Director, Real-World Data Science

Addlestone, England, United Kingdom

6/9/2025

Description

Director, Real-World Data Science

About Astellas

At Astellas we are a progressive health partner, delivering value and outcomes where needed.

We pursue innovative science, focussing initially on the areas of greatest potential and then developing solutions where patient need is high, often in rare or under-served disease areas and in life-threatening or life-limiting diseases and conditions.

We work directly with patients, doctors and health care professionals on the front line to ensure patient and clinical needs are guiding our development activities at every stage.

Our global vision for Patient Centricity is to support the development of innovative health solutions through a deep understanding of the patient experience. At Astellas, Patient Centricity isn’t a buzzword - it’s a guiding principle for action. We believe all staff have a role to play in creating a patient-centric culture and integrating an awareness of the patient into our everyday working practices, regardless of our role, team or division.

We work closely with regulatory authorities and payers to find new ways to ensure access to new therapies. We deliver the latest insights and real-world evidence to inform the best decisions for patients and their care-givers, to ensure the medicines we develop continue to provide meaningful outcomes.

Beyond medicines, we support our stakeholder communities to drive initiatives that improve awareness, education, access and ultimately standards of care.

The Opportunity

As a Director of RWDS, you will be an analytic researcher informing and conducting RWD studies at any time in the drug lifecycle. You will work globally and across the product lifecycle to inform strategy and design of observational studies.

You will work directly within the RWDS team to design and execute observational studies and RWD analyses for internal and external consumption and partner closely with Development, Medical Affairs, and Pharmacovigilance/Pharmacoepidemiology colleagues in their research. Additionally, you will collaborate closely with others in RWDS, Biostatistics and the broader Quantitative Sciences & Evidence Generation department to enhance our offerings.

RWDS is multidisciplinary and provides RWE strategic input, study design, statistical and programming support to projects. Team members apply their unique knowledge, skills and experience in teams to deliver decision-shaping real-world evidence.

Hybrid Working

At Astellas we recognise the importance of balancing your work and home life, so we offer a hybrid working solution allowing time to connect with colleagues in person at the office alongside the flexibility to work from home; optimising the most productive work environment for you to succeed and deliver.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities to add value to Astellas’ development programs and marketed products through the use of RWD, and provide best-in-class data science support to assigned programs.
• Design observational studies using primary and/or secondary data.
• Execute observational studies and RWD analyses using (mostly in-house) real-world databases, or oversee vendors and other RWDS staff in executing these studies.
• Write, review, or contribute to key study documents to ensure optimal methodological and statistical presentation—including protocols, analysis plans, table and figure (TLF) specifications, study reports, and publications.
• Ensure efficient planning, execution, and reporting of analyses.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and advisor in specific data access partnerships.
• Represent the company on matters related to RWD analysis in meetings with regulatory authorities, key opinion leaders, and other external experts as needed.
• Contribute to vendor selection in collaboration with partner functions.
• Lead the creation and maintenance of best practices, tools/macros, and standards related to methods, data, and data analysis at Astellas.
• Collaborate with RWDS, Biostatistics, and cross-functional teams in Development, Medical Affairs, and Pharmacovigilance.
• Mentor and guide junior members of the RWD Analytics team.
  
  

Essential Knowledge & Experience

• Extensive hands-on experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including the design and execution of observational studies and the analysis of RWD, such as major EHR and claims databases from the US, UK, EU, and/or Japan.
• Solid understanding of entire drug development process with ability to see the “big picture”.
• Experience in applying real world study designs (description, association, prediction, causation) to a wide variety of information / evidence gaps across research, development, and post-approval settings.
• Advanced and broad knowledge of statistical methods, along with understanding of industry practices & guidelines related to the analysis of RWD.
• Working knowledge of SAS or R required, Python or SQL beneficial.
• Advanced knowledge in non-interventional research design for primary data collection (i.e., prospective) as well as secondary use of data studies.
• Committed to seeking innovative methodology to generate data-driven insights.
• Experience working across geographies with globally distributed teams.
• Self-starting performer with a strategic mindset and the demonstrated capacity to operate both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, team-oriented setting.
• Excellent communication, collaboration and influencing skills, and experienced working in cross-functional teams.
  
  

Education

• A doctorate or master's degree in statistics, data science, pharmacoepidemiology or a similar discipline.
  
  

Additional Information

• This is a permanent, full-time position.
• This position is based in London, United Kingdom.
• This position follows our hybrid working model. Role requires a blend of home and a minimum of 1 days per quarter in our London office. Flexibility may be required in line with business needs. Candidates must be located within a commutable distance of the office.
  
  

At Astellas, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.