AI Lead: Drug Discovery and Development
Job Title: AI Lead: Drug Discovery and Development
Location: Boston Seaport, USA
At AstraZeneca, we pride ourselves on crafting a collaborative culture that champions knowledge-sharing, ambitious thinking and innovation – ultimately providing employees with the opportunity to work across teams, functions and even the globe.
Recognizing the importance of individualized flexibility, our ways of working allow employees to balance personal and work commitments while ensuring we continue to create a strong culture of collaboration and teamwork by engaging face-to-face in our offices 3 days a week. Our head office is purposely designed with collaboration in mind, providing space where teams can come together to strategize, brainstorm and connect on key projects.
As AstraZeneca continues to put patients at the forefront of our mission, we are excited for our move to Kendall Square/Cambridge in 2026. Find out more information here: Kendall Square Press Release
Introduction to Role:
Alexion is seeking a visionary AI leader to shape and implement the AI strategy across our R&D organization, spanning early research, preclinical work, and clinical development. This role will partner closely with R&D teams to translate scientific challenges into actionable AI opportunities, accelerate pipeline productivity, enable AI-driven solutions that accelerate innovation, enhance scientific difficulty, and advance transformative medicines for patients with rare diseases.
You will lead the design, development, and adoption of sophisticated AI/ML capabilities that elevate target discovery,optimizetrial design and execution, strengthen data‑driven decision making, and unlock new scientific insights across the R&D lifecycle. This role blends deep technicalexpertisewith strong product thinking, scientific competence, and exceptional partner leadership.
Accountabilities:
AI Strategy & Portfolio:Identifyand prioritizebusiness alignedAI opportunitiesand define the multi-year AI strategy and roadmap.Govern the portfolio from proofofconcept through validation to scaled products, with clear stage gates, success metrics, and valuetracking.alignedAI opportunitiesof conceptthrough validation to scaled products, with clear stage gates, success metrics, and value tracking.
Ownership & Delivery: Act as the product owner for AI solutions (e.g., target ID, compound optimization, translational and clinical decision support). Set problem statements, adoption thresholds, and benefits realization plans; oversee delivery with internal teams and partners.
Business Interface & Partnerships:Serve as the primary interface between R&D teams, data scientists, and external AI partners. Translate scientific and operational needs into AIsolutions.Evaluatebuy, build, partneroptions and manage vendors/consortia.
Workflow Integration & Change: Lead the integration of AI intobusinessworkflows, data systems, and SOPs. Motivate change management and adoptionprograms, including partner engagement, training, communications, superuser networks, feedback loops, andhuman in the loopcontrols.
Data & Platforms: Partner with the Head of Data and Tech teams to enable access tohigh-quality,well governedresearch and clinical data, promote FAIR principles, and influence platform architecture andMLOps/LLMOpsconsiderations to scale AIresponsibly.quality,well governedresearch and clinical data, promote FAIR principles, and influence platform architecture and
Governance,GxP& Responsible AI: Ensure AI solutions meetGxP, data integrity, privacy, and audit requirements. Establish practices for model validation, bias/robustness testing, explain-ability, documentation, model monitoring, performance SLAs, and inspection readiness.
Impact & Communication:Define OKRs/KPIs tied to R&D outcomes (e.g., hit/lead success rates,cycle timereduction, protocol optimization, enrollment speed, cost avoidance, risk detection). Track and communicate progress, impact, and value to R&D and executive leadership with clear narratives and evidence.
Talent & Culture: Build and nurture acrossfunctionalnetwork of superusers and AI champions; set standards and procedures. Foster a culture of scientific rigor, product thinking, innovation, and measurable impact; promote agile ways of working across Alexion.
Essential Skills/Experience:
Education:Advanced degree preferred (MS/PhD in life sciences or quantitative fields; or MBA) with strong biopharma R&D exposure and meaningful AI familiarity (coursework, certifications, executive programs, or applied initiatives).
Minimum Experience:10+ years in biopharma/biotech R&D or adjacent life sciences functions, with 5+ years leadingcrossfunctional,technology enabledportfolios and driving business outcomes.Demonstrated success sponsoring or advising AI initiatives from concept toscaledadoption, including vendor and partner management.
Business Domain Expertise:Deep understanding of theend to endR&D value chain.Able to translate scientific and operational needs intoAI enabledbusiness solutions.
Product and Portfolio Leadership: Proven track record to define roadmaps, prioritize portfolios, manage budgets, and deliver measurable impact.
Collaborator Management:Credible partner to senior scientific and business leaders; skilled at influencing without authority,facilitatingdecisions, and aligningcrossfunctionalteams around clear outcomes. Comfortable serving as the ownerforAI solutions andrepresentingneeds to data science and engineering teams.
Workflow Integration & Change:Experience integrating new capabilities intobusinessworkflows; adept at organizational change, adoption, and benefits realization.
Data & GovernanceFluency:Knowledge ofFAIR principles, clinical and research data landscapes, and vendor/partnership management. Understand data readiness for AI, feature/data access controls, and lineage/traceability requirements for model audibility.
Regulatory & Compliance: Solid understanding ofGxP, data integrity, privacy (GDPR/CCPA/HIPAA), audit requirements, and documentation standardsin regulated workflows. Familiarity with responsible AI principles, model risk management, and documentation needed for validation in preclinical and clinical contexts.
Technical Fluency (noncoding):Comfortable engaging with AI/ML concepts such as predictive modeling, NLP/LLMs.Able to assess value, risk, and feasibility; understandAIand platform considerations to make informed decisions and ask the right questionswithout needing to code or build models.
Communication & Storytelling:Outstanding ability to simplify AI concepts for scientific and business audiences; craft outcome-focusednarratives and adoption cases; report progress, impact, and value to R&D and executive leadership withclear evidenceand tradeoffs.
Desirable Skills/Experience:
Rare disease R&D exposure and strategies forsmall samplelearning and external data augmentation.
Experience acting asbusinessproduct owner for AI solutions, driving adoption and measurable outcomes.
Portfolio financial acuity (investment cases,value) and partnership governance (buy, build partner, success measures, IP/publications stance).
Where can I find out more?
- Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn
- Follow Alexion on LinkedIn
- Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook
- Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram
- Learn more about Alexion at www.alexion.com
At Alexion, you will find a collaborative culture that encourages innovation and a diverse environment where your contributions are valued. You will have the opportunity to be at the forefront of rare disease research and make a meaningful difference in patients' lives.
Ready to lead and inspire? Apply now and take the first step towards a fulfilling career at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease.
The annual base pay (or hourly rate of compensation) for this position ranges from $203,213 to $304,820 . 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.
Alexion 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 align with all applicable laws and regulations on inclusivity in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements. Alexion is committed to accommodating persons with disabilities. Such accommodation is available on request in respect of all aspects of the recruitment, assessment and selection process and may be requested by emailing AZCHumanResources@astrazeneca.com.
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Date Posted
12-Feb-2026Closing Date
01-Mar-2026Our 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.
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