Global Head of Technology & Architecture in Biomedical Research (BR)

Novartis Pharma Schweiz AG seeks an Executive-level Global Head of Technology & Architecture in Biomedical Research to lead IT strategy, AI platforms, and lab innovation in Basel.

This executive position directs the information technology strategy for drug discovery and early clinical development, transforming global laboratories into high-throughput, AI-driven environments. The role serves on the Biomedical Research Data & Digital Leadership Team and the Data, Digital, and IT leadership team, reporting to the Chief Data & Digital Officer for Biomedical Research. The company is looking for a technically robust and entrepreneurial leader to design and evolve next-generation data and AI platforms that support its global biomedical research efforts.

Responsibilities

• Provide advanced research informatics to accelerate treatment discovery through digital technologies and improve researcher experiences.
• Oversee the advancement of technology capabilities and underlying architecture, guiding software procurement and architectural decisions in alignment with the Data, Digital, and IT group to ensure scalable, unified solutions.
• Define the multi-year vision and roadmap for research data and AI platforms, ensuring alignment with scientific priorities and the broader digital AI strategy.
• Contribute to the global digital strategy for AI-driven drug discovery by leveraging data science, generative AI, and machine learning, while participating in cross-divisional projects to ensure data system compatibility across research, development, and commercial units.
• Lead the 'lab of the future' initiative from an informatics perspective, collaborating with lab equipment and automation experts.
• Partner with the Data, Digital, and IT group and the Biomedical Research Data Science community to execute the digital and AI strategy, ensuring the organization is fully AI-enabled.
• Assess emerging technologies such as agentic workflows, vector databases, GPU infrastructure, lab digitalization tools, and quantum computing, translating them into practical capabilities and leading platform architecture reviews.
• Provide strategic technology vision to the President of Research and Biomedical Research scientific leadership, acting as an advisor to top management.
• Collaborate with Data, Digital, and IT functions to prioritize enterprise solutions, seek synergies, and serve as a bridge between engineering, R&D scientists, data science, and IT security/compliance groups.
• Lead a diverse, high-performing team of platform engineers, software engineers, domain specialists, architects, and lab technologists, fostering a collaborative, enterprise-focused culture.

Requirements

• PhD or master’s degree in computer science, data science, AI, computational biology, cheminformatics, or a related field, with a strong preference for candidates bridging technology and life sciences.
• Over 12 years of experience in platform engineering, architecture, infrastructure, data engineering, cloud architecture, research lab technologies, or ML infrastructure, including at least 8 years in leadership roles.
• Deep understanding of modern AI/ML workflows, including LLMs, model training and serving, monitoring, MLOps, and GPU infrastructure.
• Expertise in cloud-native architectures, microservices, APIs, Kubernetes, infrastructure as code, observability tools, and high-performance computing.
• Familiarity with scientific research workflows and data modalities such as omics, imaging, real-world data, and lab-generated data.
• Proven ability to translate research and business needs into platform capabilities and technical constraints into business language.
• Extensive experience leading multidisciplinary, global teams in matrixed, fast-changing environments.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence scientific, technical, and business stakeholders, including senior leadership.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Ability to navigate complexity and drive collective impact with an enterprise mindset.

About the company

Novartis Pharma Schweiz AG is driven by a community of smart, passionate individuals who collaborate, support, and inspire each other to achieve breakthroughs that change patients' lives. The company believes that helping people with disease and their families requires more than just innovative science—it requires a dedicated team working together.

• A community of smart, passionate people who collaborate, support, and inspire each other.
• Focus on achieving breakthroughs that change patients' lives.
• Combining efforts to help people with disease and their families.