Director and Group Head, Applied AI

Role

Full-time

Permanent

Director

Engineering

Logistics

Basel (City)

Hybrid

CHF 146,300 - CHF 271,700/yr

Closes in 30 days

Requirements

12+ yrs exp

Skills

Model benchmarkingPythonGenerative AICollaboration with academia and industryMachine learningDeep learning frameworksBiomedical ResearchData SciencePredictive modelsVersion controlProjektmanagementComputational methods

Compensation

CHF 146,300 - CHF 271,700/yr

Description

As Director & Group Head (Applied AI), you will shape how advanced machine learning approaches accelerate drug discovery, translating complex data into meaningful scientific insights that can transform patient outcomes.

Responsibilities

Define and lead the applied artificial intelligence strategy and multi-year roadmap across drug discovery research.
Align priorities with portfolio needs, scientific opportunities, and measurable business and research impact.
Lead multidisciplinary teams to identify, prototype, benchmark, and deploy fit-for-purpose artificial intelligence solutions.
Govern an applied artificial intelligence portfolio with clear intake, prioritization, resourcing, delivery oversight, and success metrics.
Establish best practices for problem framing, data readiness, benchmarking, evaluation design, and reproducible model development.
Drive benchmarking of foundation and task-specific models, enabling transparent trade-offs and informed adoption decisions.
Partner with engineering teams to scale solutions and embed them into day-to-day scientific decision making.
Define rigorous evaluation metrics linking model performance to downstream decisions and experimental outcomes.
Build a culture of scientific rigor, rapid iteration, mentorship, and practical impact across teams.
Forge strategic academic and industry collaborations to accelerate innovation, benchmarking, and technology transfer.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience in leading core machine learning capability development initiatives across drug discovery teams and use cases.
Proven experience with foundation model benchmarking in drug discovery applications.
Hands-on experience applying machine learning to core drug discovery areas such as target identification or computational chemistry.
Strong experience in large-scale model training, distributed computation, model adaptation, and deployment within machine learning operations frameworks.
Deep curiosity and passion for biomedical sciences and therapeutic discovery, with ability to explain complex technical concepts clearly.
Minimum of 12+ years of experience in innovation, development, deployment, and continuous support of machine learning and modeling solutions.
Strong coding proficiency in Python and deep learning frameworks, with experience using version control systems such as Git.
Ability to manage complexity, balance priorities, and drive outcomes effectively within matrixed environments using a proactive mindset.

Tech stack

Pythondeep learning frameworksGit

Benefits

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
Accessibility and Accommodation

Company

Novartis

Pharmaceuticals

Novartis has embraced a bold strategy to drive a company-wide digital transformation. Our objective is to position Novartis as an industry leader by proactively adopting digital technologies that foster innovative approaches to hasten drug discovery and development.

Contact

inclusion.switzerland@novartis.com