Learning & Development Associate Director, Biopharma R&D (6 months secondment/fixed term contract)

Learning & Development Associate Director, Biopharma R&D

6-Month Secondment or Fixed-term contract

Location: Warsaw/Krakow, Poland or Barcelona, Spain (Hybrid: minimum 3 days from office per week)

Are you an experienced L&D / R&D professional passionate about developing yourself and others?  This exciting 6-month secondment / fixed-term contract could give you the opportunity to broaden your experience in both R&D and L&D, expand your networks and opportunity to utilise your project management skills and creativity to shape and build the content of a brand new cross-R&D flagship learning programme; ‘Navigate R&D’.  This exciting new learning programme is aimed at those relatively new to the world of Pharma R&D, reaching a global learner audience of 10K+. The digital element of the programme will launch in 2024 and will present a great opportunity for you to be a part of something highly visible and of impact across the R&D organisation.

As a capable instructional designer, you will bring your creative flair to design and build learning content for the programme in our digital platform Degreed, using a range of traditional and modern learning modalities.  You will use your network to connect across our multi-disciplinary scientific community with technical R&D subject matter experts to bring to life the end-to-end research and development process, including how we collaborate, innovate and problem solve to bring new medicines to patients.

This role will report into the Head of Learning & Development within Biopharmaceuticals R&D.  You will be a key member of a small, expanding L&D team that is delivering on an exciting and ambitious new learning strategy for the R&D business. The focus is on building technical skills that foster collaboration and innovation in our complex matrixed environment, and driving a positive learning culture that makes AstraZeneca R&D a great place to work.

Key responsibilities:

• Work closely with project leads to gather technical content from R&D subject matter experts. Using a solid understanding of R&D you will assimilate and synthesise complex information to deliver learning resources relevant and engaging for the target audience.

• Review, refresh and create technical / scientific learning resources (including e.g. slides, eLearning, video production etc) to support the build of knowledge pathways within Degreed (AZ learning technology platform).

• Project management and operational support to drive all elements of the Navigate R&D programme forward at pace.

• Liaison with external L&D vendors for development of templates and creation of specific learning assets to build the suite of programme learning resources.

• Contribute to shaping the analytics strategy to demonstrate ROI for the Navigate R&D programme, including learner uptake and feedback, digital content consumption, application in role and business impact.

• Bring your insight on external trends in L&D to recommend and implement modern L&D approaches to create an engaging and impactful learner experience.

• Preparation and oversight of communications for stakeholders, intranet and workplace.  Engagement with business stakeholders at all stages from programme build to launch, to get buy-in, input and champion in their function.

• Coordination of activities to support the launch of the digital learning programme; including preparing communications, launch events and driving engagement via the internal Workplace platform.

• Benefit from being an active member of the R&D learning practitioner community, contribute to sharing of best practices and developing L&D capability for self and peers.

Requirements:

• Qualified to degree level preferably in a scientific / technical discipline and/or higher-level qualifications or accreditations in learning and development related discipline (preferred)

• Experience of a Pharma environment and knowledge of the end-to-end R&D drug development life cycle.

• An excellent networker and collaborator, able to work with business partners and subject matter experts to source content, and able to simplify the complex to make learning assets accessible and engaging for all.

• Excellent working knowledge of adult learning theories, instructional design and learning delivery. Experience applying these in a technical business setting.

• Practical experience building high quality learning resources with content creation tools (e.g. Articulate storyline, Page Tiger, Camtasia etc) and in learner experience platforms (e.g. Degreed)

• Creative flair, able to simplify complex scientific and technical concepts to support engagement and knowledge retention with R&D learners, in line with AZ narrative and branding.

• Solid operational and project management skills, able to coordinate and drive delivery of tactical work with discipline and efficiency.

• Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English

• Communicates effectively at all levels, from R&D learner to business stakeholders.

• Experience delivering training, workshops or global events, including leveraging technology to drive both in-person or virtual learning events.

• A proactive and agile learner, able to quickly navigate a complex business environment to deliver quality outcomes at pace.