Senior Director Of Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Operations - Evinova

As the Senior Director of ML & AI Ops at Evinova, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring the efficient and effective operation of our Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence development platform. You will be responsible for managing the software and infrastructure necessary to support our development teams in their use of these technologies, allowing them to focus on creating ground-breaking AI and ML products. In addition to this, you will also be creating an AI/ML practice that will be leveraged to solve problems across our suite of products and customers.

This role does require hands-on development of AI/ML models as well as the ability to focus on providing the necessary tools and resources to enable other teams.

As the Senior Director of ML & AI Ops at Evinova, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring the efficient and effective operation of our Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence development platform. You will be responsible for managing the software and infrastructure necessary to support our development teams in their use of these technologies, allowing them to focus on creating ground-breaking AI and ML products. In addition to this, you will also be creating an AI/ML practice that will be leveraged to solve problems across our suite of products and customers.

This role does require hands-on development of AI/ML models as well as the ability to focus on providing the necessary tools and resources to enable other teams.

An ideal candidate should be a creative problem solver who can identify and address data integration challenges efficiently.

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for the Machine Learning and AI product engineering team.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define and execute the product roadmap.
• Stay updated on the latest developments in Machine Learning, AI, and related technologies to ensure our platform remains at the forefront of the industry.
• Drive research efforts to explore new Machine Learning and AI techniques that can enhance our product offerings.
• Identify opportunities for innovation and differentiation in the clinical trial optimization space.

Platform Leadership:

• Lead the design, development, and maintenance of our Machine Learning and AI platform.
• Ensure scalability, performance, and reliability of the platform to support our growing customer base.
• Act as the Product Manager of the platform to create a scalable and sustainable platform for your customers.
• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the AI and ML development platform.
• Ensure the availability, scalability, and reliability of software and infrastructure components.
• Collaborate with Engineering and DevOps teams to maintain server infrastructure and ensure optimal performance.
• Implement and manage CI/CD pipelines for seamless deployment of AI/ML applications.

Team Management:

• Recruit, mentor, and lead a team of talented engineers and data scientists.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning within the team.
• Set clear goals, monitor progress, and provide regular feedback to team members.

Infrastructure Maintenance:

• Monitor and maintain data storage, compute resources, and networking infrastructure.
• Proactively identify and address infrastructure bottlenecks, security vulnerabilities, and performance issues.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and recommend upgrades or enhancements to the platform.

Quality, Security and Compliance:

• Implement and enforce security protocols and best practices to protect sensitive data.
• Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations and industry standards (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
• Collaborate with security teams to conduct regular vulnerability assessments and audits.
• Implement rigorous testing and quality assurance processes to maintain high product quality.

Resource Allocation:

• Work closely with AI/ML development teams to understand their resource requirements.
• Allocate resources efficiently, balancing computational needs with cost considerations.
• Optimize resource utilization to reduce operational expenses.

Documentation and Training:

• Create and maintain documentation related to platform configuration, processes, and best practices.
• Provide training and support to development teams on platform usage and optimization.

Basic Qualifications

• HS Diploma and 10 years of experience in IT solutions OR BA/BS Degree and 5 years of experience
• Experience in designing and implementing multi-tenant SaaS platforms in a regulated industry, preferably pharmaceuticals or healthcare.
• Proven experience in managing AI/ML development platforms or similar infrastructure.
• Strong understanding of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence concepts.
• Knowledge of containerization technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with DevOps practices and tools (e.g., Jenkins, Ansible).
• Excellent product management capabilities.
• Strong leadership skills with a track record of leading and managing high-performance engineering teams.
• In-depth knowledge of cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern DevOps practices.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements in the pharmaceutical industry, including compliance with FDA and international regulatory agencies.
• Proficiency in security best practices, data protection, and encryption methods.
• Experience with leading database technologies and data query languages.
• Experience with modern programming languages.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
• Strong project management and time management skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities to engage with customers and internal stakeholders.
• Knowledge of data security standards and regulatory compliance in the healthcare and clinical research industry.
• Knowledge of industry good practice and standards such as ISO (multiple), GAMP GxP, ICH GCP, FDA 21 CFR, GDPR, CMMI, ITIL, GDPR.

Skills Desired

• Ability to drive innovation.
• Proven challenge, negotiation & influencing capabilities.
• Strong collaboration and relationship building skill with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Meticulous attention to detail to ensure data integrity, accuracy, and compliance.
• Strong people development skills, attracting talent and investing in long-term development of others.
• Highly constructive and enabling coach.
• Presentation, Communication & Facilitation skills.
• Strong leader drives accountability and inspires the organization to do the right thing.
• Pragmatic decision making - analyses highly complex situations, assessing risks and balancing strategic and tactical compliance/quality requirements.
• Tenacity - challenges the status quo by surfacing challenging and complex issues to get simple and desirable outcomes.
• Ability to stay calm under pressure.
• Actively identifies untapped opportunities and drives benefit realization.

Evinova draws on AstraZeneca’s deep experience developing novel therapeutics, informed by insights from thousands of patients and clinical researchers. Together, we can accelerate the delivery of life-changing medicines, improve the design and delivery of clinical trials for better patient experiences and outcomes, and think more holistically about patient care before, during and after treatment.  We know that regulators, healthcare professionals and care teams at clinical trial sites do not want a fragmented approach. They do not want a future where every pharmaceutical company provides their own, different digital solutions. They want solutions that work across the sector, simplify their workload and benefit patients broadly. By bringing our solutions to the wider healthcare community, we can help build more unified approaches to how we all develop and deploy digital technologies, better serving our teams, physicians and ultimately patients.  Evinova represents a unique opportunity to deliver meaningful outcomes with digital and AI to serve the wider healthcare community and create new standards for the sector.  Join us on our journey of building a new kind of  healttech business to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, pioneering cutting edge methods and bringing unexpected teams together. Interested? Come and join our journey.