Cell Therapy Supply Chain Operational Excellence & Performance Lead

The Associate Director, Cell Therapy Supply Chain Operations Transformation & Performance Lead is responsible for driving business process transformation, operational excellence, and performance management across the Cell Therapy Global Supply Chain organization. Reporting to the Director, Strategy & Business Planning, this role partners with supply chain leaders and business process owners to simplify, standardize, and scale end-to-end supply chain processes while strengthening governance, performance visibility, and decision-making.

This role will be instrumental in enabling AstraZeneca’s bold cell therapy ambitions by helping build a scalable, future-ready supply chain operating model that can support the rapid growth and evolving complexity of the business. The leader will help shape the next generation of cell therapy supply chain capabilities through Lean principles, process transformation, and digitization.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in transforming how the Global Supply Chain organization operates, scales, and delivers — enabling sustainable growth while strengthening operational excellence, agility, and end-to-end performance.

Key Responsibilities Support strategic transformation initiatives

Establish and maintain the end-to-end supply chain process framework, including standards, governance, ownership, process architecture, and continuous improvement.

Partner with supply chain leaders and cross-functional business process owners to design and implement future-state, scalable operating models.

Drive operational excellence through Lean methodologies, structured problem-solving, process simplification, standardization, and continuous improvement.

Facilitate cross-functional workshops to assess current-state processes, identify opportunities, define future-state solutions, and develop implementation roadmaps.

Develop and enhance the global supply chain performance management framework, including KPIs, Tier-based performance management, management review routines, and escalation processes.

Establish meaningful metrics, data definitions, and reporting structures that improve performance visibility, accountability, and data-driven decision-making.

Support governance forums and cross-functional management routines that strengthen alignment, prioritization, decision-making, and issue resolution.

Partner with Digital and Supply Chain teams to identify and implement automation, advanced analytics, digital, and AI-enabled solutions that enhance supply chain effectiveness.

Leverage data and analytics to identify trends, uncover improvement opportunities, measure transformation outcomes, and support strategic decision-making.

Build strong partnerships across Planning, Procurement, Manufacturing, Logistics, Quality, Digital, and other key functions to drive end-to-end transformation.

Lead change management and stakeholder engagement to drive adoption of new processes, tools, operating models, and governance structures.

Develop and communicate transformation roadmaps, progress, performance insights, and key outcomes to senior stakeholders.

Identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, and scale supply chain capabilities as the cell therapy business continues to evolve.

Help establish a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, accountability, and operational excellence across the Global Supply Chain organization.

Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Engineering, Operations, Life Sciences, Business, or related field.
6+ years of relevant experience with a Bachelor's degree

Experience in biopharmaceutical, biotech, advanced therapy, or other highly regulated operations environments.

Strong understanding of end-to-end supply chain processes, including planning, procurement,…