Associate Director – Territory Operations Management

Are you ready to build site operations that bring cutting-edge cell therapies safely and reliably to patients? Do you thrive at the intersection of clinical care, quality, and supply chain, where decisions directly impact outcomes?

In this role, you will shape how our cell therapy portfolio reaches patients across a regional network of healthcare centers. You will lead site operations readiness, design patient and product workflows, and ensure end-to-end quality from raw material collection to infusion. Your work will directly contribute to launch excellence and transform the patient experience in cancer care.

You will join a multidisciplinary team that moves fast, collaborates deeply, and values personal accountability. By aligning logistics, processes, and training with each site’s needs, you will turn breakthrough science into dependable care pathways that scale.

Accountabilities:

Stakeholder Partnerships: Build trusted relationships with physician leaders and operational champions (MD, PA, RN, MLT, CQA) to establish service lines that support clinical trials and future commercial products.

Site Readiness Leadership: Serve as the primary operations readiness contact for cell therapy; collaborate with Supply Chain to align logistics, processes, and operations to site requirements.

Product and Process Expertise: Provide in-depth expertise on AstraZeneca products and processes to all customer stakeholders, enabling safe, efficient delivery.

Operational and Quality Oversight: Lead oversight of raw material collection, final product receipt, storage and distribution, infusion, and robust management of Chain of Identity and Chain of Custody.

Clinical Modeling and Meetings: Drive operational meetings with multidisciplinary physician leadership to establish patient and cell product models that support trials and commercial launches.

Cross-Functional Workflow Design: Convene nursing, laboratory, pharmacy, quality, and operations leaders to develop end-to-end product and patient workflows built for reliability and scale.

Internal Collaboration: Maintain tight communication with partners across Cell Therapy Hub, Clinical Operations, SMM, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, Medical, and Commercial to coordinate site management and clinical care for the portfolio.

Site Activation and Training: Lead risk-based certification, training, and monitoring for site activation; develop and execute HCP training and ensure appropriate COI/COC access for trained individuals.

Logistics and Change Management: Oversee site logistics; manage regional account changes in partnership with the Cell Therapy Hub to sustain consistent delivery.

SOP Detour Resolution: Respond swiftly and collegially to deviations from SOPs; support and/or own quality records (Deviations, CAPA, Change Control) in collaboration with QA.

Travel: Travel up to 50% to engage sites, strengthen partnerships, and support operational excellence.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders from the Sites assigned to your territory.

• Establish the service line to support AZ's clinical and commercial goals with key staff at site (MD, PA, RN, MLT, CQA).

• Lead and serve as the Site's primary cell therapy operations readiness contact for our multidisciplinary teams. Collaborate with Supply Chain, aligning logistics, processes, and operations with the site and needs.

• Provide expertise around AZ's products and processes to all customer stakeholders.

• Responsible for the operational and quality oversight, patient/cell product modeling, and field quality support of Sites in the assigned regions.

• Provide exemplary customer service while building business relations with clinical and operational leaders at the Sites.

• Lead operational meetings with the physician leadership from multiple disciplines to establish patient models to support our trials and commercial products.

• Lead cross-functional meetings with the nursing, laboratory, pharmacists, quality, and operational champions to develop the product and patient workflows for our trials and future commercial products.

• Maintain a high level of collaboration and communication with our partners in Cell Therapy Hub, Clin Ops, SMM, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, Medical, Commercial, and others to ensure appropriate management of customer healthcare centers and clinical care related to our cell therapy portfolio.

• Operational and Clinical Oversight of the raw material collection, final product receipt, storage and distribution, infusion, and the chain of identity (COI) and chain of custody (COC).

• Lead the Site activation process using risk-based tools for certification, training, and monitoring.

• Develop and execute training of Site HCPs related to the product needs. Ensure access to COI/COC is provided to trained individuals in collaboration with our Cell Therapy Hub.

• Oversee the Chain of Identity and Chain of Custody at the Site.

• Lead the training distribution to the assigned region.

• Oversee Site logistics and manage changes for the regional accounts in collaboration with our Cell Therapy Hub.

• Respond to every detour from the established SOPs and commit to responding with the utmost experience and collegiality.

• Support and/or own quality records (Deviations, CAPA, Change control, etc.) in collaboration with our Cell Therapy Hub and QA.

• Travel up to 50%.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Proven experience leading site activation and readiness for complex therapies, ideally cell therapy or advanced biologics.

• Deep familiarity with hospital operations across infusion centers, apheresis, pharmacy, laboratory, and quality functions.

• Demonstrated expertise in COI/COC systems and end-to-end traceability from collection through infusion.

• Hands-on experience with quality systems, including deviations, CAPA, and change control in regulated environments.

• Strong capability to design and deliver training programs for diverse HCP audiences and to manage certification and monitoring using risk-based tools.

• Track record of cross-functional leadership, aligning clinical operations, supply chain, manufacturing, medical, and commercial stakeholders to deliver measurable outcomes.

• Exceptional communication, relationship-building, and customer service skills that drive adoption, reliability, and continuous improvement.

• Fluency in English and Italian

Why AstraZeneca:

Join a dedicated Oncology team where bold science meets practical execution. You will work with a pipeline that is setting new standards in cancer care, alongside colleagues from unexpected disciplines in the same room unleashing bold thinking. We blend ambition with support, valuing kindness alongside high performance, and we learn fast—partnering across functions and with the healthcare community to turn breakthroughs into real-world impact. Your leadership will help accelerate launches, transform the patient experience, and move us closer to a future where cancer is no longer a cause of death.

Call to Action:

Step into a role where your operational leadership will shape how life-changing cell therapies reach patients—bring your expertise to AstraZeneca and make your next career move count.

Date Posted

25-feb-2026

Closing Date

11-mar-2026

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.

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 authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.