AstraZeneca Posted August 7, 2026

Director, CMC Team Lead

New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America Full time
Manufacturing & CMC 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

Are you ready to lead the CMC strategy for high-potential therapies and turn scientific promise into first approvals? This is your opportunity to guide an asset across the entire development lifecycle, from Candidate Selection through First Approval, while shaping how we bring life-changing medicines to people with serious, underserved conditions.

As Director, CMC Team Lead, you will run a cross-functional, matrix team that sets the direction for drug substance, drug product, analytical, quality, regulatory, and clinical supply to deliver on critical landmarks! You will craft the CMC Development Plan, drive decisions at pace, and ensure operational execution aligns to strategy, risk, and value. Do you thrive at the intersection of science, operations, and governance, where decisive leadership accelerates patient impact?

Accountabilities:

Asset Lifecycle Leadership: Own CMC leadership for a defined asset from Candidate Selection through First Approval, ensuring strategy, execution, and risk management stay aligned to program objectives.

CMC Strategy and Planning: Own the development of the integrated CMC Development Plan, setting clear priorities and team goals that enable timely submissions, clinical starts, and approval readiness.

Execution and Delivery: Translate strategy into actionable operational plans, define critical paths, and drive delivery across drug substance, drug product, analytical, quality, regulatory CMC, and clinical supply.

Dependency and Risk Management: Identify key interdependencies across execution teams, proactively manage risks and issues, and advance according to enterprise governance to protect timelines and quality.

Enterprise Representation and Governance: Serve as the sole CMC point of contact to enterprise Global Product/Medicine Teams and internal governance bodies, providing transparent updates and securing decisions.

Cross-Functional Decision Making: Facilitate timely, data-driven decisions across all CMC functions, ensuring clarity of responsibilities, deliverables, and success criteria.

Collaborator Influence and Communication: Build positive relationships across the organization and with senior leaders; communicate succinctly, align team members, and create momentum behind the plan.

Team Leadership and Culture: Prioritize and encourage a diverse, high-performing team; foster accountability, continuous improvement, and a patient-centered approach.

Essential Skills/Experience:

Bachelor's Degree with a minimum of 8-10 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with prior experience in a CMC leadership role

Demonstrated critical thinking capabilities with forward looking perspective.

Strong communication, leadership, and collaboration skills are required.

Solid understanding of drug development and clinic supply processes

Demonstrated ability to build, coordinate, and lead teams.

Strong interpersonal skills; proficient and able to influence others in spoken and written English.

The duties of this role are generally conducted in an office environment. As is typical of an office-based role, employees must be able, with or without an accommodation to use a computer; engage in communications via phone, video, and electronic messaging; engage in problem solving and non-linear thought, analysis, and dialogue; collaborate with others; maintain general availability during standard business hours.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

Prior experience as a liaison with corporate partners preferred.

High level of proficiency in MS Office software including Word, Excel, Outlook, Visio, Project, and PowerPoint.

Knowledge of MS Project Server a plus

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we ignite ambitious thinking with the power to encourage 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 four 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.

Here, you will combine the agility of an entrepreneurial environment with the reach of a global biopharma, working alongside colleagues who value kindness as highly as ambition. We bring diverse expertise together to solve complex problems, stay close to patients’ lived experiences, and turn bold science into meaningful outcomes. You will have the autonomy to move fast, the support of experienced leaders, and access to cutting-edge platforms that help you grow while advancing therapies for people who need them most.

Lead the CMC journey that transforms scientific innovation into approval-ready medicines, step forward and shape what comes next with us today!

Date Posted

07-Aug-2026

Closing Date

13-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
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 163 comparable Director Manufacturing & CMC roles across 25 biopharma companies.

163Comparable roles tracked
158Currently active
25Companies hiring similar roles
11Countries represented

Salary context

119 of 163 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
Lowest disclosed · Senior/Principal Scientist, Bioprocess Purification Development · Lilly $79,500/yr – $116,600/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Director Operations · Hospira, Inc. $214,900/yr – $358,100/yr
Peer group range $98,050 – $286,500 (median $184,900)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 163 comparable roles

United States139
India11
Netherlands4
Ireland2
France1
United Kingdom1

+ 5 more countries

Seniority mix

163 of 163 peers have a known seniority level

Principal79
Director63
Senior Director21

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 163 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology1
Vaccines & Infectious 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
AstraZeneca Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Director
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%
Director, Integrated Bioanalysis Oncology Development
AstraZeneca · Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director - Analytical Chemistry
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Vaccine Formulation Development
Lilly · Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director of GMP Analytical, Pharmaceutical Analytical Sciences
Merck · Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America · 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.