At AstraZeneca we work together across global boundaries to make an impact and find answers to challenges. We do this with the upmost integrity even in the most difficult situations because we are committed to doing the right thing. We continuously forge partnerships that help pursue world-class medicines in new ways, combining our people’s exceptional skills with those of people from all over the globe.

Job Description - Design Lead

Advances in digitalization, data and advance analytics are changing industries at pace with the pharma industry showing signs of movement

The Digital Health Market will grow exponentially over the next 3 years, with new applications in digital showing in phase 3 studies significant benefits for patients including overall survival in Cancer

AstraZeneca would like to leap frog in this area and has prioritized digital in R&D as a critical strategic area of focus by 2025, as part of the overall company strategy.

Digital Health R&D’s ambition is to transform healthcare, powered by digital, science and collaborations,
to deliver the healthcare outcomes and experience that patients care about the most.

The Digital Health R&D journey incorporates 3 key stages:

• Stage 1 – foundational, reimagine how we work, by maximizing the use of digital, data and analytics transform processes within R&D to gain significant benefits on speed of the portfolio (goal 9 months acceleration) productivity (goal -20% reduction in cost per patient per year) quality at source, patient experience and probability of success.
• Stage 2 – advanced, redefine clinical trials and digital health to improve overall patient experiences and outcomes, example redefining patient populations, remote clinical trials, patient apps to reduce/manage adverse events and improve patient outcomes (OS), using data from EHMr and RWE instead of control arms, and through PROs and continuous patient monitoring, creating new end points enabling studies in earlier stages of disease (ctDNA changes) prolonging significantly patients’ lives
• Stage 3 – future-readiness, reimagine healthcare, examples, AZ as a healthcare provider beyond medicines for certain indications (example: Breast Cancer, proving monitoring, predictive analytics and therapies for improved outcomes), full integration of Multiomics (imaging, genomics, proteomics …) to better predict and significantly improve patients’ health

To achieve this, AstraZeneca is looking for an amazing Design Lead, someone who can walk in on day one and make a difference. We aren’t looking for someone to just sit behind a desk and direct others, the ideal candidate will spend time actually doing design work. In addition to pitching in, this person will build a team of 2 to 5 Product Designers & Product Discovery experts to support a product teams as we transition AstraZeneca to become a product centric organization. We want your experience, knowledge, perspective, and most of all, your desire to do amazing work. You bring the talent; we’ll provide the opportunity. 

The design lead will partner with the Product Manager to align on problem space, goals, needs, and leads the design work. This is a leadership position and we’re looking for someone who can inspire & motivate their team.

Ideally, this person would be located in one of our core locations: Cambridge, UK. Gothenburg, Sweden. Gaithersburg, MD. New York, NY. We will consider candidates in other locations, but we highly prefer the person to be in one of those locations.

Primary Responsibilities for this role will include (but not limited to):

• Create useful, intuitive and desirable applications (web & mobile) for the patients, HCPs, and employees of AZ.
• Define the interactions for products, including things like Navigational Structures, Task Completion, Interaction Models, and Information Design
• Develop Wireframes, Prototypes, and Storyboards to communicate your design
• Work with Usability Researcher to create concept & usability test plans
• Iterating designs based on feedback from Concept & Usability Testing
• Work with business analysts, business owners, product & project managers as part of our internal design process to ensure successful implementation of design
• Clearly define the triggers & outcomes – why & how someone would use this and what the ideal end state would be
• Always start by sketching flow diagrams to ensure we’re considering the big picture

Who You Are 
 

• Ability to get beneath the surface of what people say they want to truly understand what they need.
• A portfolio that demonstrates your ability to empathize with your audience and leverage that empathy to create useful, intuitive and desirable solutions.
• Ability to demonstrate what drove your design decisions
• Ability to justify design decisions
• The ability to cite & apply basic design principles (Hicks Law, Fitts Law, Progressive Disclosure, Recognition over Recall, etc.)
• In depth understanding & expertise of basic design principles
• Expertise with at least one of the following tools: Sketch, InDesign, OmniGraffle, Illustrator or similar tool.
• The ability to demonstrate successful web & mobile project work
• Outstanding written & verbal communication
• Background in Pharmaceuticals is big plus.

Education, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Essential

• Minimum 5 years of experience in Product Design
• Minimum 2 years Design Team leadership
• Ability to get beneath the surface of what people say they want to truly understand what they need.
• Extensive experience with user interface design patterns and standard UCD methodologies across multiple platforms
• Exceptional design skills, production value and attention to detail
• Strong experience with current design and prototyping tools (Sketch, Invision, Principle, Figma, Framer, etc)
• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to gather relevant data and information, actively listen, dialogue freely, verbalize ideas effectively, negotiate tense situations successfully, and manage and resolve conflict.

Desirable

• In Depth experience building global digital products and understands the nuances of developing culturally customized solutions.
• A Bachelor's degree in Cognitive Psychology, Anthropology, Graphic Design, Fine Arts, Liberal Arts or related field.  Equivalent work experience In lieu of degree, is acceptable.
• Experience working successfully in a highly matrixed work environment.
• The ability to step back and see the big picture as well as dive in a obsess about the details.
• Ability to translate complex topics in simple, non-technical terms that are meaningful to the business
• Strong understanding of modern software development practices and has some technical knowledge / skills (doesn’t get overwhelmed when an engineer starts talking about technical details)

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.