Country Director, Ireland at AstraZeneca in Dublin, Leinster, Ireland

Country Director, Ireland
Location: Ireland - Dublin College Park
Country Director, Ireland
Dublin, Ireland
AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company driven by one purpose: to push the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines. We are now seeking an exceptional leader to take on the role of Country Director, Ireland — a pivotal position at the heart of our growth ambitions in Western and Southern Europe.
The role:
As Country Director Ireland you will report directly to the Area VP and form part of the Western and Southern Europe (WESE) Leadership Team. This is a critical leadership role responsible for a ~$120M business, covering four therapeutic areas and leading an organisation of 100 people. The business is on a growth trajectory with numerous launches across all therapy areas in plan.
Key accountabilities:
Set the vision and strategy for the Ireland market, ensuring alignment with AstraZeneca’s corporate direction and driving profitable, sustainable business performance.
Hold full P&L accountability for the Ireland marketing company, overseeing delivery of financial and operational results.
Lead external engagement with government, policymakers and healthcare system stakeholders to shape the local access environment in line with AstraZeneca’s Corporate Affairs strategy.
Translate long-term vision into strategic and operational plans, guiding execution across the organisation.
Prepare and lead the Ireland budget and planning process, including sales, cost and profit forecasts, in partnership with the Ireland Leadership Team and in alignment with the WESE Area.
Define and drive short-, medium- and long-term business strategies, continuously reviewing plans to reflect evolving market, commercial and financial conditions.
Oversee all Ireland operations, including market access, marketing, sales, medical and all other functional areas, ensuring efficient use of resources and compliance with all statutory, financial and employment regulations.
Optimise organisational structure and performance, establishing clear lines of accountability and ensuring alignment with corporate strategy and market needs.
Serve as the company’s senior representative in Ireland, ensuring a positive external presence and reputation.
Lead, develop and performance-manage senior leaders, building capability, supporting development and ensuring robust succession planning.
Embed a culture of ethics, integrity and compliance, ensuring effective oversight and transparent upward reporting in partnership with Global Compliance.
Work with partners across the healthcare ecosystem as appropriate to help transform patient care.
Accelerate our AI agenda across the organisation
Actively contribute as a member of the WESE Area Leadership Team, representing Ireland and shaping Area-level strategic priorities.
What You'll Do:
Setting a Bold Vision and Strategy and Executing for Results
Sets bold internal and external strategies that enable breakthrough results.
Sets ambitious business and sustainability goals, integrating economic, societal, and
environmental factors into a purpose-driven strategy, viewing sustainability as a competitive advantage, driving concerted action and investments, and staying the course in the face of setbacks or pushbacks.
Sets clear and challenging goals while committing the organisation to improved performance, with tenacity and accountability in driving results.
Anticipates beyond term in role and course-corrects with agility to grow a sustainable business.
Drives operational excellence and leverages digital and data-analytics to accelerate outcomes, anticipating longer-term value beyond short-term KPIs and legacy mindsets, focusing the organisation on critical strategic and P&L levers, and anchoring country strategy in enterprise priorities and market access realities.
Effectively balances the desire / need for broad change with an understanding of how much change the organisation can handle, creating realistic goals and implementation plans that are achievable and successful.
Takes smart risks, makes informed, data driven decisions and anticipates threats or unintended circumstances.
Demonstrates ease with ambiguity and uncertainty, and ability to adapt nimbly and lead others through complex situations.
Cultivating the Conditions for Growth and Innovation
Ensures a culture of psychological safety along with existing systems and capabilities to enable ideation and experimentation of novel, effective, and scalable ways to drive business results.
Engages in out-of-the-box thinking when solutioning, challenging the status quo, tying experimentation to measurable outcomes, and leading learning and change decisively, including in new markets or roles.
Has an entrepreneurial and creative approach to developing new, innovative ideas and business models to stretch the organisation, challenge traditional approaches, push boundaries within the industry and create value for all stakeholders.
Inspiring and Leading a Sustainable and Diverse Organisation
Attracts, retains, grows, and develops diverse talent.
Creates a learning organisation and consistently builds capabilities in the team for now and the future to drive a sustainable organisation.
Fosters an inclusive culture to ensure diversity of thought, authenticity, and engagement, developing talent for both market and enterprise needs with clear performance and succession expectations and using inclusion intentionally as a driver of sustained performance.
Seeks feedback, demonstrates self-awareness and reflection, leads by example and drives the organisation's performance with a continuous improvement attitude.
Demonstrates resilience, resolve and relentless commitment to higher standards.
Demonstrating Strong Judgment and Decision-Making in Complexity and Ambiguity
Drives data-driven decision-making in highly complex and ambiguous environments.
Seeks and leverages inputs of relevant stakeholders to fill knowledge gaps and develop sound judgment.
Balances speed and stability when making decisions without full information, explicitly weighing short- and long-term trade-offs across portfolio, pricing, and policy, applying sufficient scientific depth, and exercising sound judgment under scrutiny to protect reputation, patient interests, and license to operate.
Shows a high degree of integrity and forethought in decision making, with an ability to act in a transparent and consistent manner, always considering what is best for the organisation.
Building Connections and Impactful Partnerships
Takes a systems view of the external ecosystem.
Acts as a connector internally and externally and opens doors for new collaborations.
Builds impactful partnerships to co-create value and galvanise external support through shared[1]purpose storytelling, navigating enterprise interdependencies, positioning AstraZeneca as a strategic partner in access and policy discussions, and managing geopolitical and government sensitivities as part of partnership strategy.
Influencing and Building Followership
Motivates and inspires action by translating vision, strategies, and information into compelling stories tailored to the unique needs and values of internal and external audiences.
Consistently describes the ‘why’ and puts patients at the centre to influence and build followership.
Leverages digital and data to maximise reach, communicating with credibility and executive presence under pressure, including in high-visibility, external-facing contexts.
Demonstrates strong charisma and emotional intelligence, passion in own beliefs, and active drive.
Inspires trust through a natural aptitude to connect and build solid relationships, and ability to communicate clearly and persuasively
Experience & Track record:
Delivered sustained commercial performance in leading a small or medium country, or large and complex sales organisation/ business unit (BU) with P&L accountability.
Depth of knowledge and expertise in one or more therapeutic area (TA), leading a TA or brand, including launch experience and Oncology, in relevant emerging and/ or matured market settings.
Developed and executed TA or brand strategies globally, demonstrating strong organisational acumen, patient-centricity and scientific knowledge.
Successfully built and managed the company’s reputation, collaborating with key external stakeholders, government bodies and regulatory agencies across one or more countries.
Managed significant risk and complexity and has systematically built a risk management mind-set within a large organisation.
Built a high performing organisation, with capable and engaged teams and optimal culture.
Led cross functional teams executing against multi-disciplinary strategies (sales, marketing, medical, market access, business excellence, etc.).
Evidence of increased scale and complexity of accountabilities throughout own career path and gained broader experience over time, with demonstrated continuous personal growth and learning agility throughout own leadership journey.
Preferred (Not Essential)
Comprehensive understanding of the Ireland market.
Global marketing/strategy experience.
Diversity of experience, living and working outside of own country.
Why AstraZeneca?
At AstraZeneca, we believe in the power of what science can do. We are committed to making a meaningful difference in patients' lives, and we back that commitment with investment, innovation and a culture that values bold thinking. Austria represents one of our most exciting growth markets, and this role offers the chance to shape its future at a truly transformative moment.
Date Posted
28-Jul-2026
Closing Date
14-Aug-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.