Senior Director, CVRM Genomics Therapeutic Area Lead in Boston

Make a meaningful impact on patients’ lives around the world. AstraZeneca’s mission is to push the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines. The Centre for Genomics Research (CGR) is advancing one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to apply human genomics and population-scale health data to reshape how diseases are understood and how therapeutic decisions are made. Our work enables clinically meaningful, genetically informed decision-making across the full drug development pipeline.

A unique leadership opportunity to bridge science and clinical care. We are seeking a leader with an MD and/or PhD in a relevant biomedical field who sees population genomics as a tool for understanding disease biology, guiding therapeutic development, and improving patient outcomes. In this role, you will shape how human genetic and multi-omic evidence informs AstraZeneca’s strategy and pipeline in Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolic (CVRM) diseases. You will play a central role in determining how we select targets, design trials, stratify patients, understand drug response variation, and ultimately bring therapies to the patients who will benefit most. You will also contribute directly to AstraZeneca’s global scientific footprint, working across a 60+ partner international network including leading academic medical centers, biobanks, and industry consortia. You will report directly to the Vice President, Head of the Centre for Genomics Research, and serve as a member of the CGR Leadership Team.

As the CVRM Genomics Therapeutic Area Lead, you will:

• Define and lead the CVRM Genomic strategy for CGR, ensuring strong alignment to unmet patient needs and AstraZeneca’s therapeutic area priorities.
• Bring clinical reasoning and genetic insight together to identify disease mechanisms, prioritize therapeutic targets, and develop biomarker and patient identification strategies.
• Integrate genomic, multi-omic, clinical, biomarker, and real-world evidence data to evaluate disease heterogeneity and causal mechanistic pathways, support mechanism-based development and indication expansion, and inform lifecycle management and post-market investigation.
• Collaborate with CVRM TA leadership to apply population genomic insight to inform patient selection and disease subtyping, identify clinical biomarkers and biomarker-driven stratification approaches that enhance clinical trial interpretability and raise the likelihood of therapeutic success.
• Lead scientific collaboration across AstraZeneca and the global research community, leveraging clinical insight to prioritize high-value partnerships and investments.
• Mentor and inspire cross-functional teams of scientists, clinicians, geneticists, and data scientists toward shared goals.

Essential Criteria

• MD (or international equivalent) and/or relevant PhD with deep understanding of CVRM disease biology, gained through clinical practice, translational research, or therapeutic development.
• Significant experience in clinical research and/or drug development in pharmaceutical or academic environments.
• Demonstrated ability to apply human genetics or multi-omics to inform disease mechanisms, patient stratification, therapeutic hypotheses, or clinical trial strategy.
• Experience in genetic epidemiology and/or rare variant interpretation, including evaluating variant pathogenicity, penetrance, and clinical relevance in patient populations.
• Proven track record leading complex, cross-functional scientific or clinical research across matrixed teams and external partners (e.g., academic, biotech, consortia).
• Collaborative, patient-centered leader who thrives working across disciplines to solve translational challenges and shape how medicine is developed and used at scale.
• Experience contributing to clinical trial design, patient enrichment strategies, or biomarker-driven study planning.
• Excellent communicator able to convey clinical reasoning and genomic insights to audiences ranging from data scientists to therapy area leadership and governance boards.
• Ability to influence portfolio and investment decisions through scientific and clinical reasoning.
• Experience mentoring and developing scientific talent.

Desirable Criteria

• Recognized scientific contributions (publications, conference presentations, guideline contributions, etc.).
• Experience leveraging human genomics to inform clinical development, biomarker strategy, or real-world evidence studies.
• Familiarity with regulatory, ethical, or privacy considerations for genomic research.
• Clinical experience.

At AstraZeneca, we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work, where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and unleash your entrepreneurial spirit. There’s no better place to make a difference in medicine, patients and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration, we are committed to lifelong learning, growth and development.