Associate Director, Cell Therapy Network S&OE

Associate Director, CT Network Capacity Planning

At AstraZeneca's Cell Therapy division, we follow science to explore and innovate. We are working towards treating, preventing, modifying, and even curing some of the world's most complex diseases. Here we have the potential to grow our pipeline and positively impact the lives of billions of patients around the world. We are committed to making a difference and have built our business around our passion for science. Now we are fusing data and technology with the latest scientific innovations to achieve the next wave of breakthroughs.

Position Summary
Cell therapy is redefining what's possible in medicine—delivering living, personalized treatments to patients. Behind every successful therapy is a precisely orchestrated manufacturing network where timing, capacity, and coordination must come together flawlessly.

The Associate Director, Cell Therapy Network S&OE will lead the near-term execution horizon (0–90 days), bridging approved network supply plans with day-to-day operational reality. This role translates network plans and planning guardrails into executable site capacity plans, rolling slot schedules, and cross-functional execution priorities and, critically, orchestrates end-to-end patient order fulfillment across the vein-to-vein journey. The incumbent will own execution against the plan, manage deviations in real time, and drive cross-functional decisions that ultimately determine whether a patient receives their treatment on time.

This role sits at the nerve center of one of the most consequential processes in autologous cell therapy—optimizing slot availability, service levels, and cost across a complex global network. Additionally, this role will lead the scalability of slot management, evolving to an AI and digitally enabled and commercially ready operating model with strong governance, real-time visibility, and rigorous performance management.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Cell Therapy Network S&OE Planning & Capacity Optimization

• Lead Cell Therapy internal network capacity planning across the 0–90 day S&OE horizon, including RCCP and detailed 90-day scheduling.
• Translate approved supply plans and demand inputs into executable site-level capacity plans aligned to manufacturing capability, readiness, and constraints, validating execution assumptions and schedule feasibility required to deliver the approved network plan.
• Own the S&OE operating cadence, including the weekly cross-functional S&OE review and the daily execution huddle structure, ensuring disciplined rhythm, clear decision-making, and timely escalation across the network.
• Maintain live visibility of critical network constraints including manufacturing suite availability, QC lab throughput, logistics capacity, and critical raw materials (e.g., viral vector, media) to enable proactive identification and resolution of execution risks.Support trade-off analysis and recovery options within approved guardrails when demand, readiness, or capacity shifts affect execution.
• Partner with stakeholders to identify constraints early and recommend mitigations, including allocation changes, resource needs, ramp plans, and future-state improvements.
• Close the loop with S&OP by feeding recurring execution issues, capacity shortfalls, and demand signal deviations back into tactical and strategic planning cycles, ensuring S&OE insights drive continuous improvement in the broader planning process.

Patient Slot Management

• Operationalize approved slot allocation rules, governance, and recovery processes within the broader capacity planning model.
• Manage slot allocation and recovery in alignment with planning rules, patient readiness, and regulatory, logistics, and manufacturing constraints, , ensuring chain-of-identity and chain-of-custody integrity is preserved throughout slot execution.
• Own the rolling 90-day S&OE slot schedule, keeping near-term supply plans feasible, transparent, and responsive to demand or operational changes.
• Coordinate across Patient Operations, V2V Operations, Clinical Operations, Commercial, and manufacturing sites to maximize utilization and minimize missed slots, late changes, and disruption.
• Lead escalation and resolution of slot conflicts related to randomization, screen failures, site readiness, geography, or demand shifts.
• Own the standard operating playbooks for common slot disruptions — including apheresis reschedules, out-of-specification batches, shipper failures, and patient deferrals — with clearly defined decision rights, escalation paths, and recovery actions to enable rapid, consistent response.
• Analyze reservation conversion, booking behavior, utilization, late releases, recovery effectiveness, and missed-slot root causes to improve service levels and capacity use.

Cross-Functional Orchestration

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