Associate Director – Engineering Lead

Working with Us
Challenging. Meaningful. Life-changing. Those aren’t words that are usually associated with a job. But working at Bristol Myers Squibb is anything but usual. Here, uniquely interesting work happens every day, in every department. From optimizing a production line to the latest breakthroughs in cell therapy, this is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it. You’ll get the chance to grow and thrive through opportunities uncommon in scale and scope, alongside high-achieving teams. Take your career farther than you thought possible.

Bristol Myers Squibb recognizes the importance of balance and flexibility in our work environment. We offer a wide variety of competitive benefits, services and programs that provide our employees with the resources to pursue their goals, both at work and in their personal lives. Read more: careers.bms.com/working-with-us.

Position Summary:

We are seeking an Associate Director to serve as a technology leader in an AI‑first, agile product team supporting Global Development Operations (GDO), specifically the Patient & Site Engagement Product Line. This role is accountable for technology direction and oversight in designing, building, and operating AI‑native products where large language models, agentic workflows, and data‑driven intelligence are the default approach to solving business problems—not an add‑on.

The ideal candidate brings deep hands‑on engineering expertise and proven experience delivering production‑grade Generative and Agentic AI solutions in a regulated environment. This individual will shape how products are designed, developed, delivered, and continuously improved, embedding AI into core workflows to augment decision‑making, automate execution, and scale impact across GDO. The role combines strong full‑stack engineering capabilities with AI product thinking, technical roadmap ownership for an entire product line consisting of multiple products, and close partnership with product managers and business stakeholders to deliver measurable outcomes for patients and business.

The role provides cross‑product technical leadership, making design decisions, building reusable capabilities, and long‑term technical strategy through expertise, collaboration, and hands‑on contribution.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain an AI‑first technology strategy for all the products within a product line, making build‑vs‑buy decisions, model selection, and building capabilities in alignment with product vision and business outcomes.

• Accountable for building reusable, scalable platforms and intelligent agents with a strong security and compliance foundation.

• Establish AI guardrails and best practices to enable developers to build production-grade applications in a regulated environment.

• Accountable for budget forecasting and financial stewardship for the product line, including identifying cost efficiencies.

• Establish and enforce standardized CI/CD practices to be followed by developers across all products

• Partner with product managers and GDO stakeholders to identify opportunities where AI can augment human decision‑making, automate execution, and create step‑change improvements in clinical and operational workflows.

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, stable, reliable, and secure applications using Python/Java/Node JS and modern frontend frameworks like React JS.

• Design LLM‑native and agentic systems as long‑lived products, incorporating human‑in‑the‑loop patterns, continuous learning, monitoring, and governance as part of the standard operating model. Frameworks include OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, and LangChain.

• Incorporate microservices, APIs, MCPs, event-driven processes, and middleware within enterprise systems.

• Use critical thinking to investigate issues with systems and data, and identify solutions for short-term remediation and long-term strategy.

• Ensure compliance with data governance, privacy, and security standards.

Requirements:

• Must have a minimum of 15 years of strong experience in software engineering; Pharma/Life Sciences experience is a plus.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.

• Must have a demonstrated track record implementing complex technical solutions, developing software applications following SDLC processes in a regulated and agile environment. 

• Proven abilities to plan, manage, deliver, and support applications, from concept initiation through delivery and steady-state operations.

• Demonstrated competency in executing multiple projects simultaneously leveraging Agile methods.

• Must have practical experience building Generative AI and Agentic AI applications using tools like LangChain, LlamaIndex, AWS Bedrock, etc.

• Strong proficiency in Python and React; Java or TypeScript familiarity.

• Solid grasp of REST APIs, MCPs, FastAPI, and workflow automation tools.

• Experience with AWS Cloud services such as Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, Bedrock, SageMaker.

• Strong data analytics skills - SQL/NoSQL databases, able to write efficient queries.

• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.

• Must be a relationship builder and capable of working effectively in a highly matrix organization with strong communication, planning, and collaboration skills.

• Ability to achieve successful consensus among differing priorities and stakeholders in both the IT and Business communities.

• Strong technical expertise, leadership skills, and a passion for delivering high-quality, reliable solutions.

• Must possess excellent written and verbal skills and demonstrate an ability to effectively communicate at all levels of the organization. 

If you come across a role that intrigues you but doesn’t perfectly line up with your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway. You could be one step away from work that will transform your life and career.

Princeton - NJ - US: $169,150 - $204,970

The starting compensation range(s) for this role are listed above for a full-time employee (FTE) basis. Additional incentive cash and stock opportunities (based on eligibility) may be available. The starting pay rate takes into account characteristics of the job, such as required skills, where the job is performed, the employee’s work schedule, job-related knowledge, and experience. Final, individual compensation will be decided based on demonstrated experience. 

Eligibility for specific benefits listed on our careers site may vary based on the job and location. For more on benefits, please visit https://careers.bms.com/life-at-bms/.
 

Benefit offerings are subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans in effect at the time and may require enrollment. Our benefits include:

• Health Coverage: Medical, pharmacy, dental, and vision care.

• Wellbeing Support: Programs such as BMS Well-Being Account, BMS Living Life Better, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP).

• Financial Well-being and Protection: 401(k) plan, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, accident insurance, supplemental health insurance, business travel protection, personal liability protection, identity theft benefit, legal support, and survivor support.

​Work-life benefits include:

Paid Time Off

• US Exempt Employees: flexible time off (unlimited, with manager approval, 11 paid national holidays (not applicable to employees in Phoenix, AZ, Puerto Rico or Rayzebio employees)

• Phoenix, AZ, Puerto Rico and Rayzebio Exempt, Non-Exempt, Hourly Employees: 160 hours annual paid vacation for new hires with manager approval, 11 national holidays, and 3 optional holidays

Based on eligibility*, additional time off for employees may include unlimited paid sick time, up to 2 paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, and military needs and an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas and New Years Day.

All global employees full and part-time who are actively employed at and paid directly by BMS at the end of the calendar year are eligible to take advantage of the Global Shutdown.

*Eligibility Disclosure: The summer hours program is for United States (U.S.) office-based employees due to the unique nature of their work. Summer hours are generally not available for field sales and manufacturing operations and may also be limited for the capability centers. Employees in remote-by-design or lab-based roles may be eligible for summer hours, depending on the nature of their work, and should discuss eligibility with their manager. Employees covered under a collective bargaining agreement should consult that document to determine if they are eligible. Contractors, leased workers and other service providers are not eligible to participate in the program.

Uniquely Interesting Work, Life-changing Careers
With a single vision as inspiring as “Transforming patients’ lives through science™ ”, every BMS employee plays an integral role in work that goes far beyond ordinary. Each of us is empowered to apply our individual talents and unique perspectives in a supportive culture, promoting global participation in clinical trials, while our shared values of passion, innovation, urgency, accountability, inclusion and integrity bring out the highest potential of each of our colleagues.

On-site Protocol

BMS has an occupancy structure that determines where an employee is required to conduct their work. This structure includes site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design jobs. The occupancy type that you are assigned is determined by the nature and responsibilities of your role:

Site-essential roles require 100% of shifts onsite at your assigned facility. Site-by-design roles may be eligible for a hybrid work model with at least 50% onsite at your assigned facility. For these roles, onsite presence is considered an essential job function and is critical to collaboration, innovation, productivity, and a positive Company culture. For field-based and remote-by-design roles the ability to physically travel to visit customers, patients or business partners and to attend meetings on behalf of BMS as directed is an essential job function.

Supporting People with Disabilities

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to [email protected]. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Candidate Rights

BMS will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/

Data Protection

We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection.

Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.

If you believe that the job posting is missing information required by local law or incorrect in any way, please contact BMS at [email protected]. Please provide the Job Title and Requisition number so we can review. Communications related to your application should not be sent to this email and you will not receive a response. Inquiries related to the status of your application should be directed to Chat with Ripley.

R1600398 : Associate Director, Engineering Lead, Clinical Engineering & Operations