Specialist - External Delivery

Job Title: Specialist - External Delivery

Career Level: D2

Introduction to role:

Are you ready to transform principled external delivery and procurement rigor into faster, smarter execution that ultimately improves how we serve patients? This role turns operational excellence into enterprise value—bringing structure to complexity, resilience to delivery, and clarity to spend, so our teams can move with confidence.

As Specialist - External Delivery, you will be the connective tissue between partners, procurement, finance and our delivery teams in GCS Omnichannel Operations. You will own SOW and PO oversight, orchestrate partner governance, and surface insights that keep spend aligned to plan while ensuring tools and services are always on. Do you thrive on simplifying processes, driving automation, and improving compliance while moving at pace?

Accountabilities:

• Procurement Compliance Oversight: Serve as the primary contact for SOW and PO processes, ensuring complete alignment with Procurement and Finance requirements to reduce risk and accelerate delivery.

• Vendor Support and Enablement: Provide timely support to vendors and agencies on PO, invoicing, system access and training needs, resolving issues quickly to keep work on track.

• Budget and Spend Control: Monitor spend against key POs, advise collaborators when deviations arise, and take corrective action to protect budgets and outcomes.

• Process Improvement and Automation: Identify, design and implement improvements that simplify workflows, cut cycle time and boost efficiency across external delivery.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with Vendor Managers and Associates on improvement programs, simplification initiatives and automation opportunities that scale across the team.

• Regional Initiatives and Market Support: Support the senior manager for external delivery on region-specific priorities and act as the point of contact for designated markets to ensure consistent execution.

• Procurement Partnership: Collaborate with Procurement on vendor and agency initiatives that add business value and enhance customer satisfaction.

• Compliance Coordination: Coordinate and support compliance activities, ensuring audit readiness and consistent adherence to policy.

• Documentation Management: Own and maintain vendor-related documentation on the designated platform, keeping records current, complete and accessible.

• Partner Onboarding and Transitions: Manage introductions and transitions when partners change, ensuring continuity, clarity and minimal disruption.

• Partner Governance: Schedule and facilitate partner meetings, including status reviews and governance boards, to drive alignment and decision-making.

• Information Flow and Communication: Ensure timely exchange of information and documentation between all parties to prevent blockers and critical issues.

• Meeting Operations: Prepare agendas, minutes and action trackers, then drive follow-up by tracking and closing items with accountable collaborators.

• Studio OSP Utilization Monitoring: Track utilization of studio OSPs and raise per agreed thresholds to keep capacity aligned with plan.

• Tool Contract Management: Partner with vendors and GCS tool owners to manage contracts for GCS-owned tools, ensuring scope, terms and renewals are aligned.

• License Consumption Tracking: Monitor tool license usage and proactively bring up when consumption nears thresholds to prevent overages and service disruption.

• Contract Changes and Renewals: Track and coordinate partner change requests, contract amendments and renewals to maintain continuity and compliance.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Experience acting as the main point of contact for oversight of SOW and PO processes for GCS Omnichannel Operations, ensuring full compliance with Procurement and Finance requirements.

• Experience supporting vendors and agencies with PO or invoicing enquiries and resolving system access and training issues.

• Proven ability to monitor spend against key POs (budget) and advise or take corrective action when not aligned.

• Demonstrated track record of driving process improvement in own area to deliver time savings and efficiency gains.

• Experience working with Vendor Managers and other Associates on key improvement programs and on simplification and automation opportunities across the team.

• Experience supporting senior manager external delivery on region-specific initiatives and serving as point of contact for identified markets.

• Experience collaborating with Procurement on vendor or agency initiatives that enhance the business and improve customer satisfaction.

• Experience supporting and coordinating compliance-related activities.

• Experience owning and maintaining related vendor documentation on the designated platform.

• Experience documenting partner processes, retaining them centrally, and keeping them up to date.

• Experience managing new partner introductions or transitions where there is a change of partner.

• Experience scheduling and facilitating regular partner meetings (status reviews, governance boards).

• Experience ensuring timely exchange of information, documentation and updates between both parties.

• Experience preparing agendas, minutes and action trackers for governance and review meetings and driving follow-up by tracking and closing action items per meeting minutes.

• Experience monitoring utilization of studio OSPs and advancing per agreed thresholds and processes when utilization deviates from plan.

• Experience partnering with vendors and GCS tool owners to manage contracts for GCS-owned tools, ensuring alignment on scope, terms and renewals.

• Experience tracking tool license consumption and proactively advancing issues when usage approaches agreed thresholds to prevent overages and service disruption.

• Experience tracking and coordinating partner change requests, contract amendments and renewals.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Hands-on expertise with enterprise procurement and finance systems (e.g., SAP Ariba, Coupa) and invoice management workflows.

• Contract lifecycle management experience, including vendor onboarding, amendments and renewals across multiple geographies.

• Familiarity with omnichannel marketing operations and agency delivery models.

• SaaS license management experience and understanding of usage telemetry and threshold controls.

• Strong data skills, including advanced Excel and familiarity with reporting or visualization tools (e.g., Power BI), to create actionable insights on spend, capacity and utilization.

• Lean, Six Sigma, or similar process improvement experience focused on simplification and automation.

• Proven collaborator management and clear written and verbal communication across senior leaders, partners and technical teams.

• Meeting facilitation, governance rigor and PMO-style approach in the field to drive decisions and follow-through.

• Knowledge of compliance frameworks and audit-ready documentation practices.

• Experience working with outsourced service providers (OSPs) and studio or production workflows.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

Why AstraZeneca:

Here you will use your craft to power real progress—bringing unexpected teams together to solve complex problems, modernize how we work and free our scientists and clinicians to focus on breakthroughs. We are building a tech-enabled enterprise with smart automation, data-informed decisions and disciplined execution, all grounded in doing the right thing. Join a global community passionate about connection that moves quickly and with purpose. Your voice will be heard, your ideas will spread fast, and your growth will receive meaningful investment. We value kindness alongside ambition and believe that rigorous delivery and continuous learning turn operational excellence into better outcomes for patients.

Take the next step and lead how we deliver with partners—apply today to turn precise execution into measurable impact for patients!

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.