Senior Director, Head of Application Engineering and Productionization

ROLE SUMMARY
The AI Acceleration (AIA) function within the Chief Marketing Office (CMO) is the business-led team that owns the design, delivery, and scale-up of priority AI capabilities across Commercial. AIA works in tight collaboration with various Pfizer functions to deploy and maintain production-grade AI solutions that simplify how we work and drive measurable value across all processes.
The Senior Director of Application Engineering & Productionization is responsible for translating strategic priorities into the delivery of scalable, secure, enterprise‑grade applications and AI/ML solutions. This role leads large, multi‑disciplinary technology teams to design, and build high‑quality systems with a strong emphasis on execution, reliability, and continuous improvement. The leader establishes robust engineering standards-including architecture, CI/CD, testing, and observability-to ensure consistent delivery and production excellence. Success in this role requires guiding teams through ambiguity, developing senior engineering talent, and partnering closely with product, platform, data, and operations stakeholders to align technical decisions with business outcomes while effectively communicating trade‑offs and progress to senior leadership.
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategy & architecture

• Define the overall strategy and governance model for application engineering and productionization, establishing frameworks, patterns, and standards for how AI and digital products are built, deployed, and maintained
• Make architectural decisions on front-end, full-stack, cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), and CI/CD pipelines, to ensure scalability, performance, and security
• Partner with the Heads of Agent Product Management, Data Engineering, and Data Strategy to maintain consistent architecture, shared infrastructure, and unified engineering standards across AIA

Build & ship (governance level)

• Oversee the design, development, and rollout of applications and tools used across AIA pods, with a focus on reuse and maintainability
• Lead front-end and full-stack development teams in implementing secure, scalable interfaces and integrations with enterprise systems and APIs
• Establish and govern CI/CD pipelines, release management, and environment configuration for applications and maintain alignment with security and quality standards
• Collaborate with agent and AI/ML engineering teams to move AI/ML models into production with strong deployment, versioning, and monitoring practices

Quality & reliability

• Define quality standards and performance metrics for applications covering uptime, latency, reliability, and user experience
• Oversee the implementation of automated testing, logging, and observability platforms to ensure operational excellence
• Establish mechanisms for proactive issue detection, incident response, and continuous improvement of application stability and security

Team & culture

• Build and lead a high-performing engineering organization (~30 FTEs, hundreds of contractors) across front-end, full-stack, DevOps, and architecture disciplines
• Set strong technical direction, review design and code, and mentor senior engineers and engineering managers to raise the organizational engineering bar
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous learning, emphasizing reusable components, automation, and engineering rigor

Cross-functional impact

• Partner with Data Engineering, Product, Agent Product Management, and Platform Ops teams to ensure seamless integration of applications with data pipelines, APIs, and orchestration frameworks
• Work with the Data Strategy & Performance team to align engineering practices with enterprise governance, security, and compliance requirements
• Maintain close feedback loops with users and stakeholders to shape application roadmaps based on adoption, performance, and business impact
• Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, and implications clearly to senior leadership, connecting architecture and engineering choices to business outcomes

Innovation & best practices

• Promote adoption of modern software development methodologies and tooling, including agile delivery, DevOps, and continuous delivery frameworks
• Stay current on emerging trends in application engineering, AI integration, and cloud infrastructure, applying these insights to strengthen engineering practices and drive innovation

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
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.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field required; Master's degree strongly preferred.
• 12+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Proven people‑leadership experience, with a track record of building and developing high‑performing teams.
• Experience working within regulated industries (e.g., pharmaceuticals, banking, insurance).
• Demonstrated ability to navigate and influence within large, complex organizations.
• Strong stakeholder‑management capabilities, with success driving alignment across diverse functions and seniority levels.
• Recognized industry thought leader with enterprise‑wide strategic impact.
• Demonstrated program and operations management expertise, particularly within large, regulated environments.
• Proven success managing quality standards, leading efficient development teams, and optimizing complex staffing and resource allocation models.
• Deep expertise in cross‑functional integration and operational effectiveness within a large corporate ecosystem.

Other Job Details:

• Last Date to Apply for Job: May 1st, 2026
• Ability to travel based on business needs
• NOT eligible for Relocation Package
• This position is hybrid and requires working onsite 2 to 3 days per week

#LI-PFE
The annual base salary for this position ranges from $214,900.00 to $358,100.00. In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer's Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 22.5% 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.
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.
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