Executive Director, Cancer Vaccine Discovery

About the role

The Head of Cancer Vaccines in Infectious Diseases leads efforts to develop and deliver strategies that program the immune system to recognize and eliminate malignant cells. This role involves building a strategy to leverage AstraZeneca’s diverse modalities to deploy polyclonal immunity against a range of tumor targets. The candidate will lead a team of scientists and cross-functional experts to explore strategies for identifying novel candidates, validating neo-antigens, delivering mRNA, amplifying immunity, and driving early clearance and long-term durable surveillance.

The role requires influencing senior internal stakeholders, managing external and internal collaborations, and recruiting, developing, and retaining a high-performing team. Responsibilities include fostering a culture of innovation, building capabilities across immunology, oncology, and translational sciences, and establishing clear operating mechanisms to accelerate decision-making and delivery.

Responsibilities

• Develop a portfolio of cancer vaccine projects and a strategy to support target discovery and product development, ensuring cross-functional strategic alignment.
• Lead a team to deploy immunity to a range of cancers, leveraging diverse available platforms.
• Oversee the development of a portfolio of cancer vaccines across early discovery and the research pipeline.
• Establish strategic relationships across the organization and functions.
• Oversee and maintain accountability for partnerships with academic or outsourced partners.
• Develop internal and external partnerships to explore combinatorial strategies.
• Create and foster effective relationships with senior and executive stakeholders in Research, Bioprocess Development, Clinical and Translational Medicine, and Global Project Teams to ensure alignment across functions.
• Ensure all projects within the team clearly and objectively communicate results, risks, uncertainties, and limitations.
• Define training standards for junior colleagues in line with best practices and principles.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent in immunology, oncology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related discipline with 10+ years of industry experience.
• Proven experience developing novel immunological approaches to deploy immunity against tumors.
• Experience with immune profiling, tumor modeling, systems biology, and/or immune oncology.
• Experience working in a cross-functional team to maximize expertise and accelerate success.
• Experience developing and implementing novel methods to support vaccine development.
• Experience supporting or leading interdisciplinary vaccine discovery or development programs.
• Proven experience leading and managing junior colleagues.
• Proven experience developing and controlling budgets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, business analysis, and consultancy skills.

Pay

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $225,900.80 to $338,851.20 USD. Base pay may vary depending on market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Eligible employees may also receive a short-term incentive bonus, participation in an equity-based long-term incentive program (for salaried roles), retirement contributions (for hourly roles), and commission payments (for sales roles).

Benefits

• Qualified retirement program (401(k) plan).
• Paid vacation and holidays.
• Paid leaves.
• Health benefits, including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage.