Associate Director, AI Engineering for Discovery

AstraZeneca; España; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

AstraZeneca plc in Barcelona, Spain, is seeking an AI Platform Engineering Lead to drive the engineering of secure, scalable AI systems for Discovery across cloud and on-premises environments.

You will mentor teams, promote reproducible engineering practices, and partner with researchers, scientists and platform teams to deliver high-impact AI solutions in enterprise-scale settings.

Qualifications

• Master's or PhD in a relevant field.
• Proven track record implementing software engineering best practices.
• Advanced Python and scientific libraries (PyTorch, NumPy, Pandas).
• Experience optimizing distributed ML training.
• Experience deploying AI/ML systems in production.
• Experience with GitHub, GitHub Actions, CI/CD and MLOps.
• Experience deploying cloud-native apps on AWS, GCP or Azure.
• Excellent problem-solving and technical communication.
• Strong collaboration across multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership for AI platform and product engineering, focusing on design and maintainability.
• Engineer research prototypes into secure, scalable products and platform capabilities.
• Develop and optimize ML training and inference workflows across cloud and on-premises.
• Own and promote software standards, testing, documentation and delivery patterns.
• Use CI/CD, DevOps, GitOps and MLOps to improve delivery speed and reliability.
• Collaborate with AI researchers and platform teams to translate needs into technical solutions.
• Mentor engineers and contribute to architecture decisions for responsible AI.

Skills

Software engineering best practices

Python & scientific libraries

Distributed ML training

AI/ML production systems

GitHub & CI/CD / MLOps

Cloud deployments (AWS/GCP/Azure)

Problem-solving & communication

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Education

Masters or PhD in a relevant field

Tools

GitHub Actions

AWS

GCP

Azure

Kubernetes

Job description

This is an in-office role based in Barcelona, ES, with a requirement to work a minimum of three days per week on-site. Remote or travel flexibility is not available.

Are you ready to turn cutting-edge AI research into robust, secure products that accelerate how new medicines are discovered? Do you want to build the platforms and workflows scientists rely on to ask bolder questions and make faster, better decisions? In this role, you will lead the engineering that brings high-value AI breakthroughs to life at enterprise scale. You will partner closely with researchers, scientists and platform teams to design, harden and run AI systems that are reproducible, performant and trusted. Your work will shorten the path from idea to impact, helping teams progress promising science with greater speed and confidence. You will operate across cloud and on-premises environments, shaping standards, automation and reusable capabilities that uplift the entire organization. If you thrive on solving hard problems, mentoring others and proving what's possible with AI in real-world settings, this is the place to make your mark.

Key Accountabilities

• Provide technical leadership for AI platform and product engineering, with particular focus on software design, reproducibility, performance and maintainability.
• Engineer research prototypes into secure, scalable and supportable products and reusable platform capabilities for Discovery.
• Develop and optimize machine-learning training and inference workflows across cloud and on-premises infrastructure.
• Own and promote software engineering standards, documentation, testing, code review and reusable delivery patterns.
• Use CI/CD, DevOps, GitOps and MLOps automation to improve delivery speed, reliability and operational efficiency.
• Partner with AI researchers, scientists, platform teams and external collaborators to translate scientific needs into effective technical solutions.
• Mentor engineers, contribute to architecture decisions, and promote responsible, compliant and reproducible AI engineering.

Essential Skills and Experience

• A master's degree or PhD in a relevant field
• A track-record of implementing software engineering best practices for multiple use cases.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and common scientific libraries (e.g. PyTorch, Numpy, Pandas).
• Experience with optimization of distributed training of machine learning models.
• Experience building and deploying AI/ML systems in production environments.
• Experience with GitHub for source control, GitHub Actions, CI/CD, and other MLOps practices.
• Experience with deployment of cloud-native applications and use of cloud vendors such as AWS, GCP or Azure.
• Excellent problem-solving and technical communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience implementing Large Language Model (LLM) and Generative AI solutions at enterprise scale.
• Experience contributing to architecture design and technical roadmaps.
• Experience providing technical leadership on AI or software engineering projects involving responsible AI, governance, security, and reproducibility practices.
• Experience with Kubernetes and infrastructure as code.
• Understanding of the pharmaceutical industry and its processes.
• Experience working in a domain subject to regulatory oversight.
• Experience working in scientific research environment.

Here, data, technology and science meet in unexpected ways-computational engineers, clinicians and bench scientists in the same room, unleashing bold thinking that tackles complex disease. You will work with modern tooling and meaningful datasets to build AI capabilities that directly influence research decisions and, ultimately, patient outcomes. We value curiosity alongside rigor, kindness alongside ambition, and we back learning with real opportunities-from experimenting with new approaches to seeing work recognized through publications. With strong collaborations across academia and industry, you can push boundaries while being supported by teams that move quickly, share knowledge and turn promising ideas into tangible progress.

#EAI

Date Posted 29-oct-2026

Closing Date 26-nov-2026

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requ