Introduction to role
The Site Operations Lead plays a critical role in supporting AstraZeneca’s R&D presence in Beijing, one of the company’s six strategic global sites. As a key site representative for R&D China, this role helps ensure that the Beijing office environment enables safe, efficient, and effective ways of working, while supporting a high-quality employee experience for local teams and visitors.
Working in close partnership with Facilities Management and a broad range of cross-functional stakeholders, the role represents R&D interests in site operations and planning, including participation in the cross-functional site management team. The role is accountable for office capacity planning and workspace coordination for R&D in Beijing, while also providing local logistical and administrative support to help deliver cross-functional activities and day-to-day business operations.
Given the strategic importance of the Beijing site to AstraZeneca’s global footprint, this role requires a proactive, collaborative, and highly organized individual who can translate business needs into practical site solutions and help ensure the workplace continues to support organizational priorities, growth, and employee engagement.
Accountabilities
The Site Operations Lead represents R&D China in site-related activities and works closely with Facilities Management and other enabling functions to support a safe, compliant, comfortable, and productive office environment. The role serves as a key point of coordination for workplace-related matters affecting the R&D organization and ensures that R&D priorities are reflected appropriately in local site discussions and decisions. As part of this responsibility, the role sits on the cross-functional site management team on behalf of R&D China, contributing to site planning, issue resolution, and ongoing workplace improvement.
The role leads office capacity planning and space management for the R&D organization in Beijing. This includes overseeing workspace allocation, seating arrangements, office moves, and space utilization, as well as supporting planning related to organizational change, team expansion, and operational continuity. The role works closely with business leaders, HR, and Facilities partners to ensure workspace solutions remain aligned with evolving business requirements.
A further key accountability is to provide local logistics support and coordination for cross-functional and multi-site activities. This includes supporting the planning and delivery of events such as town halls, seminars, leadership visits, internal meetings, and employee engagement activities, ensuring that local arrangements are effectively coordinated and executed. The role acts as a trusted local contact for operational support, helping to connect different stakeholders and service providers to deliver smooth site-based activities.
The role also provides local administrative support to the R&D organization in Beijing. This includes supporting onboarding activities for new staff, such as coordinating workspace readiness and local site arrangements, and assisting with other routine office and team administration where needed. The role helps ensure employees are supported through key site-related processes and that office operations run in an effective and responsive manner.
In addition, the role is expected to identify and drive opportunities for continuous improvement in workplace operations, service quality, and employee experience. This includes building strong partnerships across R&D and enabling functions, tracking operational issues, and supporting practical, timely solutions that strengthen the overall effectiveness of the Beijing site.
Essential Skills/Experience
- Relevant experience in office management, site operations, workplace coordination, administration, facilities coordination, or business support within a complex organization.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively across functions and manage a broad portfolio of operational activities in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience in office capacity planning, workspace coordination, event logistics, or employee support activities.
- Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective relationships and work collaboratively across teams and functions.
- Strong organizational and coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver with attention to detail.
- Clear communication skills, with the confidence to engage with stakeholders at different levels in both local and cross-functional settings.
- Proactive and solution-oriented mindset, with the ability to identify issues, coordinate actions, and drive follow-through.
- Fluency in Mandarin and strong English communication skills.
Desirable Skills/Experience
- Experience in a multinational or matrix organization.
- Familiarity with site management processes, workplace services, or facilities-related coordination.
- Experience supporting onboarding, office moves, and internal site events.
- Understanding of workplace safety, compliance, and business continuity considerations in office operations.
- Experience in process improvement or project coordination.
Why AstraZeneca?
At AstraZeneca, our work is grounded in science, driven by innovation, and focused on improving the lives of patients. The Beijing site is one of AstraZeneca’s six strategic global sites, making it an important location for collaboration, innovation, and business delivery.
In this role, you will help create the environment that enables our people and teams to do their best work every day. By connecting business needs with effective site operations, you will contribute directly to employee experience, organizational effectiveness, and the continued success of R&D China within AstraZeneca’s global network.
If you want, I can also help you with a version that is more closely tuned to internal posting language used in AZ recruitment systems, including a slightly sharper Introduction to role and more polished accountability wording for HR review.
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 authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.
