Human Resources Director

Joining AstraZeneca means being part of an organization that is entrepreneurial, collaborative, and purpose-led. We foster an environment where people are encouraged to grow, take ownership, and contribute to shape the future of healthcare in a culture that values inclusion, accountability, and innovation.

We offer an exceptional leadership opportunity as HR Director for Brazil, based in São Paulo. This role is responsible for shaping the strategic direction and operational delivery of People & Culture in one of AstraZeneca’s most important markets, enabling business performance, accelerating transformation, and building a high-performance, future-ready organization aligned with AstraZeneca’s ambition.

The HR Director, Brazil plays a pivotal role in positioning AstraZeneca as an employer of choice in Brazil, while helping shape the organization needed for the future. This leader will bring strong business acumen, outstanding stakeholder management, and the ability to translate future external trends, business strategies, and workforce needs into practical actions and people solutions today.

As a member of the Brazil Senior Management Team, the HR Director shares accountability for fostering a culture grounded in AstraZeneca’s values: following the science, putting patients first, doing the right thing, playing to win, and being entrepreneurial. This role requires a leader who can build and strengthen experienced leadership teams, drive a meaningful change management and culture evolution agenda, and place strong emphasis on talent development, succession, and organizational capability.

Key Responsibilities

The HR Director will lead the local HR agenda in close partnership with business leaders and with global, regional, and cross-functional HR partners, ensuring alignment with AstraZeneca’s long-term People strategy and business priorities. The role also requires a hands-on approach, combining strategic leadership, business acumen, and strong operational execution.

The HR Director will lead the local talent agenda across the full employee lifecycle, ensuring strong practices are in place to attract, develop, retain, and engage the right talent. A strong focus will be placed on leadership development, critical talent identification, succession planning, capability building, and creating a culture of continuous growth and learning.

This leader will influence business planning and workforce planning processes to ensure that organizational design, talent strategies, and resource plans support sustainable business performance. The role will connect future strategic direction and external tendencies with practical deployment in the present, ensuring the organization is prepared for what comes next.

The position will provide expert HR leadership across key areas including talent management, succession planning, workforce planning, organization design, employee relations, reward, learning and development, and culture. The HR Director will ensure the adoption of global standards while tailoring solutions to meet the needs of the Brazil market.

In collaboration with the COEs and global/regional HR teams, the role will drive initiatives across Recruitment, Employer Branding, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, Talent Management, Employee Engagement, and Organizational Effectiveness, with the objective of building a strong and sustainable talent pipeline.

The HR Director will lead and develop the Brazil HR team, building capability through coaching, mentoring, and high standards of execution to create a high-performing, future-ready People & Culture function. This person is expected to be both strategic and operationally involved, with credibility and willingness to work closely with the business on key priorities and day-to-day matters when needed.

The role also holds accountability for sound financial stewardship of HR budgets and resources, ensuring efficient and value-driven delivery of HR services.

Your Profile

This position requires a degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, or a related field. A postgraduate qualification, MBA, or equivalent advanced degree is strongly preferred.

The ideal candidate will bring significant experience in a senior HR leadership role, ideally within a complex, dynamic, and multinational environment. Experience leading HR in Brazil, including a strong understanding of the local market, talent landscape, and labor context, is essential.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record of building, leading, and developing experienced leadership teams, and of acting as a trusted advisor to senior executives on organization, leadership, culture, and talent matters. This person should be highly credible in driving organizational change, shaping culture, and translating strategic business direction into impactful people priorities and execution.

We are looking for someone with strong expertise across core HR disciplines, including talent management, succession planning, leadership development, organizational design, workforce planning, employee engagement, compensation and benefits, and HR operations. Experience driving talent development strategies and strengthening leadership pipelines will be especially important in this role.

The ideal profile combines strategic thinking with a hands-on, delivery-focused mindset. This person should be comfortable moving between high-level strategy and practical implementation, with the ability to simplify complexity, influence across multiple stakeholders, and drive results through others.

Strong communication and relationship-building skills are essential, as is the ability to work effectively in a matrix environment and across local, regional, and global teams. The role requires a collaborative leader with sound judgment, resilience, and the ability to navigate ambiguity while maintaining focus on impact.

Strong digital literacy is also important, including confidence using tools such as Microsoft Teams, PowerPoint, Power BI, Copilot, and ChatGPT.

Fluency in both English and Portuguese is required.

Why AstraZeneca

At AstraZeneca, you will find a place where you can combine strategic leadership, purpose, and impact. You will work with talented colleagues across functions and geographies, shape the future of the organization, and help create an environment where people can thrive, grow, and do meaningful work that ultimately benefits patients.

This is an opportunity to join a company that invests in people, encourages bold thinking, and empowers leaders to make a real difference through culture, capability, and transformation.

Date Posted

29-Jun-2026

Closing Date

12-Jul-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.

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.