Director Enterprise Architecture

Introduction to role:

Are you ready to develop an enterprise architecture that strengthens product quality and speeds up the provision of medications to patients worldwide? In this role, you will lead the end-to-end architecture across Pharmaceutical Technology, Quality Control, and Global Quality Assurance—linking datasets, artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions, applications, and platforms to clear business outcomes in a highly regulated environment.

From day one, you will develop a vision for architecture spanning one to five years and bring coherence to a sophisticated global portfolio. Can you see yourself simplifying and standardizing how we assure product quality across sites, minimizing exposure and expenses while growing agility? You will create the foundations that enable faster, safer decisions from lab to plant to release.

You will join an experienced architecture community that moves quickly, challenges how work gets done, and unites teams with varied strengths behind pragmatic standards. Your judgment will guide strategic choices, your governance will unlock value at pace, and your leadership will build the capabilities that keep our technology ecosystem resilient and ready for what’s next.

Accountabilities:

Provide coordinated compose mentorship throughout Business, data science, intelligent systems, application development, and technological areas related to pharmaceutical tech, quality checking, and international quality assurance, ensuring solutions deliver measurable capability uplift.

Architecture Strategy and Roadmaps: Define and own the develop principles, protocols, and roadmaps covering a timeframe spanning from one to as many as five years. Align them with corporate targets and regulatory needs. Set the North Star and sequence investments that improve value.

Strategic Decision Authority: Act as the authority for major architecture decisions; approve solution builds, guide segment architectures, and ensure builds balance speed, risk, and cost.

Portfolio Simplification and Risk Reduction: Continuously align capabilities to current objectives; rationalize and simplify to reduce technical risk and TCO while improving resilience and accuracy of data.

Governance and Cross-Functional Engagement: Participate in steering teams, design authorities, and standards forums; bring clarity to trade-offs and ensure disciplined, outcome-focused decision-making.

Trend Sensing and Thought Leadership: Examine sector and business environment developments relevant to your domain; translate insights into actionable mentorship and investments that keep us ahead.

Standards, Procedures, and Tools: Coordinate the building and adoption of EA guidelines, workflows, and instruments; embed compliance validation and reliable data practices as a fundamental element.

External Partnerships and Product Evaluation: Establish strategic collaborations with major providers and integration specialists; evaluate products, develop cases, and secure value through informed choices.

Lead 5 to 8 architects and a wider matrix community. Mentor, manage performance, develop expertise, and build communities of practice to increase impact.

Work globally across sites and functions. Partner with research and development, production, technical operations, and distribution teams. Ensure delivery of consistent, high-quality architectures across complex, large-scale environments.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Proven experience providing enterprise design leadership across Business, Data, AI/ML, Application, and Technology within Pharmaceutical Technology, QC, and Global QA.
• Demonstrated ability to define architecture strategy, standards, and 1–5 year roadmaps aligned to business priorities and supervised operating requirements.
• Authority to make and govern strategic architecture decisions; experience signing off solution blueprints and guiding segment architectures.
• Track record of continuously aligning capabilities with business objectives, rationalizing and simplifying portfolios to reduce risk and cost.
• Active participation in cross-functional decision-making bodies (e.g., project steering teams, technical design authorities) and design/standards governance forums.
• Evidence of championing enterprise architecture initiatives across technology organizations; ability to analyse market and industry trends and assess impact.
• Leadership of EA standards, processes, and tooling, with embedded GxP validation and measures ensuring data reliability in architectures.
• Experience establishing partnerships with key technology suppliers and system integrators; evaluating products and shaping business cases.
• Dedication to capability development through mentoring, collaborative learning groups, and standards ownership.
• People leadership of 5–8 architects with varied seniority, plus matrix leadership across adjacent domains and programs; accountable for coaching, performance management, capability building, and delegation.
• Success operating with a global remit across multiple countries and functions, with interfaces to R&D, Manufacturing/Tech Ops, and Supply Chain.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Certification or formal training in enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF) and experience with modern EA tooling (e.g., LeanIX, Ardoq).
• Deep familiarity with GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, Annex 11, and data integrity principles, including experience navigating audits and validations.
• Hands-on leadership of cloud-centric architectures (Azure/AWS), data platforms, and AI/ML enablement in QC/QA contexts.
• Knowledge of quality and manufacturing ecosystems such as QMS, LIMS, MES, serialization, and release/lot disposition processes.
• Proven outcomes in portfolio simplification, cost reduction, and risk mitigation at enterprise scale.
• Strong vendor management and negotiation skills; ability to structure value-focused contracts and partnerships.
• Executive communication and storytelling skills that influence senior stakeholders and align diverse teams.
• Advanced degree in a relevant field or equivalent experience driving transformation in complex, regulated environments.

Why AstraZeneca:

Here, architecture is a catalyst for business performance and patient impact. You will work where unexpected teams sit in the same room to unlock bold thinking, uniting science, operations, and technology to create simpler, faster, safer ways of working. We match ambition with support: clear purpose, access to cutting-edge tools, and a collaborative culture that values kindness alongside challenge. Your designs won’t gather dust—they will be adopted, scaled globally, and felt in how quickly and reliably we deliver life-changing medicines.

Call to Action:

If you are ready to set the architectural direction that elevates quality, reduces risk, and accelerates medicines to patients at global scale, seize this opportunity to lead, simplify, and deliver impact now!

Date Posted

Closing Date

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.