Head of AI Clinical Excellence
Pfizer
August 29, 2026
Remote friendly (San Diego, CA)
United States
Clinical Research and Development
Role Summary
- Serve as a hands-on, proactive, strategic leader advancing the application of AI across the Clinical Development lifecycle.
Role Responsibilities
Strategic AI Leadership
- Develop and execute the enterprise strategy for AI-enabled Clinical Excellence across Clinical Development.
- Identify AI opportunities to accelerate timelines, improve quality, reduce operational burden, and enhance decision-making.
- Advise senior leaders on emerging AI capabilities, industry trends, and competitive advancements.
Clinical Development Innovation
- Drive AI adoption across study design, protocol optimization, feasibility assessments, patient recruitment, trial execution, and clinical data review.
- Lead development of AI-enabled approaches to improve trial performance, operational excellence, and portfolio decisions.
- Enable predictive and prescriptive analytics for program- and study-level decisions.
AI Product Development and Deployment
- Partner with digital, data science, and technology teams to design, build, validate, and deploy AI tools and platforms.
- Establish frameworks for scalable AI solutions integrated into existing clinical workflows.
- Develop agentic AI, generative AI, predictive analytics, and workflow automation for clinical operations and development teams.
Regulatory and Governance Leadership
- Provide expertise on global regulatory expectations for AI/ML/advanced analytics in drug development.
- Partner with Regulatory Affairs and Quality on AI governance, validation, and risk management.
- Monitor evolving health authority guidance and industry standards.
Cross-Functional Leadership & External Engagement
- Build partnerships across Clinical Development/Operations, Biostatistics, Regulatory, Medical, Safety, and Digital.
- Lead multidisciplinary teams; drive adoption via education and capability building.
- Represent the organization in industry/health authority/scientific forums; build external partnerships.
Minimum Qualifications
- MD with 4+ years’ relevant experience OR PhD with 5+ years OR MS with 7+ years (pharma/biotech/CRO/regulatory/healthcare).
- Experience designing/deploying AI/ML/advanced analytics in clinical research.
- Experience supporting Clinical Development/Operations/Science/Data Review/Regulatory Science.
- Experience leading cross-functional clinical/regulatory/scientific/technical programs.
- Strong GCP, clinical trial conduct, drug development, and regulatory knowledge.
- Experience translating complex challenges into scalable technology-enabled solutions.
- Excellent communication and executive influencing skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Expertise in Clinical Development/Oncology/Regulatory Science/Data Science/Clinical Informatics.
- Experience with LLMs, generative/agentic AI, and workflow automation in regulated environments.
- Oncology experience.
- Familiarity with emerging AI regulatory frameworks.
- Experience interacting with global agencies (e.g., FDA, EMA, MHRA, PMDA, Health Canada).
- Enterprise AI transformation experience; strong publications; experience leading teams.
- Serve as a hands-on, proactive, strategic leader advancing the application of AI across the Clinical Development lifecycle.
Role Responsibilities
Strategic AI Leadership
- Develop and execute the enterprise strategy for AI-enabled Clinical Excellence across Clinical Development.
- Identify AI opportunities to accelerate timelines, improve quality, reduce operational burden, and enhance decision-making.
- Advise senior leaders on emerging AI capabilities, industry trends, and competitive advancements.
Clinical Development Innovation
- Drive AI adoption across study design, protocol optimization, feasibility assessments, patient recruitment, trial execution, and clinical data review.
- Lead development of AI-enabled approaches to improve trial performance, operational excellence, and portfolio decisions.
- Enable predictive and prescriptive analytics for program- and study-level decisions.
AI Product Development and Deployment
- Partner with digital, data science, and technology teams to design, build, validate, and deploy AI tools and platforms.
- Establish frameworks for scalable AI solutions integrated into existing clinical workflows.
- Develop agentic AI, generative AI, predictive analytics, and workflow automation for clinical operations and development teams.
Regulatory and Governance Leadership
- Provide expertise on global regulatory expectations for AI/ML/advanced analytics in drug development.
- Partner with Regulatory Affairs and Quality on AI governance, validation, and risk management.
- Monitor evolving health authority guidance and industry standards.
Cross-Functional Leadership & External Engagement
- Build partnerships across Clinical Development/Operations, Biostatistics, Regulatory, Medical, Safety, and Digital.
- Lead multidisciplinary teams; drive adoption via education and capability building.
- Represent the organization in industry/health authority/scientific forums; build external partnerships.
Minimum Qualifications
- MD with 4+ years’ relevant experience OR PhD with 5+ years OR MS with 7+ years (pharma/biotech/CRO/regulatory/healthcare).
- Experience designing/deploying AI/ML/advanced analytics in clinical research.
- Experience supporting Clinical Development/Operations/Science/Data Review/Regulatory Science.
- Experience leading cross-functional clinical/regulatory/scientific/technical programs.
- Strong GCP, clinical trial conduct, drug development, and regulatory knowledge.
- Experience translating complex challenges into scalable technology-enabled solutions.
- Excellent communication and executive influencing skills.
Preferred Qualifications
- Expertise in Clinical Development/Oncology/Regulatory Science/Data Science/Clinical Informatics.
- Experience with LLMs, generative/agentic AI, and workflow automation in regulated environments.
- Oncology experience.
- Familiarity with emerging AI regulatory frameworks.
- Experience interacting with global agencies (e.g., FDA, EMA, MHRA, PMDA, Health Canada).
- Enterprise AI transformation experience; strong publications; experience leading teams.