Head of Enabling Units IT - AI First
Cambridge, Macclesfield (UK) Barcelona (Spain) Gaithersburg, Boston, Wilmington (USA)
About the role
The Head of Enabling Units IT owns technology strategy, delivery, and the operating model across Finance, HR, Global Business Services (GBS), Legal & Compliance, and Corporate Communications, unifying five historically separate functions under one AI-first leader.
The role is also accountable for the business-as-usual SAP delivery and operations. This is a transformation mandate: the leader is accountable for moving these functions from legacy, headcount-driven delivery to AI-enabled ways of working, including the change management and capability-building needed to make that shift stick.
The role is explicitly value- and outcome-focused every roadmap, business case, and sizing decision, including landscape simplification (consolidating platforms, retiring legacy systems, reducing vendor sprawl), should be traceable to a quantified outcome such as cost, cycle time, risk, or capacity freed for higher-value work. It gives the CFO, CHRO, GBS leadership, General Counsel, and Chief Communications Officer a single accountable technology and transformation partner, with one unified workforce sizing methodology and insource/outsource strategy across all five functions.
Scope: $60B revenue, multi-country enabling-functions technology organization spanning Finance IT, HR IT, GBS technology, and the technology supporting Legal & Compliance and Corporate Communications — combined internal and outsourced workforce, build and run/support
Governance: Standing member of the CFO and CHRO Leadership Teams; direct partner to GBS leadership, the General Counsel, and the Chief Communications Officer
Key Accountabilities
AI-First Strategy & Workforce Design
- Own the workforce sizing methodology determining the blend of internal headcount, outsourced capacity, and AI/automation leverage across all five functions; translate it into a multi-year roadmap and budget presenting sizing, cost, value, and insource/outsource trade-offs to executives.
- Set the AI-first target operating model — where AI agents and automation substitute for, augment, or reshape roles — and lead the change management and capability-building required for genuine adoption.
- Anchor every initiative and sizing decision to a quantified business outcome; lead business case development, commercial modelling, financial forecasting, demand forecasting, and portfolio planning to prioritize investment across the portfolio.
Technology Ownership & Landscape Simplification
- Lead Finance IT (record-to-report, procure-to-pay, planning, treasury), HR IT (core HCM, talent, and workforce platforms such as Workday, Eightfold, and Saba), the technology underpinning GBS delivery, and the platforms supporting Legal & Compliance (contract lifecycle, e-discovery, GRC) and Corporate Communications (intranet, media monitoring, crisis communications).
- Ensure all five portfolios share a common technology strategy, architecture standards, and vendor governance model, even where the underlying platforms differ.
- Own rationalization of the technology landscape — consolidating platforms, retiring legacy systems, reducing vendor/tool sprawl — judged by the outcome it produces like any other investment decision, and track landscape complexity (application, vendor, integration count) alongside value metrics so simplification is managed as a first-class outcome.
Executive Partnership
- Sit as a standing member of the CFO and CHRO Leadership Teams, and partner directly with GBS leadership, the General Counsel, and the Chief Communications Officer, representing technology strategy, delivery risk, and investment/value trade-offs for each function.
- Act as the single point of accountability when priorities across the five functions compete for investment or delivery capacity, bringing forward one unified recommendation.
Sourcing & Delivery
- Own the insource/outsource strategy across all towers, including sourcing-mix shifts, which work is a candidate for AI/automation versus continued human delivery, and vendor commercial terms/performance governance.
- Ensure reliable, well-governed delivery, compliance, audit readiness, governance, risk management, and business continuity/disaster recovery planning across all five portfolios and build the internal capability and career paths to sustain an AI-first organization over time.
People, Culture & External Partnerships
- Lead and inspire global, cross-functional, matrixed teams (250+ direct and indirect); build a diverse leadership pipeline through talent development, succession planning, and coaching, acting as a culture champion for engagement, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
- Build and sustain strategic relationships with suppliers, technology providers, and industry partners; represent the organization externally, benchmarking leading practices and tracking industry and technology trends relevant to the five functions.
What Success Looks like
- A unified operating model, workforce sizing methodology, and executive-endorsed insource/outsource mix adopted across all five functions, with a governed process for resolving future disagreements between model output and leadership judgment.
- Quantified business value delivered from AI/automation (cost, cycle time, risk, capacity) tracked against a stated baseline, plus a measurably simpler technology landscape.
- Evidence of genuine adoption and changed ways of working not just AI capability made available but unused.
- Sustained trust and standing with the CFO, CHRO, GBS leadership, General Counsel, and Chief Communications Officer as the accountable technology and transformation partner.
Essential Experience, Skills & Capabilities
- Track record leading enterprise technology for Finance, HR, GBS, Legal, and/or Corporate Communications at a large, complex, multi-country organization.
- Proven experience leading large-scale AI or digital transformation — the change management, communication, and capability-building required to shift how an organization works, not just deploying tools.
- A track record of tying technology and AI investment to quantified business outcomes, and of simplifying a fragmented technology landscape with measurable results.
- Experience managing a blended internal/outsourced workforce and large cross-functional teams in a matrixed executive environment spanning multiple functional leaders (CFO, CHRO, GBS leadership, General Counsel, Chief Communications Officer); GBS/shared-services experience is a strong plus.
- Strong commercial acumen — business case development, financial modelling, investment and risk management — and experience with global stakeholder networks, including suppliers and industry partners.
- Strong executive presence, with a track record of presenting workforce, investment, and value trade-offs backed by a quantitative model.
Why Join Us?
At AstraZeneca, we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work. Where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and unleash your entrepreneurial spirit. There’s no better place to make a difference to medicine, patients, and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration, and always committed to lifelong learning, growth, and development. We’re on an exciting journey to pioneer the future of healthcare.
If you are ready to take on this exciting challenge and be part of a team dedicated to revolutionizing talent acquisition in the pharmaceutical industry, we want to hear from you! Join us at AstraZeneca and let's make a real difference in the lives of patients around the world.
Office Working Requirements
When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That’s why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn’t mean we’re not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.
If you're interested.. Apply today!
Date Posted
09-Oct-2026
Closing Date
08-Oct-2026
Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.