Associate Director – Life Sciences R&D

Accenture France; Paris; On-site; EUR 300,000 - 460,000; Full time

Job summary

Accenture France is seeking a Managing Director to own and grow the R&D domain within the Life Sciences practice. You will lead the France-based team, build flagship programs, and advise R&D executives on strategy, operating models, and transformations across discovery, development, and evidence generation.

You bring deep clinical development expertise, a track record with pharma/biotech and consulting, and the ability to win and deliver complex engagements.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in clinical development across the drug development lifecycle.
• Experience in life sciences and management consulting.
• Proven track record building C-suite relationships and converting them into work.
• Credible fluency in how AI, GenAI, data and digital are reshaping R&D transformations.

Responsibilities

• Advise at the top table with R&D leadership on strategy, operating model and transformation.
• Shape AI-enabled R&D propositions and move from pilots to production across the value chain.
• Originate and win engagements, owning commercial outcomes for the domain.
• Lead delivery as senior sponsor across programs and ensure measurable impact.
• Build and retain a France-based team and cultivate the domain's capability and culture.
• Represent Accenture externally through publications, speaking, and ecosystem roles.

Skills

Clinical development

R&D leadership

Executive relationships

AI in R&D

Global delivery

Education

Advanced degree (PhD/MD/PharmD) or MBA

Job description

About The Role

Pharma and biotech R&D is being reinvented. Rising cost and duration of drug development, pressure on R&D productivity, and the rapid rise of AI and generative AI — across discovery, clinical development, and evidence generation — are forcing R&D leaders to rethink their strategy and operating model.

We are looking for a Managing Director to own and grow the R&D domain within our France & BeLux Life Sciences practice. This is a build-and-lead role: you will be the trusted advisor R&D executives turn to for their most consequential transformation decisions, convert that trust into flagship programs, and build the France-based team and capability to deliver them — powered by Accenture's global assets, platforms and network.

You will bring rare, credible depth in clinical development — strategy and operations — combined with the commercial instincts of a consultant and the entrepreneurial energy to shape a domain rather than inherit one.

What You'll Do

• Advise at the top table. Build and hold trusted relationships with R&D leadership — Head of R&D, Chief Scientific / Chief Medical Officer, Head of Clinical Development, and R&D digital and data leaders — advising on R&D strategy, operating model, and transformation.
• Bring domain expertise. Apply deep knowledge of the drug development lifecycle — clinical development strategy, trial design and operations, regulatory interface, and R&D operating models — to your clients' hardest problems.
• Harness new technology. Shape and localise AI- and technology-enabled R&D propositions, helping clients move from pilots to production across the R&D value chain.
• Originate and win. Build pipeline, shape opportunities, and win engagements, owning the commercial outcomes for the domain.
• Lead delivery. Act as senior sponsor across programs, ensuring quality and measurable impact.
• Build the team. Recruit, develop and retain a high-performing France-based team, and build the domain's capability and culture.
• Lead thinking. Represent Accenture externally — publishing, speaking, and shaping the R&D transformation agenda across the French and European life sciences ecosystem.
• Orchestrate the network. Collaborate across Accenture's global network — industry, technology, data and AI, and delivery centres — to bring the full strength of the firm to your clients.

Essential

What we're looking for

• Deep expertise in clinical development — both strategy and operations — across the drug development lifecycle.
• Meaningful experience in both the life sciences industry (pharma/biotech) and management consulting.
• A proven track record building C-suite relationships, particularly with R&D leadership, and converting them into work.
• Credible fluency in how AI, GenAI, data and digital are reshaping R&D, and the ability to shape and sell technology-enabled R&D transformation.
• A global perspective, with experience operating across markets.
• Experience building and leading teams, with an entrepreneurial, build-oriented mindset.

Preferred

• An established global network in pharma and biotech R&D leadership.
• Depth in one or more of: clinical operations transformation, R&D digital/data platforms, decentralised or digital trials, real-world evidence, regulatory or medical.
• A recognised external profile — publications, speaking, or ecosystem roles.
• An advanced degree in a life sciences discipline (PhD, PharmD, MD) or an MBA.

Typically 15+ years of combined industry and consulting experience at a level consistent with a Managing Director appointment.

Why join

• A build mandate — shape and own a domain, backed by the scale of a global firm.
• Access to Accenture's global R&D assets, AI and data platforms, and network — reach few others can match.
• A front-row seat to the AI-driven reinvention of R&D, with clients who are investing.
• A senior leadership platform spanning origination and delivery, with a clear footprint across France and BeLux.