AstraZeneca Posted August 9, 2026

Global Medical Affairs Leader, Breast

Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America Full time
Medical Affairs

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

Are you ready to harness evidence and scientific leadership to change how breast cancer is treated worldwide? This is a high-impact role for a strategist who can turn complex science into clear, confident action that improves patient outcomes and accelerates launches across markets.

As the accountable global medical leader for assigned breast cancer indication(s) and asset(s), you will own the Global Medical Strategy, bridge Research & Development with Commercial, and steer end-to-end launch readiness. Your work will close care gaps, promote health equity, and elevate scientific leadership, so physicians, systems, and patients can confidently adopt new standards of care.

You will lead with accountability while empowering specialized teams to execute at pace. In an open, inclusive environment that values brave, well-reasoned ideas and attentive listening, your perspective will shape decisions that matter.

Accountabilities:

Global Medical Strategy and Launch Excellence:

Own and deliver the Global Medical Plan for assigned breast cancer indication(s)/asset(s), setting direction, prioritizing initiatives, and making evidence-based trade-offs to maximize patient and business impact.

Define and track clear launch and medical KPIs to diagnose progress and remove barriers to success; proactively adapt strategy to external dynamics and insights.

Represent Global Medical on the Integrated Business Team (IBT) and Global Product Team (GPT) to shape Commercial strategy, inform development and lifecycle planning, and align on Target Product Profiles.

Lead Medical Integrated Teams (MITs) to align global, regional, and country execution; represent Medical in Launch Readiness and Strategic Brand Reviews to elevate Medical Affairs’ role and impact.

Influence clinical development and commercialization strategies, ensuring medical needs, evidence gaps, and companion study requirements are addressed early and decisively.

Evidence Generation and Dissemination:

Lead global and regional gap assessments across clinical, real-world, diagnostic, and mechanistic evidence; build integrated, cross-functional evidence plans that enable confident adoption and guideline inclusion.

Shape the scientific and strategic design of Medical Affairs interventional studies; conceptualize and align real-world evidence programs with broader strategy; govern milestones, resources, and standards.

Own the Global Publications Plan from late-phase development onward; ensure timely, credible, and compliant scientific communications that build trust with external experts and decision-makers.

Champion innovative approaches, leveraging networks, novel study designs, and data-driven insights, to generate transformative evidence that changes practice.

Confidence Building and External Engagement:

Lead the scientific narrative from four months prior to Phase 3 investment decision, ensuring consistency across evidence, publications, congresses, and education.

Build accountability for an Integrated Confidence Plan while partnering with centers of excellence for execution; define priority audiences, learning objectives, and delivery formats.

Shape external engagement strategies with key experts, societies, health systems, and global organizations; gather actionable insights and actively influence to accelerate guideline adoption and health outcomes.

Lead congress strategy end to end, including pre-congress abstracts and training, and post-congress insight synthesis and dissemination.

Capability Building and Enterprise Leadership:

Coach, delegate, and empower global medical teams to strengthen capabilities; model enterprise leadership that drives alignment, pace, and a culture of scientific excellence and collaboration.

Essential Skills/Experience:

Advanced degree required (MD, PhD, PharmD, or equivalent scientific degree).

Significant experience in Medical Affairs (~ 10 yrs) within the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, ideally at the country, Region and global level.

Demonstrated success in leading evidence generation strategies, Medical Plans, publications, or scientific communication programs.

Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders across Commercial, R&D, and Medical Affairs.

Experience engaging external experts and scientific communities

Desirable Skills/Experience:

Previous global Medical Affairs leadership experience in oncology.

Experience leading crossfunctional teams in highly complex, multiindication environments.

Experience navigating launch environments, new MoAs, new CDx, complex biomarker landscapes, or challenging safety profiles (aligning to GMAL complexity criteria).

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:

Here, science and strategy meet at scale to transform cancer care. You will work with colleagues across disciplines, data, development, medical, and commercial, translating evidence into clinical practice and impacting every step of the patient journey. We move with urgency, value kindness alongside ambition, and create space for brave ideas that are heard and acted on. Surrounded by a deep pipeline and cutting-edge tools in real-world evidence and analytics, your leadership will help turn compelling data into new standards of care for people living with breast cancer.

Call to Action:

If you are ready to lead global medical strategy and deliver launches that change practice and improve lives, take the next step today and help shape the future of breast cancer treatment!

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $ 193,281 - 289,922 USD. 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. Benefits offered include 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 pay (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

Date Posted

09-Aug-2026

Closing Date

15-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
Not listed
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 924 comparable Medical Affairs roles across 130 biopharma companies.

924Comparable roles tracked
800Currently active
130Companies hiring similar roles
58Countries represented

Salary context

175 of 924 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Clinical Coordinator · Pfizer $79,400/yr – $132,400/yr
Peer group range $105,900 – $458,800 (median $232,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 924 comparable roles

United States378
China's Mainland69
Japan61
China57
India50
Germany40

+ 52 more countries

Seniority mix

502 of 924 peers have a known seniority level

Director148
Manager125
Senior97
Associate55
Associate Director39
Senior Director20
Executive/VP11
Principal5
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc2

Therapeutic area mix

326 of 924 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology114
Immunology52
Neuroscience35
Cardiovascular / CVRM34
Respiratory21
Vaccines & Infectious Disease21
Rare Disease21
Dermatology & Aesthetics20
Ophthalmology4
Gastroenterology4

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.

40%similar
Lilly Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America Associate Director
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AbbVie Mettawa, IL Director
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AbbVie Los Angeles, CA Senior
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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.

40%
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Lilly · Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
40%
MSL/Sr. MSL, Lung Solid Tumor (Southern California and Las Vegas, NV)
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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MSL/Senior MSL - Dermatology, Jersey City, NJ
AbbVie · Trenton, NJ · Senior
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.