Business Excellence Lead

Role Purpose

• Mission: Embedoperational excellenceandcrossfunctional process optimizationacross Marketing Sales Medical and Market Access by adaptingGlobal leading practices methods and toolkitsto Romanian market realities and brands while drivingcapability buildingandAIenhanceddecision making to improve measurable performance.
• Scope: National (all brands/TAs) with crossBU alignment (BBU OBU RDU) and tight integration with SFE Omnichannel Data/BI Digital Excellence and Market Access governance.

Key responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional business excellence across Marketing Sales Medical and Market Access embedding standardized ways of working governance and metrics.
• Orchestrate Brand Planning Go-To-Market cycle planning and cross-functional handoffs aligning to Romanian priority pathways and accounts with shared scorecards.
• Drive SFE and channel effectiveness governance: partner with SFE & Channel Effectiveness Managers (per BU) on segmentation targeting territory design incentive schemes and field performance diagnostics; synchronize with omnichannel plans and medical scientific engagement.
• Champion operational excellence across customer engagement people/processes and data & AI - evolving toward agentic AI use cases for Next Beast Action (NBA) and compliant content at scale.
• Operational Metrics & Accountability: Define and maintain standard KPI taxonomy (reach frequency mix conversion SFE KPIs OC KPIs); embedOKRsand quarterly business reviews; ensure consistent reporting definitions with BI.
• Leading Practices PullThrough: Translate global leading practices and toolkits into Romanias market realities (brand planningframeworks cycle planning checklists pre-launch excellence plans account working plans etc); ensure capability pull-through and adoption across TAs; update annually and after major launches.
• Education & Enablement: Codesign with Capability and Learning Managers rolebased curricula; run excellence sprints for brand teams; track capability adoption and proficiency; ensure reinforcement postlaunch or major program rollouts.
• AI Integration: Identify AI use cases in planning/execution; socialize guardrails with Compliance; lead analytics translation sessions to convert AI/BI recommendations into brand actions and field plays; oversee A/B testing governance.

• Process Improvement: Run continuous improvement cycles on key processes (brand planning cycle cadence launch readiness account working) documenting changes and benefits; retire outdated practices.
• Compliance & Risk Management: Ensure adherence to data privacy promo/medical boundaries and platform governance; coordinate with IT Lead and Compliance for process changes impacting systems or data.

Core Skills and Competencies

• Operating Model Design & Governance: Build standardized ways of working governance forums and cadence discipline; strongprocess optimization.
• SFE & Omnichannel Expertise: Deep knowledge of segmentation/targeting cycle planning incentive design omnichannel execution standards and performance governance.
• Advanced Analytical Thinking: Ability to interpret dashboards AI outputs and A/B tests; convert insights into practical actions for brand and field teams.
• Change Leadership & Stakeholder Management: Influence across BUs/TAs; partner with leadership to embed capabilities; strong communication and facilitation.
• Compliance Mindset: Robust understanding of promo/medical boundaries data privacy and platform governance.
• Education & Coaching: Instructional design literacy; handson enablement and reinforcement strategies.

Core Capability Pillars

• Toolkit Adaptation & Method Enablement: Translate Global frameworks (brand planning GTM cycle planning SFE OC what good looks like) into local SOPs templates and operating rituals; maintain a living library of methods and playbooks.
• Education & Capability Building: Lead structured curricula for commercial functions (Marketing Sales Medical Market Access) in partnership with L&D; drive onboarding reinforcement and rolebased competency uplift via workshops clinics and onthejob coaching.
• Governance & Ways of Working: Establish and steward standardized governance for brand planning crossfunctional handoffs performance scorecards OKRs and cadence management; ensure compliance and auditreadiness.
• Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE): Oversee the SFE framework with SFE & Channel Effectiveness Managers: segmentation/targeting territory/call planning goaling/incentives field performance review and omnichannel integration.
• AIEnabled Operational Excellence: Champion AI integration (e.g. NBA content recommendations resource optimization) to streamline planning and execution; interpret model outputs with Data Transformation and BI and drive insightstoaction.

Qualifications and experience

• 8 years in commercial excellence SFE or related pharma roles; experience across multiple functions.
• Proven record of implementing standardized governance and driving capability adoption.
• Familiarity with brand planning GTM models OC planning and execution cycle planning (CEX360 tools) Veeva CRM processes and EUCAN frameworks.

CrossFunctional Collaboration

• SFE & Channel Effectiveness Managers: Cogovern SFE and OC integration; align on targeting call planning and incentive frameworks and performance readouts.
• Commercial L&D: Coown capability roadmap; localize Global content; measure proficiency gains and adoption.
• Omnichannel & Digital Specialists: Define what good looks like for campaign design; connect brand planning outputs to OC operational plans and dashboards.
• Digital Excellence Lead: Align on AI/MarTech toolkits adoption programs and change management; ensure consistent digital standards and playbooks.
• Data Transformation & BI Analyst: Validate KPI definitions; standardize dashboards; run A/B tests and analytics translation; ensure insighttoaction loops.
• Medical & Market Access: Synchronize scientific engagement governance and account working; align pathways priorities and compliant handoffs.
• IT Lead/Compliance: Coordinate platform/process changes; ensure security privacy and role governance.

Integration of AI Technologies

• Use Cases:Next Best Action content recommendations call/resource optimization audience/segment prioritization cycle plan optimization A/B test design.
• Operating Guardrails: Document AI decisioning boundaries humanintheloop review and compliance checkpoints; ensure explainability and audit trails with Data/BI.
• Adoption: Lead change management training and rolespecific enablement; track adoption KPIs (usage recommendations actioned performance uplift).
• Measurement: Define uplift targets per use case (e.g. call plan efficiency engagement conversion content utilization); run controlled tests; scale postvalidation.

Methods & Toolkits (adaptation focus)

• Brand Planning & GTM Playbooks: Localized templates timelines stakeholder maps and handoff checklists.
• SFE Frameworks: Targeting/segmentation methods territory optimization guidelines incentive design toolkit performance review cadences.
• Omnichannel Standards: What good looks like for journeys content operations dashboard packs and campaign OKR templates.
• AI Adoption Guides: Usecase charters guardrails humanintheloop SOPs change management materials and analytics translation guides.
• Governance Assets: Scorecards KPI dictionary OKR frameworks QBR templates and RACI matrices for crossfunctional processes.

Operating Cadence

• Quarterly: Brand performance reviews capability maturity assessment SFE governance AI usecase reviews.
• Monthly: Cycle plan checkpoint OC campaign governance analytics translation clinics continuous improvement standups.
• Per Launch/Initiative: Launch readiness governance training sprints A/B test plans postimplementation impact reviews.

Role Interfaces in IBEX 2.0

• Operational pillar: Leads Business Excellence with SFE Learning & Development OC Specialists BI IT and Internal Support to ensure repeatable measurable delivery.
• Transformational pillar: Partners with Digital Excellence and Data Transformation to scale AI use cases and modernize decision making.

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.