Lead, R&D Business Analysis; Director

Lead, R&D Business Analysis

Do you want to be part of an inclusive team that works to develop innovative therapies for patients? Every day, we are driven to develop and deliver innovative and effective new medicines to patients and physicians. If you want to be part of this exciting work, you belong at Astellas!

Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that bring value and hope to patients and their families. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the world.

For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at

This position is based in Northbrook, Illinois. Hybrid work from certain states may be permitted in accordance with Astellas’ Responsible Flexibility Guidelines. Candidates interested in hybrid work are encouraged to apply.

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced leader to join our team. The Lead, R&D Business Analysis plays a dual leadership role in driving the digital transformation of pharmaceutical R&D. This role requires strong people management and cross‑functional leadership skills, a collaborative mindset, and the ability to drive results in a fast‑paced environment.

The primary responsibility of the Lead, R&D Business Analysis is to serve as a people manager, responsible for developing talent, managing team capacity, and fostering excellence across the community of Business Analysts who support R&D digital initiatives. The Lead, R&D Business Analysis will be assigned to lead a cross‑functional team for the management of a portfolio of relevant R&D digital capabilities.

They will be working across scientific, operational, data, and technology domains to define vision, guide execution, and ensure business value realization for key digital products and platforms.

• Manage a team of Business Analysts who support digital initiatives across R&D.
• In conjunction with Pod Captains, manage resource allocation and capacity planning to meet portfolio demands while balancing team workload and priorities.
• Coach and mentor team members to strengthen core capabilities in Astellas values and behaviors, R&D business analysis, digital product management, stakeholder engagement and communication, and agile delivery.
• Foster a collaborative and innovative team culture, encouraging open communication and idea sharing.
• Partner with HR and functional leaders to attract, retain, and develop top digital talent aligned with evolving R&D business needs.
• Lead a cross‑functional matrixed team focused on a specific portfolio of digital capabilities for R&D, ensuring alignment with relevant functional goals and company objectives.
• Lead the development and monitoring of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).
• Collaborate with cross‑functional stakeholders and R&DX leadership team to set OKRs, track progress, and address concerns.
• Continue to mature agile way of working, through ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, regular stand‑ups, and use of our Agile Enterprise applications (Azure Dev Ops) for managing epics, features, user stories and sprints.
• Monitor project timelines, budgets, and resources, ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders and technical teams to identify innovation opportunities including the use of AI, GenAI, automation and advanced analytics.

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Business Administration, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or related field. Advanced degree (MS, MBA, PhD) or equivalent experience preferred.
• 10+ years of experience in business analysis or digital product management within pharmaceutical R&D and/or management consulting group focused on R&D in life science, plus 5+ years of people leadership, including managing and developing high‑performing teams.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross‑functional digital initiatives or product portfolios in complex, matrixed…