Lead, R&D Document Standards & Integrated Services

About the role

As Lead, R&D Document Standards & Integrated Services within our R&D team, you will be part of our Submission & Document Services Platform that supports critical regulatory submissions across Sanofi's portfolio. In this role, you will be responsible for driving operational excellence across the R&D organization for document authoring and standardization efforts.

Main responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership & Governance
• Define and own the long-term strategy for all document standards, template governance, and submission-ready authoring across the global organization encompassing all R&D Authoring functions
• Standardize the preparation of documents intended for regulatory submission, ensuring alignment with regional and global Health Authority requirements across all submission types (e.g., NDA, MAA, IND, BLA, CTD)
• Establish and lead a singular governance and quality control model for R&D encompassing document templates, including review cadence, approval workflows, and access controls to ensure quality at the source
• Develop, version, and maintain Operational Procedures (OPEs) for template governance in alignment with GxP and regulatory standards
• Drive continuous optimization of the template library to ensure efficiency, compliance, and alignment with evolving Health Authority requirements
• Define and enforce clear template ownership, accountability, and maintenance responsibilities across various functions within R&D – including clinical, non-clinical, pharmacovigilance, regulatory and CMC
• Represent the Submission & Document Services Platform in governance committees and cross-functional initiatives, advocating for process optimization and standardization
• Operational Excellence & Standardization
• Lead the ongoing rationalization and harmonization of document templates across R&D ensuring a lean, well-governed, and consistently maintained library of documentation required for dossier submission
• Establish and sustain a single source of truth for formatting standards, ensuring consistent visual identity and style application across all R&D dossiers and authoring platforms
• Lead cross-functional working groups — spanning Clinical, Nonclinical, Regulatory/Labeling, Quality, and PSPV — to drive workstream-specific alignment and continuous improvement
• Partner with Digital in the management of style assets (including but not limited to .dot files and toolbar plug-ins) to ensure seamless author access and adherence to formatting standards
• Create, maintain and monitor dashboards to track operational metrics and provide ongoing visibility to leadership on program health and performance
• Develop and maintain standardized document preparation workflows specifically designed to meet submission requirements across multiple regulatory jurisdictions (e.g., FDA, EMA, PMDA, Health Canada, etc.)
• Implement submission readiness checklists and quality review processes within Global Submissions management to ensure documents meet formatting, content, and structural requirements prior to dossier compilation
• Technology Integration & Innovation
• Partner with the eGSM lead, Digital and DDAI to evaluate, recommend, and implement tools and technologies that improve the efficiency and quality of document authoring and submission preparation, including AI-enabled and automation solutions
• Maintain awareness of the evolving regulatory technology landscape and proactively identify opportunities to modernize authoring and submission workflows
• Partner with DDAI and Digital to integrate document standards capabilities into the broader R&D technology ecosystem
• Evaluate and champion technology solutions that support end-to-end submission readiness, including document assembly, publishing, and electronic submission tools (e.g., eCTD)
• Stakeholder Collaboration & Change Management
• Strategically lead cross-functional stakeholders — including Clinical, Nonclinical, PSPV, M&S / CMC, and GRA — to ensure process alignment, integration, adoption of the new model
• Build and maintain strong relationships across the R&D authoring community to drive sustained onboarding and adoption of standardized processes and tools
• Design and deploy change management strategies and training programs that support authors through process and technology transitions
• Develop communication strategies to ensure stakeholders are continuously informed about standards updates, available resources, and process improvements
• Facilitate collaboration among global teams, including the Hyderabad Hub and Digital organization partners
• Contribute to specification mapping, transition planning, and Business as Usual (BAU) requirements for process integration
• Partner with Regulatory Operations and submission project managers to align document preparation timelines with submission planning milestones

About you

• Education
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent degree in regulatory affairs, sciences, related areas of study and/or relevant experience. Master's degree, preferred.
• Experience
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in pharmaceutical document management or regulatory operations, with demonstrated background in process optimization, continuous improvement methodologies, and cross-functional program leadership.
• Soft, digital and technical skills
• Proficiency with document management software and tools, such as electronic document management systems (EDMS), Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office Suite, Veeva Vault RIM
• Understanding of eCTD submission standards required; understanding of regulatory Information Management systems is highly valued.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively collaborate with multiple levels in the organization
• Strong decision-making abilities with analytical approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to manage simultaneous priorities and coordinate complex projects in a matrix environment
• Demonstrated capacity to identify process inefficiencies and propose practical solutions

About Sanofi

We’re an R&D-driven, AI-powered biopharma company committed to improving people’s lives and delivering compelling growth. Our deep understanding of the immune system – and innovative pipeline – enables us to invent medicines and vaccines that treat and protect millions of people around the world. Together, we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives.