Senior Director, Head of Data & AI Risk Management

We're building a connected, end-to-end Enterprise AI engine - uniting data foundations, AI technology, process reinvention, and business-facing AI to accelerate results across the whole value chain. Success depends on being exceptional connectors: you'll actively leverage existing capabilities, celebrate and promote reuse, export breakthrough ideas across geographies and functions, and obsess over scaling impact rather than building in isolation. If you thrive in high-collaboration environments where your role is to turn complex, cross-functional problems into reusable, enterprise-wide capabilities - and where the measure of success is adoption and scale, not just innovation - you'll have the platform (and sponsorship) to make it real.    

The Senior Director, Data & AI Risk Management provides enterprise leadership for the identification, assessment, and management of Data and AI risks. The role ensures that Data and AI are deployed at scale while remaining within agreed risk appetite, regulatory expectations, and ethical standards. This role acts as a senior risk authority and trusted partner to the business, translating policy intent into practical risk decisions, driving mitigation where needed, and enabling leaders to make confident, timely decisions on Data & AI initiatives. 

Typical Accountabilities 

• Demonstrated leadership of diverse, global teams to achieve the following objectives, consistently exhibiting AZ values:  

• Own the enterprise approach to identifying, assessing, and managing Data & AI risks across strategic, operational, ethical, and regulatory dimensions. 

• Integrate Data & AI risk into broader Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) processes, ensuring alignment with enterprise risk appetite and strategic objectives. 

• Ensure material Data & AI risks are surfaced, understood, and actively managed at an enterprise level. 

• Improve enterprise risk posture by challenging the adequacy of mitigations, driving timely remediation of material issues, and escalating where risks exceed agreed appetite or controls are ineffective. 

• Provide harmonised risk positions that support confident, timely decision‑making and informed discussions related to risk appetite. 

• Oversee enterprise-level risk aggregation, reporting, and insight for Data & AI, providing senior leadership and governance bodies with a clear view of systemic risk exposure, trends, and residual risk against appetite. 

• Sponsor and / or lead priority initiatives across Data & AI Trust and Assurance, irrespective of team boundaries, including Standards and Controls rollout and regulatory compliance programmes covering requirements such as the US Data Security Program, EU AI Act, European Health Data Space, and other emerging obligations. 

• Establish and lead the enterprise operating model for Data & AI Risk Management, defining clear accountabilities, decision rights, escalation paths, and governance forums, with well-defined stakeholder engagement across business units, regions, and functions. 

• Drive continuous improvement of risk management processes for Data & AI to reflect stakeholder feedback and industry best practices. 

• Serve as a senior advisor on complex or novel Data & AI use cases, enabling proportionate risk decisions rather than default risk avoidance. 

• Partner with Business areas, Project Teams, and Data Offices to embed risk management into ways of working, delivery pipelines, and operating models. 

• Build strong relationships across Legal, Compliance, AZ IT, and Privacy to ensure aligned and consistent risk approaches. 

• Own and manage interactions with Group Internal Audit, including Management Action Plans, and remediation tracking related to Data & AI risk. 

• Identify opportunities to safely accelerate Data Enablement and AI deployment within agreed risk appetite. 

• Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with colleagues across functions and levels, actively listen, resolve conflicts constructively, and co-create solutions to achieve shared goals. 

• Demonstrated ability to synthesise complex issues into concise narratives, anticipating stakeholder concerns, navigating ambiguity, and driving alignment and decisions in high‑stakes forums. 

• Executive presence with the ability to build credibility quickly, communicate with clarity and confidence, and influence senior executive leadership at forums such as Audit Committee, the Data Enablement Council, or SET-area Data Office (SEDO), promoting a culture of responsible and confident Data & AI use. 

Education, Qualifications, Skills, and Experience 

Essential 

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information/Data Science, Informatics, Computer Science, Economics, or related discipline – or equivalent number of years of experience. 

• Significant senior experience in risk management, assurance, governance, or second‑line oversight within a complex organisation. 

• Demonstrated ability to build and lead a high‑performing team with deep expertise in enterprise Data & AI risk management. 

• Sponsor and / or lead priority initiatives across Data & AI Trust and Assurance, irrespective of team boundaries, including Standards and Controls rollout and regulatory compliance programmes covering requirements such as the US Data Security Program, EU AI Act, European Health Data Space, and other emerging obligations. 

• Champion a culture of responsible, compliant, and value‑focused use of data and AI across the organisation. 

• Develop strong partnerships with other areas of the business such as Legal, Compliance, Cyber Security, Enterprise Risk Management, Data Offices, etc.). 

• Demonstrated project leadership skills. 

• Demonstrate effective communication skills with the ability to influence others to achieve objectives. 

• Proven change management, collaboration, and negotiation skills. 

Desirable 

• Master's or PhD in Business Administration, Information/Data Science, Informatics, Computer Science, Economics, or related discipline. 

• Experience in life sciences and healthcare. 

• Intimate knowledge of relevant key business processes in the Pharma industry. 

• Practical knowledge of ISO/IEC 42001 (Artificial Intelligence Management Systems). 

• Practical knowledge of NIST AI Risk Management Framework. 

• Data and / or AI Governance and Data Management education and certifications. 

• Familiarity with relevant data and AI regulations and compliance requirements (e.g. GxP, GDPR, EU AI Act, NIS2, etc.). 

• Applied data management, data science, AI development, or AI governance skills, including experience with related tools. 

• Exposure publishing relevant data and / or AI risk management topics in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and other scientific proceedings. 

Why AstraZeneca?   

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.   

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. 

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