Director, AI Engineering Excellence Lead

The AI Engineering Excellence Lead drives coherence, quality, and scalability across the Applied AI Engineering function. This role drives technical rigor, documentation standards, and cross-functional alignment across AI Engineering. You will lead a team of AI engineers and technical writers to ensure that every AI solution meets enterprise-grade standards for quality, maintainability, and compliance.
This role focuses on technical delivery orchestration working in close partnership with Pfizer's central Portfolio Management and Program Operations teams to ensure alignment on reporting, governance, and prioritization.
The AI Engineering Excellence Lead will be responsible for establishing the AI Engineering Community of Practice, maintain cross-pillar synchronization, and promote the visibility of Applied AI Engineering (A2E).
Reporting into the Head of Applied AI Engineering, you will manage a team of senior AI Engineers and Technical writers. This role blends deep technical leadership, product engineering strategy, and direct enablement of enterprise use cases. You will partner closely with business and technical stakeholders to design and deliver robust, scalable solutions that demonstrate the value of AI across our enterprise. This role is execution-oriented with strong influence on the AI solution lifecycle-from ideation to hand-off.
Leadership & Oversight• Lead a cross-functional team of AI Engineers and Technical Writers focused on engineering excellence, documentation, and operational rigor.• Represent AI Engineering across the enterprise, serving as the primary interface with business, platform, and cross-center teams.• Drive alignment between the Applied AI Engineering vision and execution through clear standards, frameworks, and delivery practices.
Technical Translation & Feasibility

• Translate business requirements into technical deliverables that align with AI solution design, enterprise architecture and platform capabilities.
• Guide internal teams and clients on feasibility, scope, and best practices for AI engineering, including performance, scalability, and compliance considerations.

Lifecycle Integration

• Align and integrate engineering work across the Applied AI Engineering organization, ensuring smooth handoffs and consistent standards between the teams.
• Define and enforce A2E protocols for design reviews, code quality, and deployment readiness.

Planning & Governance

• Own A2E OKRs, capacity planning, and cross-functional coordination with Solution Design, AI & Data Platforms, and Creation Centers (CCs).
• Maintain a centralized engineering playbook and reusable frameworks for rapid, compliant delivery.
• Establish an AI Engineering Community of Practice that will act as the central hub setting best practices and standards across the enterprise for AI Engineering.

Documentation & Training

• Lead the creation of technical documentation, solution diagrams, and operational runbooks for AI solutions.
• Maintain and evolve technical documentation, training, and onboarding materials for AI Engineering practices.
• Develop and deliver training programs on A2E standards, handoff protocols, and reusable frameworks for engineers and stakeholders.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

• 8-10+ years software/AI engineering roles, with 3+ years in technical leadership or engineering excellence functions.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related discipline.
• Deep understanding of modern AI engineering practices (MLOps, LLMOps, API integration, RAG architectures, observability, safety), and enterprise-grade delivery.
• Proven ability to translate business needs into technical designs and guide feasibility assessments.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills; ability to influence across engineering, product, and compliance teams.
• Strong understanding of AI/ML solution delivery lifecycle and associated quality/safety practices.
• Experience managing cross-team dependencies and communicating status at multiple levels of the organization .
• Exceptional organizational and communication skills - able to synthesize and report progress clearly.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience leading engineering excellence programs or center of excellence initiatives.
• Background in agile delivery or lean execution frameworks tailored for AI experimentation and productization.

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.
Other Job Details:

• Last Date to Apply for Job: December 25, 2025
• Work Location Assignment: Must be able to work from assigned Pfizer office 2-3 days per week, or as needed by the business

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $169,700.00 to $282,900.00.* In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer's Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 20.0% of the base salary and eligibility to participate in our share based long term incentive program. We offer comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life's moments. Benefits offered include a 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage. Learn more at Pfizer Candidate Site - U.S. Benefits | (uscandidates.mypfizerbenefits.com). Pfizer compensation structures and benefit packages are aligned based on the location of hire. The United States salary range provided does not apply to Tampa, FL or any location outside of the United States.
* The annual base salary for this position in Tampa, FL ranges from $152,700.00 to $254,500.00.
Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.
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EEO & Employment Eligibility
Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer. This position requires permanent work authorization in the United States.
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