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Astra Zeneca
United States · Remote OK

Medical Director, Senior Safety Physician

Medical AffairsFull-Time

Compensation

Pay not listed

The week · per this posting · weekdays assumed

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Posted 7mo ago · Verified live

Job Description

As a Medical Director, Senior Patient Safety Physician, you are a senior leader within Patient Safety and play a key role bringing deep clinical understanding and judgement in benefit risk assessments for AstraZeneca products.

You also have a role in shaping the culture of the department; and will act as a coach and mentor to more junior Patient Safety staff. You will also ensure projects adhere to Good Clinical and Pharmacovigilance Practice and regulatory requirements.

We encourage you to closely follow medical developments within assigned areas to incorporate emerging data and trends into the safety strategy

Main Responsibilities

Providing strategic Patient Safety input to drug development and post-marketing programs

Collaboration with team members to undertake safety surveillance activities and prepare high quality evaluation documents to describe safety findings.

Ensuring expert input to all elements of design and interpretation, including efficient use of tools and methodology (e. g. modelling and simulation).

Providing leadership to support project discussions with governance boards, including interactions with Patient Safety Peer Review Committee.

Lead the safety strategy for regulatory communication and provide oversight of higher-level documents to support submission activities.

Lead medico-scientific contributions to RMPs for assigned products and to Periodic Reports, including PBRERs, DSURs.

More broadly you are expected to participate in advisory discussions to support other Patient Safety teams in the development of their safety strategy and may be asked to represent Patient Safety in cross-functional discussions with internal and external partners.

Minimum Requirements

  • BS degree in medicine and experience as a physician or academic clinician
  • 7+ years of proven experience
  • Extensive experience in Pharmacovigilance, with clear evidence of delivering to a high standard

Detailed understanding of pharmaceutical safety, reporting and surveillance processes and strong experience of Patient Safety, as it relates to clinical trials and marketed products in any relevant field such as pharma, Regulatory Agency or Public Health agency

  • Experience in designing, supervising and implementing clinical trials and interpreting trial results
  • Strategic leadership of complex drug projects
  • Understanding of the medico-legal aspects of pharmacovigilance
  • Proven leader of cross-functional delivery teams.
  • Demonstrated ability to influence key business partners within and outside of company
  • Proficiency with both written and verbal communications
  • Preferred
  • PhD in scientific field
  • 5+ years of proven experience
  • Therapeutic area expertise and commercial understanding
  • Extensive general medical knowledge
  • Able to work across TAs and Functions
  • Research background, including peer reviewed publications
  • 27-Mar-2026
  • 30-May-2026

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.

Key Responsibilities

The role involves providing strategic Patient Safety input for drug development and post-marketing programs, collaborating on safety surveillance, and preparing high-quality evaluation documents describing safety findings. Responsibilities also include leading safety strategy for regulatory communication and overseeing higher-level documents supporting submission activities.

Requirements

Candidates must possess a BS degree in medicine and experience as a physician or academic clinician, along with over 7 years of proven experience, including extensive Pharmacovigilance expertise. A detailed understanding of pharmaceutical safety processes, clinical trial experience, and proven leadership of cross-functional teams are essential.

Qualifications

Experience
10+ years of experience

Key Skills

Cross-functional Leadership

Medical Affairs — Physician Career Context

Astra Zeneca holds silver-tier status on WeekdayDoc's Top Employers work-life index, composite score 74/100, 26 active listings.

Medical Affairs pay on WeekdayDoc is up 2.9% vs. the prior quarter (through Oct 2026).

Where are Medical Affairs jobs?
MeasureThis jobMarket
Work-life score6.6 / 10 · top 25% in medical affairsranked against 273 Medical Affairs listingslisting-based score, 0–10
Listed paynot listedMedical Affairs median $283k (middle half $250k–$319k)67 comparable listings, Nov 2026
Sign-on & loan repaymentnot statedUS physician listings (all specialties): 26% state a sign-on bonus (median $50k) · 12% offer loan repayment1,000 active listings, Nov 2026
Medical Affairs hiring demand#6 of 28 specialtiespostings stay open a median 69 daysWeekdayDoc Hiring Index, October 2026 · 162 postings, 36 closed
New Medical Affairs listings94 in the last 30 days90 the 30 days before (+4%)U.S., first seen on WeekdayDoc, Nov 2026
Medical Affairs pay trend+2.9% vs prior quarter—through Oct 2026
Astra Zenecasilver tier, 74/100Top Employers work-life index26 active listings
Sources: WeekdayDoc live listing index (273 Medical Affairs listings), Top Employers work-life index, WeekdayDoc Hiring Index; as of Nov 2026. Same values as the Weekday Verdict and Market Insights on this page.

Work-Life Balance Analysis

WeekdayDoc's proprietary algorithm rates Medical Director, Senior Safety Physician at Astra Zeneca a 6.6 out of 10 for work-life balance — classified as good. This places the position in the top 25% in Medical Affairs — ranked against 273 active Medical Affairs listings on WeekdayDoc. Contributing factors include remote work flexibility.

Top Medical Affairs Jobs

1 matches · ranked by pay
#1

Payer & Health Systems Oncology, Medical Affairs Director (PHSO MAD) (PA, MD, Upstate NY)

MSD · Baltimore, Maryland

$210k-$331k

Work-life snapshot

median 3.0this job 6.6
Better work-life than 80% of Medical Affairs listings

Listing-based score, 0–10, across 273 comparable listings. Shaded area = the share scoring below this one.

  • Remote