AstraZeneca Posted August 5, 2026

Executive Regulatory Science Director, Respiratory & Immunology

Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America Full time
Regulatory Affairs Respiratory Director

AstraZeneca is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Join us at AstraZeneca, where we are investing in internal capabilities to discover and accelerate the delivery of next-generation respiratory and immunology modalities for patients. As part of our Regulatory Affairs team, you will play a crucial role in bringing these transformative therapies from the lab to life.

Executive Regulatory Science Director, Respiratory & Immunology should be comfortable interacting with senior leaders, be a tough negotiator, can make decisions in ambiguity, be a decisive leader, and a realist while providing global strategic regulatory expertise and oversight to support products through research, development and commercialization. Their expertise applies to early, late and post-marketing development stages for respiratory and immunology  diseases. They ensure that adequate regulatory resource and skills are provided  in line with designated disease area strategies and portfolio to enhance the likelihood of success which meet business needs, health authorities, and patients. They will partner with functions to ensure regulatory experts are assigned to provide strategic regulatory and development advice/direction at the time of key milestone investment decisions across the portfolio.

How you will make a difference:

Provide oversight, partner with, and mentor RADs and SrRADs to produce strategies for a product/group of products in the therapeutic area that are consistent with the disease area and portfolio strategy. The strategies should be crafted and negotiated with global health authorities (e.g FDA, EMA, CDE) to deliver a rapid approval with competitive labelling in keeping with the properties of the product(s) and the needs identified by the business and patients.

Leads discussions in both internal and external forums, providing expertise in regulatory knowledge of disease areas.

Influences and drives regulatory strategies and recommendations at all stages of development, in early and late development, and for established brands on regulatory components of development specific to respiratory and immunology therapies as well as other tools such as novel endpoints/biomarkers, novel study designs, and digital applications.

Effectively represent the Regulatory function in senior level interactions at internal governance technical review committees e.g. Development Review Committee (DRC/eDRC), Early Development Review Board, Global Medical Affairs (GMA) Review Committees

Works in collaboration with regional policy and intelligence groups to critically analyse the assessment of emerging science, data and changes in the regulatory environment

Defines and drives disease area global regulatory policies and priorities within the TA

What You'll Need:

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences and/or science related field and/or other appropriate knowledge/experience.

More than 10 years drug development experience

Broad experience of the therapeutic area: respiratory / immunology expertise is nice to have.

Experience in global regulatory strategy and submissions that have progressed through to registration

Must have significant experience in leading major Health Authority interactions

Broad background of experience working in pharmaceutical/medical industry and prior experience in several areas within regulatory affairs, e.g. Global, European, International, Marketing Company or experience at a health authority.

Experience in managing people in a matrixed organizational structure

Preferred:

Advanced degree in a scientific field (e.g. MSc, PhD, PharmD, MD)

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.

The annual base salary for this position in the US ranges from $266,596.80 - $399,895.20. However, base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  In addition, our positions offer a short-term incentive bonus opportunity; eligibility to participate in our equity-based long-term incentive program (salaried roles) or to receive a retirement contribution (hourly roles). Benefits offered included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans. Additional details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

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.

Date Posted

05-Aug-2026

Closing Date

25-Aug-2026 Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Regulatory Affairs
Therapeutic area
Respiratory
Location
Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Regulatory Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 74 comparable Director Regulatory Affairs roles across 22 biopharma companies.

74Comparable roles tracked
60Currently active
22Companies hiring similar roles
9Countries represented

Salary context

34 of 74 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $174,000 – $295,900 (median $244,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 74 comparable roles

United States48
Ireland8
United Kingdom7
Poland4
China's Mainland2
Spain2

+ 3 more countries

Seniority mix

74 of 74 peers have a known seniority level

Director60
Senior Director12
Principal2

Therapeutic area mix

8 of 74 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology3
Cardiovascular / CVRM2
Respiratory1
Rare Disease1
Neuroscience1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

85%similar
AstraZeneca Cambridge, United Kingdom Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
60%similar
AbbVie Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

Open in 5 locations

North Chicago, United StatesFlorham Park, United StatesCambridge, United StatesIrvine, United StatesWaltham, United States

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

85%
Executive Regulatory Science Director, Respiratory & Immunology
AstraZeneca · Cambridge, United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, RA Global Regulatory Strategy
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, RA Global Regulatory Strategy
AbbVie · Florham Park, NJ · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, RA Global Regulatory Strategy
AbbVie · Waltham, MA · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.