Novartis Posted July 7, 2026

Director, AI Foundations Engineer- Remote

Remote, United States Regular
Data & Digital Director

Novartis is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

This position can be based remotely anywhere in the U.S. Please note that this role would not provide relocation as a result. The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the Hiring Manager.

The Strategy, Platforms & Transformation team is dedicated to enabling improved decision-making at Novartis by leveraging data and advanced analytics capabilities to generate actionable insights that drive business growth. We work within the US business, bringing insights and challenging ideas to empower smarter, data-driven decision-making. This role is crucial in driving AI transformation by bringing the best in AI and tech to unlock opportunities for growth and improve patient outcomes.The Director, AI Foundations Engineer will drive the engineering strategy, delivery, and operational excellence for the organization’s agentic AI operating system, with responsibility spanning solution architecture, development, operations, and continuous improvement. This role will be central to enabling the transformation of existing processes, products, and services into agentic AI products and intelligent workflows by providing a scalable, secure, and high performing foundation. The ideal candidate will bring deep engineering leadership, systems thinking, and technical vision to guide the design and evolution of core agentic capabilities, establish engineering standards and operating models, and lead cross functional teams in delivering resilient and extensible AI services. Working closely with product leaders, business stakeholders, data and technology teams, and transformation leaders, this role will ensure the agentic systems accelerate innovation, support enterprise adoption, and delivers measurable business value through reliable and scalable execution.Major Accountabilities Lead the design and development and ongoing improvement of the organization's AI foundations that will enable use cases through a disciplined engineering approachDefine and implement an agentic AI foundational system, engineering standards, and development practices that promote scalability, reliability, repeatability, and continuous improvementPartner with product, data, infrastructure, security, and business teams to align platform capabilities with enterprise needs and strategic priorities.Oversee engineering teams in building reusable platform services, tools, and components that enable agentic AI products and workflows.Drive modernization and integration efforts to connect existing systems and processes with AI capabilities.Monitor agentic operations and user feedback to identify improvements, resolve issues, and support continuous optimization.Establish effective operating models, support processes, and governance practices to ensure consistent delivery of AI capabilitiesCommunicate platform priorities, delivery progress, technical risks, and investment needs to senior leaders and cross functional stakeholders.Essential Requirements:Bachelor degree required and advanced degree preferred, ideally in business, engineering, computer science, data science, or a related field.8 plus years of AI engineering experience, with a strong track record of leading product strategy, roadmap development, and delivery for complex digital, data, or AI enabled products.Demonstrated experience in AI and data driven product environments, including translating business needs into scalable product solutions and partnering closely with technical teams to bring innovative products to market.Strong cross functional leadership skills, with proven ability to collaborate effectively across Engineering, Innovation, Design, Data Science, Commercial, and other business teams to drive alignment and execution.Experience managing and developing product managers or junior product leaders, including coaching, prioritization support, and fostering strong product management practices.Excellent strategic, analytical, and communication skills, with the ability to evaluate opportunities, make informed tradeoffs, and clearly communicate product vision, priorities, and outcomes to stakeholders.The salary for this position is expected to range between $194,600.00 and $361,400.00 annual per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors. Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Data & Digital
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Remote, United States
Employment type
Regular

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Data & Digital role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 34 comparable Director Data & Digital roles across 15 biopharma companies.

34Comparable roles tracked
32Currently active
15Companies hiring similar roles
5Countries represented

Salary context

15 of 34 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $194,600/yr – $361,400/yr
Lowest disclosed · Principal Statistical Programmer · Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) $109,900/yr – $179,300/yr
Peer group range $144,600 – $322,650 (median $244,150)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 34 comparable roles

United States17
India9
Switzerland3
United Kingdom3
Ireland2

Seniority mix

34 of 34 peers have a known seniority level

Principal16
Director15
Senior Director3

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 34 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology2
Immunology1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Novartis Remote Position (USA), United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Healthcare Solutions, Inc (USA) Sleepy Hollow, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Warren, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Sanofi Vaccines US Inc. Waltham, United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Novartis Cambridge (USA), United States Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
Director, Advanced Analytics Architecture & Operations
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Data Management Process, Quality & Inspection Readiness
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Warren, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Data Science
Novartis · East Hanover, United States · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Director, Data Engineering Lead - Digital Insights
Merck · Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.