Associate Director, Strategic Field Operations (Pharma​/Biotech

Associate Director, Strategic Field Operations Planning

AstraZeneca is seeking an Associate Director, Strategic Field Operations Planning to shape how complex field-facing priorities are translated into disciplined, scalable commercial operations execution. This role sits at the intersection of Sales Force Operations, Commercial Operations, field leadership, compliance, technology, analytics, consultant groups, and third-party partners—bringing the strategic oversight, operating discipline, and stakeholder influence required to enable field readiness in a highly regulated environment.

This function reports directly into the Senior Director, Field Operations.

This opportunity is ideal for a seasoned commercial operations, sales operations, field enablement, or consulting professional who can bring structure to ambiguity, influence senior stakeholders, and build governance models that improve execution quality, reduce operational risk, and strengthen alignment across field-facing initiatives.

As Associate Director, Strategic Field Operations Planning, you will:

• Set the operating approach for strategic field operations initiatives by aligning business priorities, governance routines, stakeholder expectations, decision points, ownership, and execution milestones across the commercial organization.
• Provide strategic oversight for complex operational work streams spanning field readiness, credentialing and licensing, consultant-led delivery, vendor coordination, business requirements, and cross-functional execution.
• Direct and influence external consultant groups and third-party partners, including credentialing and licensing providers, CRM partners, speaker programming partners, analytics partners, and Contract Medical Organizations where applicable, to ensure priorities are clear, risks are visible, and outcomes meet commercial, compliance, and quality expectations.
• Influence alignment across Commercial Operations, Legal, Compliance, IT, Human Resources, Sales Leadership, Insights & Analytics, and external partners to resolve barriers, accelerate decisions, and maintain momentum on field-facing priorities.
• Design and embed governance frameworks, decision rights, escalation pathways, operating rhythms, documentation standards, and business rules that increase transparency, accountability, and execution confidence.
• Translate enterprise and department calendars into practical operating plans that enable proactive planning, coordinated execution, and clear accountability across recurring Strategic Field Operations activities.
• Anticipate workflow risks, interdependency gaps, process constraints, and execution barriers; drive timely escalation and resolution to protect field readiness, operating quality, compliance discipline, and stakeholder confidence.
• Develop executive-ready communications, leadership summaries, decision materials, and stakeholder updates that create visibility into business impact, risks, dependencies, recommendations, and next steps.

• Bachelor's degree in business, life sciences, operations, project management, healthcare administration, or related field.
• 3+ years of experience in project management, commercial operations, healthcare operations, field operations, vendor management, or another relevant operational role.
• Experience shaping and leading complex operational initiatives with multiple stakeholders, dependencies, risks, decision points, execution milestones, and business outcomes.
• Experience working with credentialing and licensing vendors, healthcare operations vendors, provider/customer onboarding processes, or other third-party service providers.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence across matrixed teams, including internal stakeholders, external vendors, and consultant groups, with strong communication, organization, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.

• 5+ years of experience in commercial operations, sales operations, field enablement, healthcare operations, vendor management, consultant-led operational delivery, or strategic operations planning.
• Previous experience working with vendor or Contract Organizations, supporting life sciences.
• Experience managing credentialing, licensing, certification, onboarding, provider network, customer eligibility, or healthcare compliance-related work streams.
• Experience working in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, healthcare, medical affairs, commercial operations, or consulting environments.
• Experience influencing, directing, or holding consultant groups accountable for work executed on behalf of the business.
• Experience partnering with Legal, Compliance, Commercial Operations, Sales Leadership, IT, CRM, speaker programming, analytics, or field enablement partners.
• Experience creating governance frameworks, operating rhythms, escalation pathways, stakeholder communications, strategic decision materials, executive-ready updates, process documentation, or scalable commercial…