Sr Director, AIDA R&D AI Ecosystem Engineering

Pfizer’s commitment to creating breakthroughs that change patients’ lives is deeply embedded in our culture as a science-driven and patient-focused company. Central to this commitment is our use of digital technologies, AI, data, and analytics, which drive innovation across our organization.
 

We are seeking a dynamic and technically accomplished Sr Director, AIDA R&D AI Ecosystem Engineering to lead the AI Innovation engineering function for our AI, Data, and Analytics ecosystem supporting pharmaceutical R&D. This role is critical to building and scaling the foundational re-useable AI components for complex problems that power the R&D organization.

As a senior leader, you will be responsible for the architecture, development, and operational excellence of the AI components for R&D, enabling scientific teams to accelerate discovery and development through data-driven innovation. You will lead a team of engineers and collaborate closely with product, data science, and Digital partners to deliver secure, scalable, and high-performance solutions.

The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of developing and executing strategic plans for groundbreaking AI products and utilizing data and customer insights to inform decision making. Your strong background in cutting edge AI technologies and AI product creation and expertise in taking products from ideation to delivery using automation and modern practices will be essential. You will thrive in managing complex, uncertain environments, driving ideas to products and focusing on impactful outcomes.

This role demands a passion for scaling technology initiatives and working in a fast-paced, try-destroy-retry environment.  Your unwavering commitment to accomplishing ambitious goals that will propel the company forward will be instrumental in driving innovation, efficiency, and success.

Key Responsibilities

Your role will involve leveraging an environment of experimentation to influence direction, identifying multiple solutions and innovative options.

Engineering Leadership

• Stay at the forefront of technological advancements in AI.
• Architect and operationalize multi-agent cognitive frameworks that combine autonomous agents, LLMs, and orchestration layers to automate complex R&D workflows.
• Lead the engineering design and development of AI products and semi-autonomous agents for R&D workflows.
• Ensure agents can coordinate across human actors and systems, querying internal platforms and external data sources to synthesize insights.
• Drive the creation of modular, production-ready components that support scalable deployment and reproducibility of AI and Agentic AI systems.
• Across R&D, champion AI safety, transparency, and governance, ensuring AI systems meet R&D’s standards for ethical AI and regulatory compliance.
• Collaborate with security and compliance teams to embed auditability and traceability into AI and agentic AI workflows.
   

Team Management

• Build and lead a high-performing team of AI software engineers and DevSecOps specialists.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and accountability.
• Mentor and grow engineering talent through coaching, feedback, and career development.
• Promote cross-functional collaboration with product, data science, and IT teams to ensure alignment and shared ownership.
• Optimize team structure and workflows using agile practices and metrics-driven processes.
• Inspire and guide the team through evolving priorities, emerging technologies, and scientific complexity.
   

Collaboration & Execution

• Help share and steer the overarching vision and strategy for AI innovative advancements in support of R&D, prototyping new technologies to address challenges.
• Partner with platform product management to translate user needs into technical solutions.
• Work closely with data scientists, bioinformaticians, and Digital to ensure platform usability and adoption.
• Ensure platform compliance with regulatory and security standards (e.g., GxP, HIPAA, FAIR data principles).
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders, including legal & compliance, R&D Creation Center Platform organization, AIDA Platforms, AI Center of Excellence ensuring alignment with broader organizational strategies.
   

Strategic Impact

• Contribute to the overall platform strategy and roadmap in partnership with the Head of AIDA R&D Advanced AI & Data Ecosystem who you’ll be reporting to.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies to future-proof the platform.
• Optimize for performance, cost-efficiency, and scalability across global R&D use cases.

Innov