Director & Group Head (AI-Systems & Scale) / Directress & Group Head (AI-Systems & Scale)

Job ID

REQ-10079985

Job Summary

Job Title: Director & Group Head (AI Systems & Scale)
Job Location: Basel, Switzerland
Relocation Support: This role is based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support; please only apply if accessible.

Novartis has adopted an ambitious strategy to drive a company-wide digital transformation. Our goal is to position Novartis as an industry leader by proactively embracing digital technologies that foster innovative approaches to accelerate drug discovery and development. By integrating both internal and external R&D data with the power of data science, predictive models, generative AI, and machine learning, we aim to identify new targets, design more effective therapeutic molecules, enhance predictions regarding drug pharmacokinetics and safety risks, refine clinical trial design, and significantly reduce development cycles. The AI4R team spearheads Novartis Biomedical Research (BR) in exploring and applying advanced AI and ML methodologies to generate novel drug discovery insights while focusing on patients’ needs.

AI4R collaborates with drug discovery teams, elevates the level of AI expertise across Biomedical Research (BR), and ensures that BR science keeps pace with the fast-evolving landscape of AI technologies by engaging with thought leaders in academia and industry.

This is a leadership role for the AI Systems & Scale group within AI4R. The appointed individual will provide strong technical and project leadership, critically assess, and specialize in deploying compute, data, model, code, and agentic platforms for the rapid enablement and adoption of AI approaches, algorithms, models, and workflows, maximizing their impact on key areas of biomedical research that can potentially lead to more effective and faster drug development.

About the Role

Step into a leadership role that will shape the future of AI at scale, where advanced agentic systems and enterprise AI platforms transform how biomedical research is conducted. As Director & Group Head (AI Systems & Scale), you will drive the design and deployment of next-generation AI systems, enabling scientists to seamlessly leverage data, models, and intelligent workflows to accelerate drug discovery. You will lead high-performing engineering teams, define scalable architectures, and ensure that AI solutions are robust, governed, and impactful—bringing innovative therapies closer to patients more swiftly.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead the multi-year roadmap for scalable AI systems, platforms, and agentic architectures across research.
• Lead and scale multidisciplinary teams delivering production-grade AI systems and intelligent applications.
• Establish reference architectures for agentic systems, including orchestration, retrieval, memory, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Build and standardize enterprise agentic platforms with reusable components, workflows, and evaluation frameworks.
• Define and enforce machine learning operations and large language model operations standards across AI systems development.
• Own agent quality and safety engineering, including guardrails, policy enforcement, and failure detection mechanisms.
• Drive scalable deployment strategies, ensuring performance, reliability, cost efficiency, and multi-tenant architecture.
• Define performance metrics linking system effectiveness to scientific outcomes, including accuracy, robustness, and efficiency.
• Partner with data, security, and platform teams to ensure governance, compliance, and responsible data usage.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration and portfolio management to prioritize high-impact AI system initiatives and reduce duplication.

Essential Requirements

• Demonstrated experience leading machine learning capability development initiatives across multiple drug discovery domains and teams.
• Strong experience applying machine learning across functional areas such as computational chemistry or protein modeling.
• Proven expertise in large model training, including high-performance computing, cloud environments, and distributed systems.
• Deep curiosity and passion for biomedical sciences and therapeutic discovery.
• Strong ability to explain complex machine learning concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Minimum of 10+ years of experience in innovation, development, deployment, and support of machine learning solutions.
• Strong coding proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks, with experience using version control systems.
• Proven ability to manage complexity, align stakeholders, and deliver results in matrixed environments.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience building enterprise-scale agentic platforms with orchestration, memory, and retrieval systems.
• Expertise in machine learning operations and large-scale model deployment with monitoring and drift detection.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Novartis is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment with diverse teams that reflect the patients and communities we serve.

Accessibility and Accommodation

Novartis is dedicated to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to all individuals. If, due to a medical condition or disability, you require a reasonable accommodation for any part of the recruitment process, or need more detailed information about the essential functions of a position, please email inclusion.switzerland@novartis.com and share the nature of your request along with your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.

Why Novartis?

Helping people with diseases and their families requires more than innovative science; it takes a community of smart, passionate people like you who collaborate, support, and inspire each other. Together, we can achieve breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Ready to create a brighter future together? Learn more about our culture.

Benefits and Rewards

Discover all the ways we’ll support your personal and professional growth by reading our handbook (PDF 30 MB).

Division

Biomedical Research

Business Unit

Information Technology

Location

Switzerland

Site

Basel (City)

Company / Legal Entity

C028 (FCRS = CH028) Novartis Pharma AG

Functional Area

Data and Digital

Job Type

Full time

Employment Type

Regular

Shift Work

No

Application Process

Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.