Senior Manager, Engagement Services [External Expert Engagement Services (E3S)]

Job Title: Senior Manager,Engagement Services [External Expert Engagement Services (E3S)]

Department: Global Business Services (GBS) – Contracting & Legal Services (CLS)

Function: E3S

Travel: 5-10%, as required for business needs

Global Career Level: E

Shift Timings- 2:00- 11:00 PM IST

Introduction to role:

Are you ready to lead a mission-critical service that enables compliant, timely, and high-quality collaborations with external experts to advance patient impact? As Senior Manager, External Expert Engagement Services (E3S), you will lead a team that delivers compliant, efficient contracting and coordination for healthcare providers and patient engagements, including advisory boards, consulting, and speaking. You will own operational performance (cycle time, first-time-right quality, stakeholder satisfaction), ensure adherence to AstraZeneca policies and global transparency requirements, and build data-driven insights to support decision-making. Partnering across Medical Affairs, Commercial, Compliance, Legal, Nominated Signatories, and enabling functions, you will drive adoption of the E3S operating model and continuously improve processes to scale engagement services across the business.

Accountabilities:

• Team leadership and service delivery: Lead a high-performing team of Engagement Specialists to deliver compliant, timely, and high-quality processing of External Expert (EE) engagements; own service KPIs including cycle time, first-time-right, backlog, and stakeholder satisfaction.

• Operational governance: Chair regular operational meetings to address process changes, training needs, and feedback; ensure consistent policy interpretation, decision rationale, documentation, and activity reconciliation for EE contract requests.

• Stakeholder management: Build and maintain a robust network across Medical Affairs, Commercial, Compliance, Legal, Nominated Signatory, Global Meetings & Events, Payments, and IT to drive adoption of E3S governance and processes.

• Transparency and compliance: Ensure accurate tracking and data capture to meet company-dictated and government transparency reporting requirements (e.g., US Sunshine/Open Payments and country-specific rules); enforce FMV, caps, and utilization management.

• Controls and monitoring: Conduct first-line monitoring of processes; maintain audit readiness; lead corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to remediate findings and reduce risk.

• Analytics and insights: Develop and socialize dashboards/scorecards (volume, utilization, payment timeliness, exception rates, budget-to-actual) to inform operational decision-making and business planning.

• Demand and capacity planning: Own regional demand forecasting, capacity planning, and resource deployment; collaborate with the Director of Engagement Services on medium-term workforce planning and skills mix.

• Customer relationship management: Serve as the primary point of contact for the business area once deployed to the contracting system of record (e.g., Engage); drive customer satisfaction and service adoption, including senior management engagement.

• Payments oversight: Monitor payment timeliness and accuracy; partner with the Payments team to proactively resolve exceptions and prevent aging backlogs.

• Issue and escalation management: Address queries and escalations promptly and professionally; serve as deputy/back-up to the Director for coverage and high-priority escalations.

• Continuous improvement and change management: Identify process gaps and lead optimization initiatives to improve throughput, compliance, and user experience; manage change and training rollouts.

• People management: Conduct quarterly and year-end performance reviews; own succession planning and backfill management; lead recruiting, onboarding, and training for new hires; hold monthly skip-level meetings to strengthen engagement and risk sensing.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree in a related field.

• Experience: 5–7 years in biopharmaceutical or highly regulated industries, with familiarity working in a matrix organization, HCP and commercial contract management, red-line support, including at least 2–3 years leading teams or programs.

• Technical and compliance knowledge: Hands-on experience with contracting and engaging healthcare providers/patients; working knowledge of fair market value (FMV), transparency, anti-bribery/anti-corruption (ABAC), and vendor management.

• Analytics and decision-making: Ability to conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis; build and interpret operational dashboards; translate insights into actionable recommendations aligned to the E3S strategic vision.

• Process and project management: Strong process design and project management skills with a solutions-oriented approach to simplify complex workflows.

• Influence and communication: Strong leadership and communication skills, including the ability to influence without authority and interact effectively with senior stakeholders.

• AZ policy knowledge: Knowledge and understanding of AstraZeneca policies, standards, and guidelines governing EE engagements.

• Working model: Willingness to travel 5–10%; hybrid work aligned to GBS location policies.

• Cultural competence: Proficient demonstration of cultural sensitivity and experience working across regions.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Regulatory expertise: Legal and Compliance background with deep knowledge of PhRMA Code, FDA/OIG guidance, ABAC, GDPR, and global/country-specific compliance and transparency requirements.

• Functional breadth: Prior experience across Commercial Operations, Medical Affairs, Compliance, Legal, Clinical Development & Regulatory Affairs, or Global Meetings & Events.

• Systems experience: Familiarity with contracting/CLM platforms (e.g., Engage or successor platform), ERP payments systems, CRM, and BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau).

• Continuous improvement: Certification or practical experience in Lean/Agile, Six Sigma, or change management (e.g., Prosci).

• AstraZeneca knowledge: In-depth knowledge of AstraZeneca operations, processes, and systems.

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.

Why AstraZeneca:

Work where bold ideas meet practical execution. You will join a highly connected, digitally savvy team that powers the enterprise with smarter processes, data-driven decisions, and modern technology—so our scientists and markets can serve patients faster. We unite entrepreneurial energy with rigorous compliance, value kindness alongside ambition, and bring unexpected teams together to turn change into lasting impact. Your leadership will help set the operational foundation for the next wave of growth and innovation.

Call to Action:

Lead E3S to new heights—take ownership of this pivotal service, elevate transparency and performance, and shape how expert engagement accelerates our impact on patients and the business.

Date Posted

Closing Date

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.