Franchise Director, Forecasting & Performance

At AstraZeneca, we’re not afraid to do things differently. We’re resetting expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening up new ways to work, groundbreaking and cutting-edge methods and bringing unexpected teams together.

The Oncology therapy area at AstraZeneca is unparalleled. We have built and strategically acquired one of the most promising Oncology pipelines in the industry. You will be among inspiring oncology industry leaders who will keep you engaged and empower you to be the best. We seek out opportunities to do dynamic meaningful work which means we won't just follow the same course of action time and again if we can see potential in a different way of creating life changing medicine.

Position Summary:

The Franchise Director, Forecasting & Performance is accountable for leading the forecast process and performance story across the US Oncology IO Franchise. As a thought partner and in-house consultant, you will develop rigorous product-specific short-term and long-term patient flow forecasts and provide critical insights into market risks & opportunities that may impact performance to ultimately help guide commercial strategy and decision-making. You will drive seamless collaboration with your Insights and Analytics colleagues to deliver fact-driven, actionable insights to the business. In addition, you will closely partner with Marketing, Sales, Market Access, Sales Operations, Global Analytics & Insights, Supply Planning, and Finance to ensure alignment on forecast assumptions and performance narrative for the IO Franchise. 

You possess strong leadership, strategic thinking, communication excellence and a results-oriented mindset. Abilities key to this position include consultative and influencing skills, quantitative technical skills, and proficiency in interpreting primary market research and secondary data analyses. Your deep expertise in forecasting enables you to solve complex technical challenges efficiently and effectively, anticipate upcoming forecast questions, and identify innovative solutions that benefit the entire portfolio. Beyond brand-level contribution, you will play an integral role as a leader within the US Oncology Forecasting & Performance CoE (Center of Excellence), helping to deliver cross-brand forecasting alignment, efficiencies, best practices, and capability builds.

As a people manager, you will have direct managerial responsibility of a team of forecast leads and oversight of vendor partners, while also demonstrating broader leadership across the Insights & Analytics team to deliver across these areas. In this highly consultative role, you will be a thought partner to the Marketing & Sales team, and will collaborate with and inform the Sr. Director, Insights & Analytics, IO Franchise.

This role reports to the Sr. Director, Forecasting & Performance, and sits within US Insights & Analytics, an inclusive team that partners with the US Oncology commercial organization to drive strategic decisions by providing objective, data-driven insight generation and analytics. This role is campus-based in Gaithersburg, MD, headquarters for our associates. We expect a minimum of 3 days per week on-site to collaborate with peers and engage with collaborators.

Roles & Responsibilities:  

• Lead the US forecasting and business planning processes and all associated work streams for covered brand / indications (scenario planning, integration with Finance, etc.)  
• Develop, build, and maintain up-to-date product-specific short-term and long-term forecasts models, synthesizing an integrated picture with information across multiple sources; as required, manage external agency executing the model build/update 
• Proactively and clearly identify key drivers that impact short-term and long-range product and market forecasts, highlighting significant risks and opportunities  
• Collaborate cross-functionally with key commercial leaders, Insights & Analytics colleagues, and other forecast stakeholders to align on objective, data-driven forecast inputs 

• Provide in-depth analyses around underlying drivers of brand performance in support of key business deliverables and milestones (e.g. Quarterly Business Reviews)  

• Monitor external environment to stay up to date on the competitive landscape and latest market developments for covered brand/indications as well as broader Oncology trends   

• Consult on primary research and secondary analytics relevant to forecasting, and incorporate results into modeling to add deep customer insight and assess future events  

• Deliver insightful, objective presentations to senior leaders (e.g., SVP US Commercial Oncology, VP of US Franchise) that clearly and succinctly highlight critical insights and business implications through strong storytelling  
• Collaborate with senior US leaders on performance narrative for C-level audience 

• Maintain effective relationships with contractors and other third-party vendors through oversight of the vendor management process 

• Direct and help prioritize work of Forecasting & Performance Associate Directors, Sr. Managers, and Sr. Analysts  
• Work with US Oncology Forecasting & Performance CoE Senior Director to build forecasting capabilities and identify and drive cross-brand forecasting process efficiencies, automation, and innovation 

Essential Experience/Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree, with a preference for a quantitative field (e.g., Engineering, Data Science, Statistics, Math, Economics, Computer Science, Operations Research)

• 6 years of experience at a pharmaceutical / biotechnology manufacturer or working in the biopharmaceutical industry (e.g., forecasting, data/analytics, management consulting, market research, investment banking)

• 6 years of experience in forecasting: building models, leading input evaluation, communicating outputs, and guiding business decisions based; 4 years of forecasting specifically in a biopharmaceutical role  

• Deep expertise in building the pharmaceutical forecast models, a broad range of forecasting techniques, and leading/optimizing the full forecasting process; requires no supervision and able to direct more junior forecasting team members

• Highly experienced in evaluating analytics from pharmaceutical data sources (APLD, IQVIA, claims, etc.) and epidemiological data (Kantar, DRG)

• Strong knowledge of primary market research, advanced analytics, and competitive intelligence; experience leading those projects or collaborating with others to integrate findings into the forecast  

• Occasional travel may be required

Desired Experience/Qualifications

• Advanced Quantitative Degree or Advanced Marketing Degree (e.g., MBA)

• Experience working in Oncology

#LI-hybrid

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.