Director, Clinical Imaging – Respiratory & Immunology (R&I)

Location

: Barcelona - Spain (3 days working from the office and 2 days working from home)

About the role: Join Early Clinical Development in R&I to lead the strategy and execution of clinical imaging across our translational, early-, and late-stage portfolio. You will set the vision for how imaging accelerates decision-making from first-in-human through registrational studies, ensuring high-quality, quantitative endpoints and modern analytics are embedded into development plans. Imaging is a strategic capability for AstraZeneca, and this role is pivotal in shaping how we deploy it to deliver transformative medicines for patients with respiratory and immunology diseases.

What you’ll do

Strategy and leadership:

Define and own the cross-program imaging strategy for assigned assets; translate disease biology into actionable imaging endpoints and decision points in the Clinical Development Plan (CDP). Serve as the imaging voice on Global Project Teams and Clinical Program Teams, influencing asset strategy and investment.

Endpoint design and validation:

Lead selection, technical validation, and qualification of imaging endpoints (standard and exploratory), including modality/sequence selection, acquisition/reconstruction parameters, site readiness, and harmonization plans. Drive enabling/method-development studies where needed.

Trial implementation and quality:

Oversee imaging protocol design, imaging charters, manuals, and risk-based quality management. Ensure central reads, QC, calibration/phantoms, and site training deliver reproducible, regulator-ready data across multicenter/global trials.

Data, analytics, and insights:

Partner with data science/biometrics to architect data flows (from DICOM to analysis-ready formats), ensure metadata completeness, and apply advanced analytics (e.g., radiomics, ML/AI, deep learning, quantitative segmentation) to extract robust signals from large, multimodal datasets. Champion pre-specification and validation of algorithms and ensure auditability and traceability.

Vendor and partnership management:

Select and manage imaging CROs, core labs, and image analysis vendors; monitor technical performance and data quality. Build external collaborations with academia and consortia to access novel techniques and reference datasets.

Regulatory and compliance:

Anticipate and address regulatory expectations for imaging endpoints; contribute to interactions, submissions, and responses, including documentation of imaging methods, validation packages, and sensitivity analyses.  Guide biomarker qualification efforts as needed.

Scientific leadership and communication:

Present imaging strategies and readouts to governance and senior stakeholders. Publish and present externally where appropriate. Elevate imaging literacy across R&I and mentor colleagues.