Director, HR Business Partner - US Oncology Commercial

HR Business Partner, US Oncology Commercial

Location: Gaithersburg, MD

Role summary

The HR Business Partner, US Oncology Commercial will provide strategic and hands-on HR partnership to the five US Oncology commercial franchises: Lung, Breast, I/O, G2 and Heme. The role will partner closely with Franchise Heads and their leadership teams, across both Field and Head-office based populations, to translate business priorities into focused people, organization, capability, and culture plans that support sustained growth, launch excellence, leadership effectiveness and strong commercial execution.
 

This is a commercially embedded HRBP role in a large, complex and fast-growing business. The role requires a strong business partner who can operate confidently with senior commercial leaders, bring structure and insight to people decisions, coach leaders through growth and change, and connect enterprise HR solutions to the specific needs of a dynamic, highly competitive oncology portfolio.

Key accountabilities

Strategic business partnering

• Partner with Franchise Heads and commercial leadership teams to shape and deliver people plans aligned to franchise priorities, growth ambitions and evolving business needs.
• Translate commercial strategy into practical HR priorities across organization design, workforce planning, talent, leadership, culture, performance and change.
• Act as a trusted advisor to franchise leaders, bringing constructive challenge, data-led insight and pragmatic judgment to business and people decisions.
• Build strong relationships across the US OBU, HR Centers of Excellence and broader HR network to bring the right expertise and solutions to the business.

Organization and workforce planning

• Support franchise-level organization design and workforce planning as the business evolves across brands, indications, launches and field-facing models.
• Partner with leaders to ensure organization structures, role accountabilities, spans/layers and decision-making forums are fit for franchise growth and portfolio complexity.
• Contribute to sales-builds, launch-readiness work and cross-commercial initiatives by ensuring people, capability and change implications are identified early and managed effectively.
• Use organizational data, business insight and leader feedback to anticipate risks, identify capability gaps and recommend targeted interventions.

Talent, succession and leadership effectiveness

• Lead high-quality talent and succession processes for franchise leadership teams and critical roles, ensuring strong follow-through on development actions.
• Coach leaders on talent differentiation, performance management, leadership effectiveness and development planning.
• Help build strong leadership benches across commercial oncology, with a focus on identifying, developing and accelerating talent for broader US OBU and enterprise opportunities.
• Partner with leaders to strengthen team effectiveness, collaboration and leadership routines across franchises and cross-functional interfaces.

Performance, culture and employee experience

• Support leaders in building a high-performance, inclusive and accountable culture across commercial teams.
• Provide coaching and guidance on performance development, manager effectiveness, employee engagement and team health.
• Work with leaders to identify and address organizational friction points that could slow execution, collaboration or decision-making.
• Ensure HR processes and interventions are executed with business relevance, consistency and appropriate urgency.

Change leadership

• Lead or support people-related change across the franchises, including launch-driven change, organization evolution, new ways of working and capability shifts.
• Equip leaders and managers to communicate change clearly, manage adoption and sustain engagement through periods of growth and complexity.
• Bring disciplined project management to HR initiatives, ensuring clear outcomes, owners, timelines and stakeholder alignment.
• Partner across HR and commercial leadership to ensure change plans are integrated, practical and grounded in business priorities.

Employee relations and risk management

• Ensure HR decisions and interventions are aligned with global and local policies, employment law requirements and AstraZeneca values.
• Partner with Employee Relations, Legal and relevant HR specialists on complex or sensitive matters and provide sound coaching to leaders and managers.
• Help leaders proactively manage people risk while maintaining fairness, consistency and business focus.

Data, insights and continuous improvement

• Use workforce data, talent insights, engagement signals and business context to inform HR priorities and leadership decisions.
• Identify patterns and emerging people risks across the franchise client group, translating insight into focused actions.
• Measure the impact of key HR interventions and adjust plans based on business feedback and outcomes.
• Contribute to broader US OBU HR priorities, sharing learning and scalable approaches across the HR team.

Essential experience and capabilities

• Bachelor’s Degree in HR or a related field
• 8+ years HR experience in complex, multinational organizations
• Demonstrated project management skills with a proven track record of delivering business improvements.
• Technical HR expertise in resourcing, performance management, reward, employee relations, learning and development (L&D), or organizational change.
• Experience in negotiating union contracts, resolving disputes, and collaborating with works councils.
• Proven ability to drive organizational change and engage with stakeholders at all levels.
• Supervisory experience with the capability to mentor and develop team members.
• Pharmaceutical or regulated industry experience is preferred.
• Significant HR business partnering experience in a complex, matrixed, multinational organization.
• Strong commercial acumen and ability to understand business strategy, portfolio priorities, organizational complexity and execution challenges.
• Experience partnering with senior leaders and leadership teams, with the confidence to coach, challenge and influence.
• Strong capability across talent management, succession planning, performance development, organization design, workforce planning and change management.
• Proven ability to diagnose business needs and translate them into practical, high-impact HR solutions.
• Sound judgment in employee relations, policy interpretation and risk management.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort using data and insights to inform recommendations.
• Ability to operate at both strategic and hands-on levels, moving quickly from diagnosis to action.
• Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder management skills.

Desirable experience

• Postgraduate qualification in Human Resources (HR) or a related field;
• Experience in pharmaceuticals, biotech, healthcare, life sciences or another regulated, science-led industry.
• Experience supporting commercial, field, marketing, market access, medical or launch-oriented organizations.
• Experience working in high-growth businesses, transformation environments or organizations with significant portfolio and launch complexity.
• Postgraduate qualification or professional certification in HR, organization development, employment law, coaching or a related field.

Key relationships

Internal

• US OBU HR Lead and US OBU HR team.
• US Oncology Franchise Heads and franchise leadership teams.
• HR Centers of Excellence, including Talent, Reward, Employee Relations, Learning & Development and Talent Acquisition.
• Cross-functional US OBU partners across Commercial, Medical, Market Access, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Business Excellence and Innovation/Business Planning.
• Global Oncology and enterprise HR partners, where relevant.

External

• External HR, talent, leadership development or organization design partners, where required.
• Employment counsel or advisory partners, in partnership with Legal/Employee Relations, where needed.

What success looks like

• Franchise leaders view HR as a strategic, commercially relevant partner who improves business decision-making and leadership effectiveness.
• Franchise people plans are clearly linked to business priorities and actively support launch readiness, growth, talent depth and execution.
• Critical talent, succession and leadership risks are identified early and managed with clear actions.
• Managers are better equipped to lead performance, development, engagement and change.
• Organization and workforce decisions are more disciplined, data-informed and aligned across the US OBU.
• HR interventions are practical, timely and valued by the business.

The annual base pay (or hourly rate of compensation) for this position ranges from $146,411.20 to $219,616.80. Our positions offer eligibility for various incentives—an opportunity to receive short-term incentive bonuses, equity-based awards for salaried roles and commissions for sales roles. Benefits offered include qualified retirement programs, paid time off (i.e., vacation, holiday, and leaves), as well as health, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans.

Date Posted

Closing Date

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.