Lead Data and AI Engineer

Biopharma Careers; Toronto; On-site; CAD 220,000 - 289,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanofi is seeking a hands-on data and AI engineering leader to guide a team of data engineers, shape data platforms, and partner with cross-functional teams across Data, Digital, and Infrastructure.

You will influence architectural direction, ensure operational excellence, and help scale data solutions globally in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of experience in data engineering, analytics/AI engineering, or data platform development.
• Minimum 2 years leading or managing engineering teams/projects.
• Experience designing, building, and operating scalable data pipelines and platforms.
• Strong cloud-native data engineering and ETL/ELT experience, preferably Snowflake/AWS.
• Advanced SQL and Python skills; Scala/Java is a plus.
• Experience with batch, near real-time, and streaming data architectures; data mesh concepts.
• Understanding of data architecture, scalability, reliability, and performance optimization.
• Proven ability to partner with stakeholders to translate business needs into solutions.
• Experience in agile delivery environments with CI/CD and release management.
• Experience leading engineering teams through delivery and mentoring.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a data engineering team and promote engineering excellence.
• Design, build, deploy, and support scalable data pipelines and data products.
• Lead discovery, design discussions with business, analytics, AI, and technology teams.
• Manage delivery priorities, capacity planning, and concurrent initiatives.
• Develop scalable data assets supporting analytics, AI/ML and business workflows.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable solutions.
• Provide architectural leadership for data orchestration, cloud-native platforms, and integration.
• Drive operational excellence across production data assets including monitoring and incident response.

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree

Tools

Airflow

dbt

Snowflake

AWS

Job description

About the job

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible? Join Sanofi in one of our corporate functions and you can play a vital part in the performance of our entire business while helping to make an impact on millions around the world.

Who You Are:

You are a hands‑on data and AI engineering leader with a strong background in building and operating data pipelines and platforms in complex enterprise environments. You bring a blend of technical depth, architectural thinking, and people leadership. You are comfortable guiding a team, partnering with stakeholders, and translating business needs into scalable and reliable data solutions.

You care about engineering quality, operational excellence, and continuous improvement. You have experience working across cross‑functional teams and know how to balance delivery, governance, and long‑term platform sustainability.

In this role

In this role, you will report directly to the Head of Data Engineering, Commercial US. You will provide architectural leadership and technical know‑how across data pipeline construction, execution, and operations. You will work closely with teams across Data, Digital, Infrastructure, Cloud, Security, Agile, and key business stakeholders. You will also have direct people management responsibilities and the opportunity to shape and grow your team.

Sanofi has recently embarked into a vast and ambitious digital transformation program. A cornerstone of this roadmap is the acceleration of its data transformation and of the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions, to accelerate R&D, manufacturing and commercial performance and bring better drugs and vaccines to patients faster, to improve health and save lives.

About Sanofi

We’re an R&D‑driven, AI‑powered biopharma company committed to improving people’s lives and delivering compelling growth. Our deep understanding of the immune system – and innovative pipeline – enables us to invent medicines and vaccines that treat and protect millions of people around the world. Together, we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives.

Main Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of data engineers while fostering strong engineering practices, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Design, build, deploy, and support scalable data pipelines and data products that enable analytics, AI/ML, and commercial business use cases
• Lead discovery, solution design, and technical planning discussions with business, analytics, AI, and technology teams
• Manage team delivery, priorities, capacity planning, and execution across multiple concurrent data engineering initiatives
• Design, develop, test, and optimize scalable data engineering solutions and reusable data assets that support analytics, AI/ML, and business‑critical workflows across global platforms
• Partner with technical and non‑technical stakeholders to clarify ambiguous business needs, shape solution approaches, and translate requirements into scalable data engineering solutions
• Provide architectural and technical leadership across data pipeline orchestration, distributed processing, cloud‑native platforms, and data integration patterns
• Drive operational excellence across production data assets, including monitoring, troubleshooting, incident response, release management, and continuous improvement
• Identify opportunities to automate, simplify, standardize, and optimize data engineering processes, reusable assets, and platform capabilities
• Collaborate within cross‑functional agile teams and partner with internal and external stakeholders to deliver high‑quality data engineering solutions
• Contribute to and evolve data engineering standards, best practices, and community knowledge sharing across the organization
• Stay current with emerging technologies, industry trends, and modern data engineering practices to continuously improve platform capabilities and engineering effectiveness

About you - Qualifications

• Minimum 8 years of experience in data engineering, analytics/AI engineering, or data platform development
• Minimum 2 years leading or managing engineering teams/projects
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating scalable data pipelines, data platforms, and distributed processing solutions using technologies such as Spark, Kafka, Snowflake, Hadoop, or similar
• Strong experience with cloud‑native data engineering and modern ETL/ELT solutions, preferably within Snowflake / AWS‑based environments; Informatica/IICS experience preferred
• Advanced SQL and data modeling skills, with working knowledge of Python and scripting languages; Scala or Java is a plus
• Experience with batch, near real‑time, and streaming data architectures, as well as modern data warehouse, lake, and lakehouse concepts including data mesh principles
• Strong understanding of data architecture, scalability, reliability, performance optimization, and operational support for enterprise‑grade data platforms
• Demonstrated ability to work with technical and non‑technical stakeholders to navigate ambiguity, identify underlying business needs, and translate them into scalable technical solutions and execution plans
• Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence decisions and communicate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
• Experience partnering with cross‑functional teams including analytics, AI/ML, product, infrastructure, security, governance, and business stakeholders
• Experience operating in agile delivery environments with strong understanding of software engineering practices, CI/CD, release management, testing, and operational support
• Experience leading engineering teams through delivery execution, prioritization, mentoring, performance management, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, STEM, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Nice to haves

• Experience in life sciences, healthcare, or pharmaceutical industries
• Experience with Airflow, dbt or similar orchestration and transformation tooling
• Familiarity with data governance, data quality, and commercial data domains such as omni‑channel, pricing, customer engagement, or sales analytics
• Experience working with external vendors and offshore/onshore delivery models

Why Choose Us?

• Bring the miracles of science to life alongside a supportive, future‑focused team.
• Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether it’s through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally.
• Enjoy a thoughtful, well‑crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact.
• Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high‑quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs.

AI Usage

"Artificial Intelligence" refers to any systems that use automated processes, including algorithms and machine learning, to analyze data and make predictions, inferences, decisions, or recommendations without direct human involvement. These systems may process personal information to identify patterns, improve services, or support decision‑making. The Company may use Artificial Intelligence for purposes including, but not limited to, resume screening and hiring, scheduling interviews or meetings, conducting surveys, matching skills with potential job openings, interview scoring, ensuring compliance with regulations applicable to our industry, and activities related to performance evaluation. Information collected and processed by the Company’s Artificial Intelligence systems may include the personal information detailed above and calendar availability. It excludes the information collected and processed for monitoring purposes. You should contact Human Resources if you have a question or concern regarding your personal information. You can also contact Canada’s Privacy Officer via Sanofi’s data subject request portal,Data Subject Rights Webform . The Data Subject Rights Webformcan also be used torequest access or correction of your personal information and file a complaint.

Equal Opportunity

Sanofi is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. Our goal is to attract, develop and retain highly talented employees from diverse backgrounds, allowing us to benefit from a wide variety of experiences and perspectives. We welcome and encourage applications from all qualified applicants. Accommodations for persons with disabilities required during the recruitment process are available upon request.

North America Applicants Only

Salary

The salary range for this position is:
158,200.00 - 208,200.00 (Includes target bonus)
Final compensation will be determined based on demonstrated experience, skills, location, and other relevant factors. Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefits programs, and additional benefits information can be found through the (CA) LINK OR (US) LINK .

La fourchette salariale pour ce poste est la suivante:
158,200.00 - 208,200.00 (Comprend le bonus cible) La rémunération finale sera déterminée en fonction de l'expérience démontrée, des compétences, du lieu de travail et d'autres facteurs pertinents. Les employés peuvent être admissibles à participer aux programmes d’avantages sociaux de l’entreprise, et des informations supplémentaires sur les avantages sociaux peuvent être trouvées via le lien