AstraZeneca Posted August 9, 2026

Clinical Research & Development Associate Principal Scientist

Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America Full time
Clinical Development Principal

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

What You Will Do

Expert in the field of drug research and development, contributing deep specialist knowledge of inflammatory myopathies, JIA and /or Sjogren’s Disease. Operate with significant independence, integrate advanced scientific, operational, and commercial expertise to guide the full lifecycle of clinical research and development projects. Ensure alignment of scientific and business objectives across multiple functions for drug candidates, actively lead multidisciplinary teams, steer project strategy and execution, and champion process innovation and compliance to deliver high-impact results.

Accountabilities

• Provide specialist scientific and technical expertise for clinical research and development, acting as a subject matter expert both internally and externally.

• Plan, coordinate, and direct input from cross-functional teams, spanning research, development, regulatory, marketing, and manufacturing, to advance a portfolio of drug projects through all phases of the development process.

• Design, implement, and optimize clinical development strategies and protocols, ensuring scientific integrity as well as commercial and regulatory viability.

• Execute recruitment strategies and lead the operational planning for clinical studies, including timeline, budget forecasting, feasibility, and resource allocation.

• Plan the preparation and timely delivery of clinical documents, submissions, and regulatory materials (such as CSRs, CTDs, INDs, and annual reports), ensuring appropriate input from all stakeholders.

• Manage activities associated with audits to ensure compliance with GCP, ICH, AZ standards, and local/international regulations.

• Guide and support initiatives to improve the efficiency and quality of the clinical development process, leveraging new technologies and best practices.

• Oversee risk and contingency planning for clinical projects, proactively managing issues impacting quality, budget, and timelines and escalating appropriately.

• May mentor and manage clinical research professionals and study teams, providing performance management and supporting career growth.

• Ensure comprehensive and ongoing training for investigators and monitors to uphold study delivery standards.

• Continuously monitor, interpret, and share relevant scientific, commercial, and regulatory developments, integrating insights into ongoing projects.

• Contribute significantly to decision-making regarding the scientific and commercial viability of drug candidates, including go/no-go and resource investment decisions. • Has personal responsibility for creating a culture of courageous leadership, creativity and collaboration

Qualifications and Skills

Essential: Bachelor’s degree in a scientific field, or equivalent qualification.; Considerable experience in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in drug development; Experience managing and interpreting the results of clinical trials.  Knowledge of autoimmune disease biology, clinical manifestations and treatments, knowledge of relevant scientific literature and clinical trials.

Desirable: Master’s, PharmD, PhD or equivalent qualification in a relevant scientific field (advanced degree preferred); Significant experience in the pharmaceutical industry; Proven leadership in cross-functional teams and complex clinical projects from design through to regulatory submission; In-depth knowledge of GCP, ICH, drug development processes, and regulatory requirements; Strong strategic, analytical, and project management skills, including budget/resource management and risk planning; Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management capabilities.

Key Relationship to Reach Solutions

Internal: Clinical project and development teams; study delivery personnel; manufacturing; regulatory; marketing/business development; therapy/brand leaders; data management; pharmacology; regional/monitoring teams.

External: Regulatory bodies; external service providers; clinical sites; marketing company personnel.

Date Posted

09-Aug-2026

Closing Date

03-Sep-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
Principal
Function
Clinical Development
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 254 comparable Principal Clinical Development roles across 35 biopharma companies.

254Comparable roles tracked
224Currently active
35Companies hiring similar roles
23Countries represented

Salary context

95 of 254 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 $90,199 – $392,100 (median $264,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 254 comparable roles

United States136
India50
Spain12
United Kingdom10
China4
Switzerland4

+ 17 more countries

Seniority mix

254 of 254 peers have a known seniority level

Director141
Senior91
Principal22

Therapeutic area mix

73 of 254 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology34
Immunology16
Cardiovascular / CVRM7
Respiratory6
Neuroscience5
Dermatology & Aesthetics2
Ophthalmology2
Rare Disease1

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.

60%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Amgen Inc. Thousand Oaks, United States Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country

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.

60%
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Novartis · Cambridge (USA), United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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60%
Principal Scientist, Clinical Research, Immunology
Merck · San Diego, California, United States of America · Principal
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.