Senior Director – EUIT Data & AI Forward Engineering Lead

Senior Director – EUIT Data & AI Forward Engineering Lead Location: Chennai or Bangalore, India Reports to: Head of Enabling Units IT The Opportunity Intelligent data solutions and machine learning are changing how we work, make decisions and deliver value across AstraZeneca. We seek a Senior Director, Enabling Units IT Data & AI Forward Engineering Lead to help build that change. You will guide and manage a team that brings data, AI and forward engineering closer to the business. Working across Finance, HR, GBS, Legal, Compliance, M&A and EUIT, your team will turn business opportunities into trusted data products, AI solutions and measurable improvements in productivity, cost, speed and decision-making. This is a broad technology leadership role combining strategy for data and AI, engineering, product leadership, transformation and operational excellence. You will collaborate with senior business and technology leaders and develop talent in India and the UK. You will invent an environment where teams can experiment, learn, and turn promising ideas into solutions that make a difference. What You’ll Do Shape Data & AI strategy You will define and deliver the EUIT Data & AI Forward Engineering strategy, connecting technology investment to business priorities. You will partner with senior leaders across Finance and enabling functions to identify opportunities where data, AI and automation can improve decisions, simplify work and create measurable value. You will also bring relevant external perspectives into AstraZeneca, translating developments in AI, data and engineering into practical opportunities for the organisation. Build Forward Engineering and Data Products You will build a forward engineering model where multidisciplinary teams work closely with business colleagues to understand problems, test ideas and rapidly develop solutions. Your organisation will develop trusted, reusable data products and AI capabilities that support analytics, automation and decision-making. You will work with enterprise teams to establish strong engineering, architecture, security and governance practices, with privacy, responsible AI and data quality incorporated from the beginning. Scale AI and Agentic Solutions You will shape how AI agents are developed, deployed, managed and improved across EUIT. Working with technology, security and governance teams, you will establish clear approaches for ownership, human oversight, observability, evaluation and cost management. You will encourage reuse and interoperability while reducing unnecessary duplication. Solutions will be measured against clear outcomes including productivity, quality, adoption and cost. Turn Innovation into Business Value You will create practical ways for teams to experiment with new technology, quickly test promising ideas and scale solutions that deliver value. Rather than focusing only on proofs of concept, you will help teams establish proof of value , linking investments to measurable improvements in productivity, cost, speed, risk reduction and decision-making. You will establish clear baselines and measures with Finance and business partners so that the impact of technology investment is visible and understood. Build AI Capability Across EUIT A significant part of the role will be helping colleagues across EUIT build confidence and capability with AI. You will develop learning opportunities that bring AI to life through hackathons, demonstrations, speaker sessions, communities of practice and role-based learning. You will create opportunities for colleagues to experiment safely and help promising ideas progress from demonstrations into useful products, tools and AI agents. Lead Talent and Organisation Development You will build and develop a diverse team of forward engin