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with experience in regional regulatory strategies, primarily in the US. 

• Strong knowledge of drug development and regulatory policy, couple by excellent scientific and business judgment. 

• Experience providing leading and managing cross-skilled regulatory staff to deliver on business objectives, in mentoring and developing staff. 

• Ability to manage complex issues and coordinate multiple projects simultaneously in a time-sensitive fashion. 

• Ability to build intra- and inter-team relationships and collaborate in a global team environment at all levels of the organization, especially Senior Management. 

• Strong interpersonal, and written/verbal communication skills. 

• Proven track record practicing sound judgment as it relates to risk assessment 

• Highly conversant and knowledgeable of new and emerging regulations and guidances.

• Understanding of GxPs at relevant areas and solid understanding of where to seek and how to interpret regulatory information. 

Education

·       Minimum requirement Bachelor’s Degree, life science highly desirable 

·       Preferred Postgraduate degrees relevant to the role (e.g. MSc, PhD)  

·       Additional certification and/or training relevant to the role over the past 

Competences

·       Excellent use of Microsoft 365 (Office) tools, ideally well skilled on the use of PowerPoint 

·       Proficient in English in the Corporate setting. Additional languages are a plus

Why Alexion?

At Alexion (AstraZeneca’s Rare Disease unit), work centres on people living with rare conditions whose journeys demand new thinking every day; this means operating at the edge of science while staying grounded in real patient stories, collaborating across disciplines to turn complex biology into transformative medicines, learning fast in an entrepreneurial environment with the backing of a global biopharma, and growing through tailored development that deepens both leadership capability and empathy for patients and communities we serve. 

If this opportunity to redefine what patient engagement can be resonates, apply now to start the conversation! 

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $272,573.00 - $327,087.60 USD Annual. Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives—an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles. Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.  #LiHybrid

Date Posted

Closing Date

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.