Sr. Manager - Platform Engineering Lead, R&D DP&TS Platform and Data Engineering

Role Summary

Pfizer’s mission to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives is rooted in our commitment to science and innovation. Within Discovery, Preclinical, and Translational Solutions (DP&TS), we accelerate the journey from target identification to clinical translation by leveraging advanced digital technologies, AI, and data-driven insights. We are building a high-impact, outcome-oriented platform engineering team focused on enabling scalable, secure, and resilient infrastructure and developer experiences. As a Platform Engineering Lead, you will be part of a team of well-rounded generalists who thrive on solving complex problems, automating everything, and driving innovation across cloud-native environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain AWS and Azure cloud infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible, and Kubernetes.
• Develop and manage CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions. Implement and enforce security best practices across infrastructure and applications.
• Automate operational tasks and improve system reliability through scripting and tooling.
• Collaborate with developers, data scientists, researchers, digital peers, and other stakeholders to understand platform needs and deliver solutions.
• Manage containerized workloads using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Administer systems, databases, and networks with a focus on scalability and resilience
• Participate in incident response and root cause analysis
• Continuously evaluate and integrate new technologies to improve platform capabilities
• Lead and grow a high-performing team of software and infrastructure engineers

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Engineering, or related discipline)
• 6+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure roles
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS or Azure
• Proficiency in Terraform, Ansible, and GitHub
• Solid understanding of Kubernetes, Docker, and container orchestration
• Strong software development skills
• Strong scripting skills (e.g., Bash, Python, Typescript)
• Experience with Linux/Unix system administration
• Familiarity with networking, security, and database administration
• Strong understanding of infrastructure security best practices, including IAM, secrets management, and secure configuration
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex systems and resolve issues independently
• Fluent in English; capable of clear technical communication across scientific and engineering disciplines
• 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with observability tools (e.g., OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)
• Knowledge of secrets management (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
• Experience implementing encryption at rest and in transit using cloud-native tools (e.g., AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, TLS)
• Experience working in regulated environments or with compliance frameworks (e.g., GxP, SOC2, HIPAA)
• Experience with and strong understanding of the software development lifecycle

Additional Requirements

• Travel up to 10% may be required for business activities.
• Work Location Assignment: On Premise