Forecasting Leader, Global and US CVRM

Global Insights and Business Excellence (GIBEx) is a strategic function, critical for enabling success in the growth of AstraZeneca’s BioPharmaceutical Business Unit (BBU).  Our ambition is to build an industry-leading organization, empowering our Commercial teams through the generation of compelling evidence and insights, while ensuring they have the tools and skills to deliver impactful launches that change the practice of medicine for the benefit of patients.  Within GIBEx, the Insights, Analytics and Forecasting (IA&F) function supports both the US and Global organizations: and is is organized across three teams:  CVRM, Respiratory and V&I. 

Team Overview

The aim of the Insights, Analytics, and Forecasting teams is to establish industry-leading capabilities in these discplines to drive portfolio and brand strategy and performance.  We will leverage, reapply, and advance best practices in capabilities and operations primarily from Global and US, but more broadly across geographies, aiming to scale and deploy these capabilities in a highly efficient manner so that continuous innovation can be pursued that uncovers deep customer insights in order to drive improved decision-making and business impact.  We are looking for leaders who have the passion to drive business results and bring innovation to what we do for greater impact.  

The Insight, analytics and forecasting teams partner to drive portfolio and brand strategy and performance.  Together we strive to uncover deep customer insights in order to drive improved decision-making and business impact.  We are looking for leaders who have the passion to drive business results and bring innovation to what we do for greater impact.

The Global / US Forecasting Leader is a critical business partner to the brand team, producing brand revenue, patient and volume forecasts and consulting with the team on how to manage risks and opportunities for the business.  As a Forecast Leader, you will have responsibllity for a specific Global and US brand, playing an integral role in understanding performance, setting expectations for performance and guiding brand strategy.  You will be responsible for implementing and ensuring consistent application of best practices across the organization drawing from inside and outside the industry, leading to objective forecasts supported by Insights and Analytics.  You will partner with other parts of the GIBEx organization to to help develop and implement new capabilities and improvements and assist in training across the Forecasting community. 

The Forecasting Leader will develop product-specific short-term and long-term forecasts models and maintain up-to-date forecast models, reflecting current data, information, assumptions; lead the forecasting and business planning processes and all associated work streams (sales bridges, ad hocs supporting Finance, etc.); identify key business issues that impact short-term and long-range product and market forecasts; clearly and pro-actively surface these issues, incorporate the results of primary research into the forecast model(s) to reflect anticipated risks and opportunities on sales outlook, and define forecasting processes and build capabilities in forecasting for new and inline assets. In addition, you will have responsibility to develop forecasts for your focused therapeutic area using patient based forecast models, and ensure alignment on forecast assumptions and other critical analytical assessments with business partners including Marketing, Sales, Market Access and Pricing, Market Research, Global Marketing and Insight, Finance, and Sales Operations. 

This role is reserved for someone with proven Pharmaceutical Commercial sales forecasting experience with deep forecasting and quantitative technical skills combined with superior communication skills.  As such, those who will qualify for this position are both technically sound and have the ability to be a proactive internal consultant, adding value to AstraZeneca's commercial organization beyond their forecasting prowess through their understanding of secondary data, market research, industry knowledge, and track record of innovative and impactful decision support. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Construct Global long-term patient-based and US short-term TRx / NBRx forecast models that leverage credibly bold and ambitious data inputs synthesized from a variety of primary and secondary sources, are benchmarked against internal and external analogs and for Global are coordinated with key markets 

• Develop new product introduction volume forecasts, both short-term and long-term, to feed into strategic and operational planning processes. 

• Serve as functional subject matter expert in established market and disease areas of interest to the Global and US Commercial teams 

• Summarize and confidently present forecasts, including approach, methodology and assumptions, through various communication channels and be able to “tell the story” to senior commercial and clinical stakeholders 

• Ensure objectivity and robustness around the forecast via identification of the right data sources and application of industry-leading modeling approaches, with sensitivity analyses around key variables to assist in opportunity and risk management and championing the use of local customer insights 

• Access and evaluate appropriate information via a variety of internal and external tools and source, monitoring the external environment to stay up-to-date 

• Partner with Market Access, Pricing and Finance to understand access and price impact, assist estimation of SMM and support development of P&L for opportunity evaluations 

• Demonstrate a high level of understanding of the points of integration of our work and that of our colleagues 

​Essential requirements

• 8+ years of direct Pharmaceutical sales and demand forecasting experience with in-depth knowledge of forecasting techniques and use of different forecast models and approaches.  Preference for Weight Management experience 

• Strong understanding of primary market research, advanced analytics, and competitive intelligence. Primary market research experience preferred 

• Utilization of a range of Pharmaceutical industry data and analytics e.g. IQVIA (MIDAS, DDD NPA, Monthly Xponent), claims data (Truven, Marketscan), epidemiological data, RWE / RWD, etc. to shape and form a strong forecast foundation 

• Reportable accomplishments around converting derived insight into strategic guidance and commercial business cases 

• Exceptional business acumen, strategic thinking and understanding of sales and marketing business practices and how these impact the forecast and commercial business case 

• Experience advising senior level executives with proven ability to influence laterally and vertically 

• High level of agility when running multiple projects in parallel and dealing with ambiguity   

• Strong written and verbal communication skills 

Educational requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree

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.

At AstraZeneca, we are driven by a passion for science and a commitment to improving patient lives. Our collaborative culture fosters innovation and empowers employees to push boundaries and challenge conventions. With a focus on lifelong learning and development, we provide opportunities for growth and advancement. Our diverse workforce reflects the communities we serve, ensuring that different perspectives drive our success. Join us as we pioneer the future of healthcare with groundbreaking research and transformative medicines.

Ready to make a difference? Apply now to join our team and help shape the future of healthcare!

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Our 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.