Senior Director, Head of Application Engineering and Productionization
Pfizer
2 hours ago
Remote friendly (New York, NY)
United States
IT
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, focusing on reuse and maintainability
- Lead front-end and full-stack development teams implementing secure, scalable interfaces and integrations with enterprise systems and APIs
- Establish and govern CI/CD pipelines, release management, and environment configuration; maintain alignment with security and quality standards
- Collaborate with agent and AI/ML engineering teams to move AI/ML models into production using strong deployment, versioning, and monitoring practices
Quality & reliability
- Define quality standards and performance metrics (uptime, latency, reliability, user experience)
- Oversee 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
- Set technical direction; review design and code; mentor senior engineers and engineering managers
- Foster technical excellence, accountability, continuous learning, reusable components, automation, and engineering rigor
Cross-functional impact
- Partner with Data Engineering, Product, Agent Product Management, and Platform Ops to integrate applications with data pipelines, APIs, and orchestration frameworks
- Align engineering practices with enterprise governance, security, and compliance requirements (Data Strategy & Performance team)
- Maintain 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/engineering choices to business outcomes
Innovation & best practices
- Promote modern software development methodologies and tooling (agile delivery, DevOps, continuous delivery)
- Stay current on emerging trends in application engineering, AI integration, and cloud infrastructure; apply insights to strengthen practices and drive innovation
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; Master’s strongly preferred
- 12+ years of relevant professional experience
- Proven people leadership experience 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 across diverse functions and seniority levels
- Recognized industry thought leader with enterprise-wide strategic impact
- Program and operations management expertise, particularly in large regulated environments
- Proven success managing quality standards, leading efficient development teams, and optimizing staffing/resource allocation
- Deep expertise in cross-functional integration and operational effectiveness within a large corporate ecosystem
Other Job Details / Application Instructions
- Last Date to Apply for Job: May 1st, 2026
- Ability to travel based on business needs
- NOT eligible for Relocation Package
- Hybrid role: onsite 2 to 3 days per week
Benefits (explicitly stated)
- Eligible for participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan (bonus target 22.5% of base salary) and share-based long-term incentive program
- 401(k) with Pfizer matching contributions and additional Pfizer retirement savings contribution; paid vacation/holidays/personal days; paid caregiver/parental and medical leave; health benefits (medical, prescription drug, dental, vision)
Compensation (explicitly stated)
- Annual base salary range: $214,900.00 to $358,100.00
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, focusing on reuse and maintainability
- Lead front-end and full-stack development teams implementing secure, scalable interfaces and integrations with enterprise systems and APIs
- Establish and govern CI/CD pipelines, release management, and environment configuration; maintain alignment with security and quality standards
- Collaborate with agent and AI/ML engineering teams to move AI/ML models into production using strong deployment, versioning, and monitoring practices
Quality & reliability
- Define quality standards and performance metrics (uptime, latency, reliability, user experience)
- Oversee 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
- Set technical direction; review design and code; mentor senior engineers and engineering managers
- Foster technical excellence, accountability, continuous learning, reusable components, automation, and engineering rigor
Cross-functional impact
- Partner with Data Engineering, Product, Agent Product Management, and Platform Ops to integrate applications with data pipelines, APIs, and orchestration frameworks
- Align engineering practices with enterprise governance, security, and compliance requirements (Data Strategy & Performance team)
- Maintain 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/engineering choices to business outcomes
Innovation & best practices
- Promote modern software development methodologies and tooling (agile delivery, DevOps, continuous delivery)
- Stay current on emerging trends in application engineering, AI integration, and cloud infrastructure; apply insights to strengthen practices and drive innovation
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; Master’s strongly preferred
- 12+ years of relevant professional experience
- Proven people leadership experience 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 across diverse functions and seniority levels
- Recognized industry thought leader with enterprise-wide strategic impact
- Program and operations management expertise, particularly in large regulated environments
- Proven success managing quality standards, leading efficient development teams, and optimizing staffing/resource allocation
- Deep expertise in cross-functional integration and operational effectiveness within a large corporate ecosystem
Other Job Details / Application Instructions
- Last Date to Apply for Job: May 1st, 2026
- Ability to travel based on business needs
- NOT eligible for Relocation Package
- Hybrid role: onsite 2 to 3 days per week
Benefits (explicitly stated)
- Eligible for participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan (bonus target 22.5% of base salary) and share-based long-term incentive program
- 401(k) with Pfizer matching contributions and additional Pfizer retirement savings contribution; paid vacation/holidays/personal days; paid caregiver/parental and medical leave; health benefits (medical, prescription drug, dental, vision)
Compensation (explicitly stated)
- Annual base salary range: $214,900.00 to $358,100.00