Director AI Applications Engineering Lead

You'd be building AI tools for the people who run Pfizer. The Office of the Chief Executive Officer (OCEO) sets the company's strategy, looks after its communications and global health investments, and runs the CEO's own office. So the people using what you build are the CEO's team and the most senior leaders in the company, and they need it to be right as well as quick.

Most of the job is getting early ideas into production. Some turn up as an idea and nothing more, and you design and build from scratch. Others arrive as a prototype or a pilot that proves the point but isn't secure, reliable or supportable yet, and you can't measure whether it's working. Either way you end up with something colleagues can depend on, built with current AI techniques on Pfizer's enterprise AI platforms.

It's a hands-on Director role in a small, senior team that moves fast and owns its own architecture. You'll work hand in hand with the Director, Product Lead: they decide what's worth building and why, you decide how, and neither job works without the other. You'll also work with two Engineering Associates, and they'll pick up most of their standards from watching how you work. If you want hard technical problems, and you'd like to be part of creating a team culture as well as software, it's a good fit.

Role Responsibilities

• Get ideas into production When an idea has earned it, you take it all the way. If nothing's been built yet, you design and build it with the person who came up with it. If there's a prototype or a pilot, you work out what it does well and where it falls down. Then you harden it for real use: security, data handling, testing, monitoring, cost control, and a named owner. If only the original author understands it, it doesn't go live.
• Own the architecture You own the technical design of everything the team builds and keep it hanging together, so each new piece adds to a shared set of components instead of sitting on its own. The question you keep asking is whether Pfizer's platform already does this, or whether it's really specific to OCEO.
• Write and review code You'll write and review code most days. AI tools do most of the implementation. You keep the architecture and the reviews in your own hands, and knowing where that line sits is a big part of the job.
• Refine the agentic software factory The team builds with an agentic software factory. Every piece of work goes through the same steps: specify, plan, build, review, ship. AI agents do most of the building, and engineers check what comes out. You'll keep improving it: tightening the specification and review steps, choosing the tools and agents it runs on, and fixing whatever keeps sending work back for another pass.
• Work with the platform teams You're the technical contact for Pfizer's enterprise AI platform teams. You pick up their new capabilities as they land and tell them what OCEO needs. When a platform slips, you change the plan rather than building a shadow version of it.
• Get things approved Solutions go through the Architecture Review Board, the Security Review and the AI Review Board, and you help with the privacy and risk assessments. Nothing touches real data or real users until it's approved. Wherever AI output acts in a system or leaves OCEO, a person signs it off. Access stays as narrow as the work allows.
• Take over partner work Sometimes external partners or colleagues build something and hand it over. You agree up front what a good handover looks like, check it before you accept it, and fix the gaps. OCEO shouldn't end up supporting something it can't change.
• Run it in production Once it's live, you run it: monitoring, evaluation results, cost, incidents, rollback. You should know what each solution costs and what it gives back, and step in early if quality starts to slip or the bill starts to climb.
• Build with the people who had the idea Work with the colleagues who bring ideas in, so they know what they're taking on when it goes live. Make it easy for them to extend things themselves, with the same controls applied whoever builds the addition.

Role Behaviours

• Finish the job A prototype that went down well in a demo is where the work starts. You hold it to the standard that makes it dependable, and if an idea isn't worth that effort, you say so.
• Start from what's there Use the platforms and the components the team already has. Writing something new needs a reason. Each solution should build on the last one, or nothing adds up over time.
• Look at the real thing Read the code, the data and the logs before you form a view. We want someone whose first move is to open the systemand look, not to reason from the diagram.
• Think about who runs it next Write it so someone who wasn't in the room can run it. Note design decisions when you make them. Supportability is part of the design from week one; don't leave it as a clean-up job for the end.
• Ask before you touch other teams' systems Other teams' systems and data are theirs to grant. Raise access and security questions as soon as they come up, even if it costs you a day you hadn't planned for.
• Make approvals leave a trail Where you can, design things so the record of who approved what comes out of the work itself. If safety relies on someone remembering a step, OCEO can't rely on it.

 
Work Location Assignment: Hybrid

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.



Purpose 

Breakthroughs that change patients' lives... At Pfizer we are a patient centric company, guided by our four values: courage, joy, equity and excellence. Our breakthrough culture lends itself to our dedication to transforming millions of lives.  

Digital Transformation Strategy

One bold way we are achieving our purpose is through our company wide digital transformation strategy. We are leading the way in adopting new data, modelling and automated solutions to further digitize and accelerate drug discovery and development with the aim of enhancing health outcomes and the patient experience.

Flexibility  

We aim to create a trusting, flexible workplace culture which encourages employees to achieve work life harmony, attracts talent and enables everyone to be their best working self. Let’s start the conversation!  

Equal Employment Opportunity 

We believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce is crucial to building a successful business. As an employer, Pfizer is committed to celebrating this, in all its forms – allowing for us to be as diverse as the patients and communities we serve. Together, we continue to build a culture that encourages, supports and empowers our employees.

DisAbility Confident

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer and we encourage you to put your best self forward with the knowledge and trust that we will make any reasonable adjustments necessary to support your application and future career. Our mission is unleashing the power of our people, especially those with unique superpowers. Your journey with Pfizer starts here!

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.

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