Job Location: Poland, UK, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and other countries in the region

Model: Hybrid 3+2

Scope: CEEBA region with global talent scouting responsibilities

At AstraZeneca, we are committed to making a meaningful impact on patients’ lives by bringing together science, innovation, and exceptional talent. We are looking for a Talent Scout who brings deep expertise in niche and critical hiring together with the strategic capability to shape external talent pipelines across the CEEBA region and broader commercial talent agenda.

This role sits within AstraZeneca’s forward-looking Talent Acquisition organisation and partners closely with HR Business Partners, senior business leaders, hiring managers, and global recruitment colleagues to deliver strategic hiring and pipelining plans. The successful candidate will act as both a trusted scout for active senior and business-critical vacancies and a strategic advisor on external talent trends, market mapping, succession insights, and long-term talent availability.

We are looking for a highly credible individual with strong experience in executive search, talent scouting, and strategic recruitment, ideally within the pharmaceutical, biotech, or adjacent commercial sectors. This person will be expected to build strong external networks, identify and engage high-calibre talent, support business-critical hiring, and contribute to broader TA priorities, including employer branding, process improvement, and AI-enabled recruitment practices.

Key Responsibilities

· Senior recruitment delivery: Lead end-to-end recruitment for senior-level roles, managing the full hiring lifecycle from briefing and talent strategy through sourcing, assessment, offer management, and hiring administration.

· Strategic talent advisory: Act as a trusted advisor to business leaders and HR by providing external market insights, succession intelligence, and recommendations on hiring and pipelining strategies.

· Sourcing and scouting strategy: Design and implement proactive sourcing strategies for critical and niche roles using channels such as LinkedIn, social media, job boards, market mapping, networking, and targeted outreach.

· Talent pipeline development: Build, maintain, and convert external talent pipelines for current and future business needs, with a particular focus on critical and specialist roles across CEEBA.

· Workforce planning partnership: Partner with TAq Leads, senior leaders, and HR teams to understand talent gaps, forecast hiring needs, and develop external talent pools in priority capability areas.

· Candidate assessment and engagement: Conduct candidate assessment and engagement activity across phone, virtual, and face-to-face channels, while ensuring a strong candidate and stakeholder experience.

· Offer management: Manage the offer process in partnership with business and HR stakeholders to support effective, timely, and cost-conscious hiring outcomes.

· Employer brand support: Contribute to employer branding and recruitment marketing initiatives to strengthen AstraZeneca’s visibility and attractiveness to executive and specialist talent.

· Channel effectiveness: Analyse sourcing channel performance, including referrals, social platforms, job boards, campaigns, events, agencies, and direct outreach, and use insights to improve outcomes.

· Agency management: Work selectively with external search firms or recruitment agencies for niche, executive, or high-volume requirements, ensuring quality, efficiency, and value.

· Talent intelligence sharing: Share market intelligence, including competitor mapping, candidate trends, and external benchmarking, to support hiring decisions and talent planning.

· Alignment with succession practices: Align external talent scouting with internal talent and succession practices, supporting robust and objective talent discussions.

· External representation: Represent AstraZeneca through networking, industry engagement, and market outreach to build high-potential talent communities.

· Capability building: Coach and support less experienced colleagues within Talent Acquisition by sharing best practices in sourcing, executive engagement, market mapping, and strategic talent advisory.

· TA project contribution: Lead or contribute to Talent Acquisition projects focused on process simplification, digital sourcing, AI-enabled recruitment, and continuous improvement.

Essential Skills and Experience

· Experience level: Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, with 8–10+ years in Talent Acquisition, gained in-house and/or in executive search.

· Recruitment expertise: Significant experience in executive recruitment, talent scouting, or senior search, ideally within pharmaceutical or biotech.

· Regional knowledge: Strong knowledge of the talent landscape across the CEEBA region.

· Pipeline delivery: Demonstrated success in building and converting proactive external talent pipelines for senior, niche, or business-critical roles.

· Digital sourcing: Strong capability in using LinkedIn and other digital sourcing tools to identify, engage, and assess talent proactively.

· Stakeholder partnership: Experience working with senior stakeholders, with the credibility and influence to advise leaders across different levels of the organisation.

· Assessment capability: Excellent interview, candidate assessment, and stakeholder management skills.

· Industry understanding: Proven understanding of the pharmaceutical industry, broader business context, and commercial capability requirements.

· Ways of working: Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic, and matrixed environment.

· Communication: Excellent communication skills in English.

· Service orientation: Strong customer focus and commitment to delivering a high-quality hiring experience.

· Project contribution: Evidence of contributing to or leading Talent Acquisition projects with measurable outcomes.

· Innovation mindset: Proven capability in applying AI, digital tools, or process improvements to simplify and enhance recruitment practices.

Desirable Skills and Experience

· Systems knowledge: Experience with Workday or other applicant tracking systems.

· Branding exposure: Previous involvement in employer branding and recruitment marketing initiatives.

· External network: Established network within relevant therapy areas, commercial functions, or capability domains.

· Commercial understanding: Understanding of drug development and commercialisation.

· Succession support: Experience using external search strategies to support broader talent and succession planning.

· Tool proficiency: Proficiency in digital talent sourcing and talent management tools.

· Languages: Additional language capability would be an advantage.

Why Join AstraZeneca

This is an opportunity to join a company where talent plays a central role in delivering life-changing medicines to patients. In this role, you will combine hands-on executive recruitment delivery with strategic external talent scouting, influencing how AstraZeneca identifies and attracts critical commercial talent now and in the future. You will work in a highly collaborative environment, contribute to important regional and global talent initiatives, and help shape the leadership and commercial capability needed to support AstraZeneca’s continued growth.

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.