Senior Director, Data and AI Engineer

Role Description

The Senior Director, Data and AI Engineering will be a visionary and strategic leader responsible for defining and executing the data and AI engineering strategy across the entire R&D value chain with a deep knowledge of AI and R&D Data. This role will empower scientific and business functions—including drug development, clinical trials, real-world data evidence—by delivering robust, scalable, and compliant data and AI foundations and implementing advanced data, AI, and Generative AI (Gen AI) solutions.

As a technical leader, the Senior Director will manage a high-performing team of data engineers, AI/MLOps specialists, and application support team to foster a culture of innovation, and ensure the adoption of best-in-class engineering practices within a regulated pharmaceutical environment. This leader will bridge the gap between scientific ambition and technical execution, translating complex R&D challenges into impactful data and AI engineering solutions.

The Data and AI Engineering team will focus on establishing and enhancing Otsuka’s Data and AI solutions foundations on top of the AI platform provided by Data and AI platform team in IT.

Qualifications

• Expertise in real-world data assets and using them to generate scientific evidence and guide operational effectiveness and efficiencies.
• Deep expertise across data engineering, representation, Gen AI, AI, and machine learning techniques and experience in architecting and delivering AI/ML use cases.
• Strong team leadership, internal and cross-functional collaboration, project management skills with a focus on delivering impactful initiatives.
• 12+ years of progressive leadership experience in data engineering, AI/ML, and Gen AI with at least 5 years in senior technical leadership or management roles.
• Strong and demonstrated experience in architecting, building, and maintaining large-scale data and AI solutions in a scientific, regulated, or research-heavy environment.
• Strong experience working within the pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences industry, particularly within R&D, is highly desirable along with a deep understanding of AI and Machine Learning and its applications in Pharma.
• Proven track record of implementing and deploying Gen AI and large language model (LLM) applications in production environments.
• Creative problem solving using responsible use of technology.

Requirements

• Define and drive the strategic vision and roadmap for data engineering, AI, and Gen AI capabilities within R&D, aligning with overall business objectives and scientific priorities.
• Serve as a key thought leader and trusted advisor to senior R&D leadership on opportunities and risks related to AI and data technologies.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging data and AI technologies, balancing new opportunities with the need for scalability, reliability, and regulatory compliance.
• Deliver leading edge engineering approaches, effective enterprise data strategy, robust and responsible AI/ML model development.
• Lead and deliver the design, development, and deployment of extensible and scalable data engineering for complex R&D Data, pipelines, and architecture for AI applications.
• Oversee the implementation of AI and Gen AI use cases from ideation to production deployment.
• Champion engineering best practices, review AI solution architectures, and data & AI observability.
• Architect and scale MLOps practices for in-house applications to support the entire model lifecycle.
• Drive awareness of AI/ML applications and the importance of strong Data and AI engineering foundation across the organization.
• Provide technical and engineering support for Data and Information Governance, quality, and FAIR data.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage.
• Company provided basic life, accidental death & dismemberment, short-term and long-term disability insurance.
• Tuition reimbursement and student loan assistance.
• A generous 401(k) match.
• Flexible time off, paid holidays, and paid leave programs.
• Other company provided benefits.