Head of Data Engineering & Factory / Head of Data Engineering & Factory

Job Title: Head of Data Engineering & Factory

Location: Basel, Switzerland

Relocation Support: This role is based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support; please only apply if you are accessible.

Summary

Ready to shape how data powers scientific breakthroughs? As the Head of Data Engineering & Factory, you will lead the vision and evolution of a cutting-edge Data Product Factory—transforming how scalable, artificial intelligence-ready data products are built, delivered, and consumed across Biomedical Research. This high-impact leadership role combines deep technical expertise with strategic thinking to industrialize data engineering, accelerate innovation through automation and artificial intelligence, and enable a truly data-centric organization. You will work at the forefront of modern engineering practices, driving measurable outcomes while empowering teams to build reliable, high-quality data products at scale.

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the vision, roadmap, and operating model for the Data Product Factory.
• Lead the industrialization of scalable, production-grade data product engineering across Biomedical Research domains.
• Drive the adoption of standardized engineering patterns, reusable blueprints, and contract-first design principles.
• Ensure all data products are artificial intelligence-ready with standardized interfaces, metadata, and controlled access mechanisms.
• Lead the modernization of engineering practices using automation-first and artificial intelligence-native approaches.
• Oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of data products, including build, certification, deployment, and deprecation.
• Establish and scale continuous integration, continuous deployment, and development and operations capabilities across platforms.
• Embed governance, security, lineage, and policy-as-code into engineering workflows by design.
• Build and lead high-performing engineering teams, driving technical excellence and organizational capability growth.
• Partner with domain and platform leaders to align business priorities with engineering delivery outcomes.

Essential Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in software engineering, platform architecture, or enterprise data infrastructure.
• Proven track record of building and scaling enterprise data platforms or productized data systems.
• Strong experience leading engineering teams within complex, matrixed organizational environments.
• Deep expertise in continuous integration, continuous deployment, and automated testing practices in production environments.
• Demonstrated experience embedding governance, access control, lineage, and compliance within engineering workflows.
• Experience enabling artificial intelligence use cases through well-designed data products, interfaces, and metadata frameworks.
• Strong ability to apply automation and artificial intelligence to improve engineering productivity and operational efficiency.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with a proven ability to influence senior leadership.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience designing agent-compatible interfaces, metadata frameworks, and retrieval-augmented data access patterns.
• Proven success mentoring multidisciplinary engineering teams across platform, data, quality, and artificial intelligence domains.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Novartis is dedicated to fostering an outstanding, inclusive work environment and building diverse teams that reflect the patients and communities we serve.

Accessibility and Accommodation

Novartis is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to all individuals. Please be sure to include the job requisition number in your message.

Why Novartis?

Helping individuals with diseases and their families requires more than just innovative science. It necessitates a community of smart, passionate people like you—collaborating, supporting, and inspiring one another to achieve breakthroughs that can change patients' lives. Ready to create a brighter future together?

Learn about all the ways we’ll help you thrive personally and professionally. Read our handbook.

Salary Range

Primary Location Salary Range: CHF 142,100.00 - CHF 263,900.00

Division: Biomedical Research

Business Unit: Research

Location: Switzerland

Site: Basel (City)

Company / Legal Entity: C028 (FCRS = CH028) Novartis Pharma AG

Functional Area: Research & Development

Job Type: Full time

Employment Type: Regular

Shift Work: No

Apply online using the form below. Please note that only applications matching the job profile will be considered.