【AstraZeneca】【R&D】AI Portfolio, Delivery & Adoption Lead

【Job purpose】

The AI Portfolio, Delivery & Adoption Lead is accountable for supporting R&D Japan business leaders in translating their business-owned AI strategy and priorities into a prioritised AI roadmap, leading selected use cases from discovery and proof of concept through production deployment and value realisation, and building the capabilities and behaviours required for sustainable adoption.

The role connects R&D Japan functions with Global AI, IT and Product teams, maximises reuse of enterprise solutions, and ensures Japan-specific needs are represented. It combines demand management, business analysis, delivery leadership, change management and responsible AI practices to move from fragmented experimentation to scalable, compliant and adopted AI-enabled workflows.

【Key accountabilities】

1. Portfolio & Demand Management

• Manage transparency of the Japan R&D AI demand funnel and maintain a roadmap aligned with business-owned priorities from an IT perspective.

• Identify needs across R&D functions and translate them into actionable requirements and business cases.

• Assess business impact, feasibility, risk, cost and reuse potential to support business prioritisation decisions.

• Represent and negotiate Japan priorities with R&D Japan, Global AI, IT and Product teams.

2. Delivery & Project Management

• Lead selected use cases end-to-end, from discovery and co-design through PoC, production readiness and transition.

• Define scope, ownership, milestones, resources, dependencies, risks and decision gates.

• Establish evaluation criteria and facilitate Go, Pivot, Stop or Scale decisions.

• Coordinate architecture, data, governance, quality, security and operational readiness.

3. Adoption & Change

• Design role-specific AI learning, onboarding and hands-on support using real business scenarios.

• Build a network of champions and super users and coach citizen builders.

• Capture and scale reusable practices, templates, guidance and demonstrations.

• Help teams redesign workflows so released capacity shifts to higher-value work.

4. Value & Governance

• Support the application of Global responsible AI policies and relevant privacy, security, quality, compliance and human-accountability requirements from the start.

• Define baselines and track adoption, quality, reuse, ROI and business outcomes.

• Drive continuous improvement and stop or redesign solutions that do not create value.

【Role interfaces and accountability】

AI Portfolio, Delivery & Adoption Lead

Orchestrates the lifecycle; owns demand transparency, delivery coordination, adoption and value tracking; and supports business prioritisation, strategy execution and application of Global governance.

Business Functions

Own the AI strategy, business priorities, outcomes and processes; provide SMEs and data; validate outputs; accept change; confirm realised benefits.

Global / Technical Teams

Own enterprise platforms, architecture, engineering, product roadmaps, scalability, operations and technical standards.

Quality, Security, Privacy & Compliance

Own policies, specialist assessments, control requirements, independent review, approval, monitoring and audit as applicable.

【Education, experience and capabilities】

Essential

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in a relevant discipline.

• Experience in AI/digital transformation, business analysis, process improvement, product or project delivery, or IT business partnering.

• Practical experience shaping or delivering generative AI, AI agents, knowledge solutions or low-code automation.

• Ability to translate ambiguous needs into requirements, solution options, evaluation criteria and measurable outcomes.

• Experience facilitating workshops, coaching non-technical users and influencing cross-functional stakeholders without direct authority.

• Working knowledge of responsible AI, information security, privacy, testing and human-in-the-loop design.

• Professional fluency in Japanese and business-level English.

Desirable

• Experience in pharmaceuticals, life sciences or another regulated industry.

• Knowledge of Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs and/or Patient Safety processes.

• Experience with Claude Cowork, Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium, Agent Builder, Copilot Studio, Power Platform or enterprise integrations.

• Agile, design-thinking, change-management or process-improvement experience.

• Experience developing business cases, ROI assessments, portfolio roadmaps and investment recommendations.

• Experience taking AI use cases from PoC to production and operational handover.

• Experience managing external technology or delivery partners.

【Leadership behaviours】

Curious and self-starting | User-centred and empathetic | Outcome-led and pragmatic | Shares by default | Responsibly challenging | Collaborative and inclusive | Accountable and transparent

【Location】

Tokyo or Osaka

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.