Director, Applied AI
- United States - Pennsylvania - Collegeville
- United States - New York - New York City
ROLE SUMMARY
As Director, Applied AI, you lead the realization of AI strategy into tangible, production-grade solutions, platforms, and products. You operate at the intersection of architecture, engineering, and product thinking — translating strategy, patterns, and standards into working systems deployed in real enterprise environments.
You own the end-to-end technical integrity of solutions — from concept through implementation — ensuring they are robust, scalable, and aligned with enterprise architecture and platform capabilities. You connect that build to business outcomes: you understand the commercial problem your work serves, not only the code. And you lead the people who build with you — full-time engineers, contractors, and vendor resources whose day-to-day execution you direct and whose work you review to Pfizer's quality and security bar.
Why This Role Matters
Pfizer's purpose — breakthroughs that change patients' lives — has always depended on the company's willingness to transform how it works, not only what it discovers. Being the most AI-forward company, and reinventing how we work from end to end, is the next chapter in that story. That depends on turning strategy into systems that actually work. This role ensures strategy and architecture become real, working solutions — deployable, integrated, and sustainable in production — and that the team and partners around you deliver to the same standard.
Candidate Profile
You are a hands-on technical leader with strong execution capability and architectural judgment. You operate across disciplines — architecture, engineering, and product — and drive solutions from ambiguous beginnings to production reality. You are known for enforcing technical truth: ensuring what is built is correct, complete, scalable, and aligned with enterprise systems. You can frame a technical decision in terms of the business outcome it serves, and you can lead a mixed team of engineers, contractors, and vendors to ship it.
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
1) Solution & Platform Realization — Translate strategic intent and architectural patterns into working AI solutions and platforms. Own the end-to-end architecture and implementation shape of major solutions, ensuring they are production-ready, scalable, maintainable, and aligned with enterprise architecture.
2) Technical Leadership & Hands-on Execution — Lead technical design and execution across complex initiatives as architect, tech lead, and delivery driver. Contribute hands-on code where it accelerates delivery and de-risks execution, and guide teams through design decisions, implementation trade-offs, and integration challenges.
3) Integration Ownership — Ensure seamless integration across platforms and services, data systems, AI models, and business workflows — connecting models to real use cases, guardrails to runtime systems, and observability to operational feedback loops within enterprise constraints.
4) Team & Vendor Leadership — Lead and coordinate a delivery team of full-time engineers, contractors, and vendor resources. Direct day-to-day technical execution, review their work to Pfizer's quality and security bar, manage dependencies and throughput, and grow the capability of the people you lead.
5) Technical Quality & Truth Enforcement — Identify and challenge incomplete or fragile architectures, solutions that are not production-ready, and unrealistic assumptions. Enforce engineering discipline in scalability, observability, performance, and security so solutions meet enterprise quality and reliability standards.
6) Business & Domain Translation — Translate business problems into feasible, high-impact technical solutions, and communicate solution direction in terms of business and commercial outcomes. Provide grounded technical input into domain-level AI strategy.
QUALIFICATIONS
Basic Qualifications
- 10+ years in software engineering, AI/ML, or architecture roles, with a strong delivery track record.
- Proven experience building production-grade AI/ML systems or platforms.
- Current hands-on coding ability and strong depth across at least 2–3 of: AI/ML and generative AI; system design / architecture; data engineering; cloud engineering.
- Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives end-to-end.
- Experience leading or coordinating engineers, contractors, and vendors to deliver production systems.
- Ability to connect technical decisions to business and commercial outcomes.
- Experience operating in cross-functional, matrixed environments.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with LLMs, retrieval architectures, and AI agents; observability and monitoring; and AI governance and guardrails.
- Experience with Claude Code, Claude Enterprise, MCP development, and Claude Skill Development
- Prior role in biopharma TA role, epidemiology, or similar with hands-on real-world data experience
- Experience in enterprise-scale or regulated environments.
- Experience leading platform or large solution-development efforts.
- Familiarity with CI/CD, DevOps, and production operations.
ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Senior Director, Applied AI; product management, engineering, architecture, and delivery teams; program leaders; vendor and contractor partners.
Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including: the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.
PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS
Sitting, standing, walking, bending, ability to perform mathematical calculations and ability to perform complex data analysis on a computer
NON-STANDARD WORK SCHEDULE, TRAVEL OR ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS
10-20% travel
Additional Job Information:
Last Date to Apply: June 19, 2026
Work Location Assignment: Hybrid

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $176,600.00 to $294,300.00. In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 20.0% of the base salary and eligibility to participate in our share based long term incentive program. We offer comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life’s moments. Benefits offered include a 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage. Learn more at Pfizer Candidate Site – U.S. Benefits | (uscandidates.mypfizerbenefits.com). Pfizer compensation structures and benefit packages are aligned based on the location of hire. The United States salary range provided does not apply to Tampa, FL or any location outside of the United States.



This role is posted in multiple locations. If you are applying for the role in an secondary job posting location where pay transparency regulations apply, your Talent Advisor will share the local pay information with you during the first interview.


Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.

Candidates must be authorized to be employed in the U.S. by any employer.
U.S. work visa sponsorship (such as TN, O-1, H-1B, etc.) is not available for this role now or in the future.

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.
To learn more about acceptable and prohibited uses of AI during the recruitment process, please review our candidate AI-use guidelines available on Pfizer Careers.

Information & Business Tech
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.
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)