Director, Operations IT - AI Engineering

Here, the answers aren’t always available. So, you’ll need to bring a fearless, self-starter mindset to navigate uncharted territories. You’ll harness your ceaseless energy to discover and make the necessary connections with colleagues to shape the future and achieve maximum impact., Operations IT is a global capability supporting the Global Operations organization across Pharmaceutical Technology Development, Manufacturing & Global Engineering, Quality Control, Sustainability, Supply Chain, Logistics, and Global External Sourcing and Procurement. We operate from key hubs in the UK, Sweden, the US, China, and our Global Technology Centers in India and Mexico. Our work directly impacts patients by transforming our ability to develop life-changing medicines, combining cutting-edge science with leading digital technology platforms and data., We are seeking a Director-level AI Engineer, operating in a “forward-deployed” model, to set the technical direction and guide delivery excellence across AstraZeneca’s Generative AI, AI Agent, and Digital Twin initiatives. Acting as the technical authority and trusted advisor across multiple programmes, you will embed with business stakeholders and delivery teams to translate ambition into deployable, production-grade solutions. Your deep technical credibility, breadth of market knowledge across emerging AI capabilities, and ability to influence without formal authority will be essential to raising the bar on how AI is designed, built, and delivered. This is an individual leadership role, with no direct reports - but with enterprise-wide accountability for technical quality, standards, and delivery excellence., Technical Guidance & Standards (~40%)

• Define and evolve reference architectures, design patterns, and delivery playbooks for GenAI, AI Agents, and Digital Twins, ensuring consistency and reuse across teams.

• Act as the technical authority for AI engineering practice, setting the quality bar for code, architecture, and production readiness.

• Establish and chair technical review forums and communities of practice to share learning and raise capability across engineering teams.

• Track the fast-evolving AI product and vendor landscape (LLMs, agent frameworks, digital twin platforms) and translate relevant innovations into practical guidance.

Delivery Excellence (~40%)

• Embed directly (“forward-deployed”) in critical or at-risk programmes to unblock technical challenges, review designs/code, and course-correct delivery before issues compound.

• Partner with project and programme leads to assess risks, requirements, and dependencies; anticipate problems and advise on mitigation strategies.

• Provide hands-on technical consultancy to business stakeholders to help estimate, prioritize, and scope AI initiatives realistically.

• Conduct design and code reviews across multiple concurrent initiatives to ensure solutions are secure, scalable, and production-ready.

Stakeholder Partnership & Influence (~20%)

• Engage senior internal stakeholders (POs, business partners, architects, other engineering teams) and external partners/vendors to shape the AI delivery agenda.

• Collaborate with the innovation team to identify, prototype, and socialize new strategic technical capabilities.

• Mentor and upskill engineers across teams, even without formal line management responsibility, acting as a technical coach and escalation point.

• Represent AI Engineering in governance, architecture, and leadership forums, articulating technical trade-offs to both technical and non-technical audiences., Your wellbeing means a lot to us, and we’re here to support you through all of life’s ups and downs. That’s why we offer an unpaid leave policy, annual leave, reduced-hours timetables and a host of benefits, including a retirement plan, long service award, and health and travel insurance.

Ready to make an impact in your career? If you’re passionate, growth-orientated and a true team player, we’ll help you succeed. Here are some of the skills and capabilities we look for., Seize ownership and excel with autonomy to enjoy the constant rush of ground-breaking discovery. Your ability to anticipate sudden shifts and adapt swiftly will prove critical as you make your mark in an environment that rewards initiative and resilience., Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in operations research, mathematics, computer science, or a related quantitative field.

• At least 10 years of professional experience delivering ML/AI projects, including at least 5 years operating as a technical lead, principal engineer, or architect across multiple concurrent initiatives.

• Demonstrated track record of setting technical direction and raising delivery standards across teams without formal line management authority.

• Advanced expertise in Python and familiarity with database systems (e.g., Snowflake, Neo4j databases).

• Deep, hands-on expertise in Generative AI and AI Agents, including designing, building, and productionizing agentic systems at scale.

• Strong understanding of software development (frontend, backend), algorithms, optimization, and scaling.

• Excellent communication, business analysis, and stakeholder-influencing skills, with the credibility to advise senior business and technical leaders.

Nice to Have:

• Master’s or PhD in a relevant quantitative field.

• Experience with AWS cloud services and cloud engineering.

• Knowledge of LangGraph or other agent orchestration frameworks.

• Experience with Digital Twin platforms (e.g., Azure Digital Twins, NVIDIA Omniverse, AnyLogic).

• Experience establishing technical governance structures, centers of excellence, or architecture review boards.

• Conference speaking, published thought leadership, or open-source contributions in GenAI/agentic AI.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That’s why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn’t mean we’re not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

Why choose AstraZeneca Spain?

AstraZeneca Spain is a rising force in our global business. With headquarters in Madrid and our global hub in Barcelona, we’ve become an important international centre of excellence in the fight against critical disease. Boasting vibrant universities and business schools, the Barcelona ecosystem is a place where scientists can thrive. We attract a diverse workforce from across the globe, shining a beacon for innovation in a country that’s committed to clinical development.

We invite you to bring your talents to Barcelona where our respiratory medicine R&D and Global Marketing centre offers opportunities in R&D, IT, Commercial and HR. Or join us in Madrid and shape our growth in our BUs (Respiratory, Oncology & CVRM ), and a range of Corporate functions. Additionally, you can find sales roles throughout the country. Together, we’re contributing to a world-leading pipeline of therapeutics and delivering life-changing medicines to patients.

Who do we look for?

Calling all tech innovators, ownership takers, challenge seekers and proactive collaborators. At AstraZeneca Spain, breakthroughs born in the lab become transformative medicine for the world’s most complex diseases. Alongside technical expertise, colleagues have the resilience, energy and collaborative mindset to change lanes, work with different teams and start projects from scratch.

Here, diverse minds and bold disruptors can meaningfully impact the future of healthcare using cutting-edge technology. Whether you join us in Madrid or Barcelona, you can make a tangible impact within a global biopharmaceutical company that invests in your future. Join a talented global team that’s powering AstraZeneca to better serve patients every day., AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven BioPharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines for some of the world’s most serious disease. But we’re more than one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

At AstraZeneca we’re dedicated to being a Great Place to Work. Where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and unleash your entrepreneurial spirit. There’s no better place to make a difference to medicine, patients and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration. Always committed to lifelong learning, growth and development., AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements., There are many things I enjoy when working at AstraZeneca, mainly the Speak up culture, the great colleagues that are in my teams, the great products that AstraZeneca provides to our patients and the challenging conversations I have around our medicines. Sales Representative Oslo, Norway

There are many things I enjoy when working at AstraZeneca, mainly the Speak up culture, the great colleagues that are in my teams, the great products that AstraZeneca provides to our patients and the challenging conversations I have around our medicines. See Thomas’s Story

Christine Recchio

Working at AstraZeneca has impacted my life in such a positive way. I now have an improved work-life balance through creating my own schedule and time management, I feel a balance that I didn’t have before. Sales Representative California, United States

Working at AstraZeneca has impacted my life in such a positive way. I now have an improved work-life balance through creating my own schedule and time management, I feel a balance that I didn’t have before. See Larry’s Story

Stephanie Ling

There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy working in AstraZeneca, my colleagues being one of them. My team members and the managers have provided a great deal of guidance in helping me to be more confident in my daily work. Sales Representative Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy working in AstraZeneca, my colleagues being one of them. My team members and the managers have provided a great deal of guidance in helping me to be more confident in my daily work. See Stephanie’s Story

What we offer

We’re driven by our shared values of serving people, society and the planet. Our people make this possible, which is why we prioritise diversity, inclusivity, balance and sustainability. Discover what a career at AstraZeneca could mean for you., Diversity and inclusion are embedded in everything we do, and our different views, experiences and strengths enrich our culture. There’s no salary gap at AstraZeneca, and the number of female employees has increased by four per cent over the last three years. We’ve also made all positions fully accessible.