Position: Transforming Care Lead – Respiratory and Immunology (R&I) 

Location: Field-based, UK  

Competitive Salary & Excellent Company Benefits

Applications Closing Date: 2 November 2026

Introduction to the Role

At AstraZeneca UK, Medical & Scientific Affairs plays a pivotal role in improving patient outcomes by working collaboratively with NHS partners to support meaningful and sustainable changes in healthcare delivery.

As Transforming Care Lead – Respiratory and Immunology (R&I), you will lead the development and implementation of the R&I transforming care strategy.

Working in partnership with therapy-area Medical and Brand teams, you will help ensure NHS systems are ready to identify, diagnose and optimally manage relevant patients ahead of, and throughout, the launch period.

Using population health and pathways expertise, you will accelerate the implementation of guideline-directed care at scale across respiratory and immunology pathways. You will identify pathway, diagnostic and capacity gaps, prioritise opportunities using population health data and drive improvements across clinical systems, medicines optimisation, care pathways and collaborative working models.

The role operates on a non-promotional medical basis. You will work closely with Brand and Commercial colleagues while retaining independent medical judgement and ensuring that supported system changes are clinically appropriate, evidence-based and aligned with the needs of patients and NHS systems.

Key Accountabilities

Transforming Care Strategy and System Readiness

You will partner with R&I Medical and Brand teams to define the therapy-area transforming care strategy and lead the development and delivery of system readiness plans for R&I launches. This will involve assessing pathway, diagnostic and capacity gaps, sequencing the changes required and reporting readiness status through launch governance.

You will direct the use of linked datasets, secure data environments and NHS data partnerships to identify the populations and health systems where intervention is most likely to deliver meaningful impact. Your approach will be evidence-led, prioritising opportunities according to population need and potential system impact rather than responding solely to inbound requests.

You will ensure that pathways, clinical systems, medicines optimisation and collaborative working initiatives are aligned to the R&I transforming care strategy. You will build a strong network of external expert partners to provide insight into the changing NHS landscape and identify future opportunities for AstraZeneca UK to collaborate on transforming care projects.

A key part of the role will be gathering and interpreting population health analytics at national, system and local levels. You will integrate new providers into relevant local or national projects and ensure that every transforming care initiative has a clearly defined evaluation approach, including agreed baselines and outcome measures at the design stage.

You will share evaluation findings internally and, where appropriate, support publication or external presentation of outcomes. You will also be accountable for the R&I transforming care budget, prioritising investment across initiatives to maximise system impact.

Implementation of Population Health and Pathways Initiatives

You will lead the implementation of population health and pathways initiatives across respiratory and immunology clinical systems, medicines optimisation, patient pathways and collaborative working models.

You will ensure that initiatives are joined up, coordinated and strategically aligned with the transforming care strategy. This will require close collaboration with field medical team managers and alignment across internal stakeholders, including Senior Leadership Team members, Franchise Heads and Heads of Medical.

You will define, prioritise and communicate the Population Health and Pathways book of work, ensuring that activity is appropriately resourced, strategically aligned and clearly understood across the organisation. You will work with Medical and Brand teams to align the book of work with brand strategy while maintaining the non-promotional boundary of Population Health activity.

You will develop measurement frameworks to assess the impact of initiatives, monitor performance regularly and recommend improvements based on evidence and insight. You will ensure that all Population Health and Pathways activity complies with AstraZeneca UK standard operating procedures, governance requirements and the ABPI Code of Practice.

Team Leadership and Development

You will lead a therapy-area unit comprising a Clinical Services Manager, Data Manager and Pathways Managers. You will provide clear direction, assign accountability for delivery and compliance, and create a high-performing, integrated and collaborative team culture.

You will be responsible for leading, developing and performance-managing direct reports, including conducting regular performance and development reviews and addressing underperformance where required.

You will also play an active role in the Population Health and Pathways Leadership Team, contributing to the wider development of the function and sharing effective approaches across therapy areas.

Key Working Relationships

You will work closely with the Population Health and Pathways team, R&I Brand Leads, Brand Medical Leads, Field Medical leadership, Market Access, Legal and Compliance colleagues.

Externally, you will build partnerships with NHS stakeholders and organisations, including Integrated Care Board executives, Clinical Directors, regional and national NHS teams, Health Innovation Networks and national programme partners.

Essential Experience and Skills

• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing therapy-area transformation strategies that improve patient outcomes, clinical pathways or healthcare delivery.
• Direct people-leadership experience, including team development, performance management and building a high-performing culture.
• Strong understanding of patient data and clinical systems across primary and secondary care.
• Hands-on experience delivering partnership projects with NHS stakeholders.
• Proven ability to influence and work collaboratively across organisational boundaries, including leadership without formal authority.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, communication and influencing skills.

Desirable Experience and Qualifications

• Experience driving transformation within the NHS, particularly across respiratory or immunology pathways.
• Experience in respiratory, immunology, severe asthma, COPD, asthma or related long-term condition therapy areas.
• Degree-level qualification or professional qualification in healthcare, clinical practice or a related scientific discipline, such as Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physician Associate studies or a related life-science subject.
• Experience designing, commissioning or evaluating service change.
• Experience building and managing strategic partnerships with senior NHS leaders, including Integrated Care Board executives, Clinical Directors and regional or national NHS teams.
• Experience implementing innovative digital or technology-enabled solutions within healthcare transformation programmes.

Why AstraZeneca?

This is an opportunity to play a leading role in shaping how respiratory and immunology care is delivered across the NHS. You will work at the intersection of population health, clinical pathways, healthcare innovation and medical strategy, helping systems identify unmet need and implement sustainable improvements that can make a meaningful difference to patients living with respiratory and immune-mediated conditions.

You will join a collaborative and purpose-driven Population Health and Pathways team, working across AstraZeneca and with NHS partners to translate evidence and insight into scalable improvements in care.

Additional Information

This is a home-based role, with an expectation to work from the AstraZeneca UK Head Office one to two days per week. The role will also require UK-wide travel to NHS partner sites and national meetings as needed.

Interested? Apply Now!

Date Posted

Closing Date