Director of AI Engineering – Vaccine R&D Operations Enablement
- United States - New York - Pearl River
POSITION SUMMARY
We are seeking to identify a Director of AI Engineering to lead AI-driven transformation across Vaccine R&D Operations. You will focus on applying AI automation, and advanced analytics in process-intensive, highly regulated environments, spanning laboratory operations, development execution, quality systems, business processes, and external partner engagement.
Embedded within Vaccines R&D, you’ll partner with scientific, development, quality, informatics, finance, and operational leaders to translate real‑world operational complexity into scalable, production‑grade AI systems that improve execution speed, decision quality, compliance readiness, and overall R&D experience.
What you’ll do:
Lead AI enablement of Vaccine R&D operations
- Define and deliver AI solutions that support process-heavy lab and office workflows, including experiment tracking, documentation, handoffs, and operational reporting.
- Drive automation of manual and repetitive activities to improve speed, quality, consistency, and compliance across vaccine development.
Strengthen operational decision-making
- Develop predictive, optimization, and scenario-based models to support resource planning, capacity management, timeline forecasting, and risk trade-offs.
- Develop dashboards and decision-support tools that translate complex operational data into actionable insights for R&D and leadership teams.
Enable regulated, inspection-ready AI systems
- Design AI solutions aligned with GxP expectations, data integrity standards, and inspection readiness, supporting deviation monitoring, CAPA trending, documentation completeness, data genealogy, and audit preparedness.
- Establish governance models covering model validation, versioning, explainability, monitoring, and lifecycle management in regulated environments.
Optimize development planning execution
- Build AI‑enabled capabilities for development planning, milestone tracking, dependency management, and execution risk forecasting across the vaccine development lifecycle
- Lead process optimization and reengineering initiatives, using AI, automation, and data-driven methods to simplify workflows and reduce cycle times.
Engineer and scale production-grade AI platforms
- Architect and deploy robust, production-ready ML and analytics pipelines with appropriate governance, reproducibility, and monitoring.
- Scale AI solutions in cloud and/or High-Performance Computing environments, ensuring reliability, security, and seamless integration with existing R&D, financial, and operational systems.
Partner and lead across disciplines
- Act as a strategic bridge between technical teams and scientific, operational, quality, and business stakeholders to ensure adoption and measurable value.
- Mentor engineers and operational partners, raising AI and data literacy across vaccine R&D.
- Champion best practices in MLOps, software engineering, and AI system lifecycle management.
What you’ll bring
Basic Qualifications:
- PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, Software Engineering, AI, or a related discipline and a minimum of 5 years of applied analytical experience with demonstrated impact in operations, automation, business analytics, or decision support OR
- Master’s in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, Software Engineering, AI, or a related discipline and a minimum of 7 years of applied analytical experience with demonstrated impact in operations, automation, business analytics, or decision support
- Minimum 2 years of AI/ML experience in a relevant domain
- Strong understanding of process-heavy environments, ideally within R&D, clinical operations or large-scale regulated organizations
- Expertise in predictive modeling, optimization, automation, generative AI, and ML system design.
- Strong programming skills in Python and modern ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow), plus experience scaling models in cloud and/or HPC environments.
- Experience collaborating across scientific, operational, quality, and business teams, translating complex needs into practical AI solutions.
- Clear communication skills
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in life sciences, pharma, R&D, clinical operations, or other regulated industries.
- Financial and business experience supporting budgets, forecasting, vendor management, or portfolio analytics.
Work Location Assignment: This is a hybrid role requiring you to live within commuting distance and work on-site an average of 2.5 days per week.
Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.
Sunshine Act
Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider’s name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.
EEO & Employment Eligibility
Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer. This position requires permanent work authorization in the United States.
Pfizer endeavors to make www.pfizer.com/careers accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process and/or interviewing, please email disabilityrecruitment@pfizer.com. This is to be used solely for accommodation requests with respect to the accessibility of our website, online application process and/or interviewing. Requests for any other reason will not be returned.
Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives
Research confirms what intuition tells us: that purpose-driven companies perform better, are more innovative, attract and retain the best people, and know how to unleash the power of those people. Pfizer’s purpose—Breakthroughs that change patients' lives—fuels everything we do and reflects our passion for building on our legacy as one of the greatest contributors of good to the world.
Each word in our purpose has meaning and reflects the value we strive to bring to patients and society:
“Breakthroughs” - These are the innovations, scientific and commercial, that we seek to deliver every day. All colleagues, regardless of role, level or location, strive for breakthroughs every day.
“Change” - We want to do more than simply improve patients’ medical conditions; we want to dramatically change their lives for the better.
“Patients’ lives” - We consider not only patients, but everyone they touch—including their families, caregivers, and friends—and everything they love to do. It’s an intentionally holistic view.
Our purpose ensures that patients remain at the center of all we do. We live our purpose by sourcing the best science in the world; partnering with others in the healthcare system to improve access to our medicines; using digital technologies to enhance our drug discovery and development, as well as patient outcomes; and leading the conversation to advocate for pro-innovation/pro-patient policies.
Every decision we make and every action we take is done with the patient in mind—and to nurture an environment where breakthroughs can thrive.
Our Values
To fully realize Pfizer’s purpose, we have established a clear set of expectations regarding “what” we need to achieve for patients and “how” we will go about achieving those goals.
The “how” is represented by four simple, powerful values—courage, excellence, equity, and joy—that define our company and our culture.
Courage: Breakthroughs start by challenging convention, especially in the face of uncertainty or adversity. This happens when we think big, speak up, and are decisive.
Excellence: We can only change patients’ lives when we perform at our best together. This happens when we focus on what matters, agree who does what, and measure our outcomes.
Equity: We believe that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and cared for. This happens when we are inclusive, act with integrity, and reduce healthcare disparities.
Joy: We give ourselves to our work, but it also gives to us. We find joy when we take pride, recognize one another, and have fun.
Pfizer Research & Development
Pfizer Research & Development serves as the beating heart of Pfizer's trailblazing product pipeline, the essence of our mission to bring life-changing medicines to the world.
With an unwavering commitment to innovation, we use a multidisciplinary approach that blends scientific expertise, cutting-edge technologies, and strategic collaborations, igniting a powerful engine that propels groundbreaking discoveries into life-saving treatments for patients in need.
Through our relentless pursuit of progress, we envision a future where cutting-edge medicines pave the way to healthier, happier lives worldwide.
Benefits at Pfizer
Pfizer offers competitive compensation and benefits programs designed to meet the diverse needs of our colleagues. Our Pay for Performance Philosophy and Practices reward colleagues based on the contributions they make to our business.
Our Competitive Benefits Programs help our colleagues by:
- Promoting Health and Wellness to help colleagues maintain and improve their physical and mental wellbeing. Pfizer offerings include health and disability insurance, preventative health programs, medical screenings, free or reduced-cost vaccinations, discounts on Pfizer products, mental health support, nutrition and fitness counseling and more.
- Strengthening Colleagues’ Financial Security by providing company contributions to retirement plans, life insurance and financial planning education to help colleagues achieve their financial goals.
- Providing Benefits and Time off for the Moments that Matter to ensure Pfizer colleagues have the time away from the office to recharge, recover and return to work as the best version of themselves. Vacation, Holiday time and Sick time are just the beginning, with a 12 week parental leave policy for both parents of a new born, 10 day of caregiver leave for those times when your family needs you whether it’s a child, spouse or parent, bereavement leave, and additional country-specific programs.
- And so much more, depending on your country and site, Pfizer offers childcare facilities or discount programs, on-site health and/or fitness centers, movement and mindfulness solutions, “Log in for your Day” work flexibility and so much more.
For U.S. based jobs, view an overview of Pfizer’s U.S. benefits program (opens in a new window)