About The Role
We are looking for a Manager / Senior Data & AI Architect to join our Barcelona team and help us grow one of BIP Iberia's strategic areas: the application of Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence within Life Sciences.
This is not a pure architecture role. We are looking for someone who combines strong technical depth with business understanding, client-facing skills and a pre-sales/commercial mindset. Someone who can design a robust architecture, defend it with a client, understand the business problem behind it and guide the team until the solution is successfully delivered and operational.
The role will be part of BIP's Global Data & AI team, with a strong focus on working closely with our local teams in Barcelona and across Spain, while collaborating with colleagues and specialists across Portugal, Italy and other BIP geographies.
Your mission
- Act as a Data & AI reference for Life Sciences, connecting strategy, business and technology.
- You will be involved from early client conversations and pre-sales through architecture definition, delivery and the evolution of production solutions.
- You will also help build capabilities, reusable assets, propositions and references that strengthen our position in the Life Sciences market.
What you will do
- Design end-to-end Data, Analytics and AI architectures covering data platforms, lakehouse, integration, governance, advanced analytics, Machine Learning, GenAI and AI agents.
- Translate Life Sciences business needs into concrete, scalable, secure and measurable technology solutions.
- Act as a trusted technical advisor for CIOs, CDOs, Data & AI leaders, business stakeholders and architecture teams.
- Play an active role in pre-sales: discovery, workshops, RFP/RFI responses, estimates, proposals, roadmaps, high-level architectures, demos, PoCs and executive presentations.
- Work jointly with commercial leaders and Partners to identify and mature opportunities, bringing technical credibility and sector knowledge.
- Provide technical leadership to multidisciplinary teams including Data Engineers, Analytics Engineers, Data Scientists, ML Engineers and AI specialists.
- Define architecture standards and patterns across security, integration, observability, MLOps/LLMOps, governance and data quality.
- Support solutions through production, ensuring operability, performance, security, cost control and long-term scalability.
- Contribute to the growth of the Data & AI practice in Barcelona and to BIP's international Life Sciences collaboration.
- Mentor junior colleagues and raise the technical bar through design reviews, best practices and knowledge sharing.
Industry knowledge -- Life Sciences
- Relevant experience or strong knowledge of the Life Sciences sector is important. The successful candidate should understand key business processes, industry challenges and the regulatory context in which clients operate.
- Experience in Pharma, Biotech, MedTech, Healthcare or related environments.
- Understanding of Data & AI use cases across R&D, clinical, medical affairs, commercial, market access, supply chain, manufacturing, quality or patient/healthcare analytics.
- Ability to work with sensitive data and regulated environments, with awareness of privacy, traceability, quality, governance and compliance principles.
- Knowledge of scientific, clinical, commercial or healthcare data ecosystems will be highly valued.
Essential Requirements
- Strong experience, ideally 7 years, across Data, Analytics, Cloud or AI, with increasing responsibility in architecture and/or technical leadership.
- Proven experience or strong domain knowledge in Life Sciences, with an understanding of the sector's key business processes, data ecosystems, and regulatory context.
- Proven experience designing modern data solutions: data lake/lakehouse, data warehouse, streaming, APIs and integration, batch and real-time processing, modelling and governance.
- Deep knowledge of at least one major hyperscaler (Azure, AWS or Google Cloud) and the ability to operate in multi-cloud environments.
- Experience with modern data platforms such as Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, BigQuery or equivalent technologies.
- Strong SQL skills and solid Python knowledge; practical understanding of Spark and distributed architectures.
- Knowledge of AI/ML and GenAI architectures, including LLMs, RAG, agents, vector search, evaluation, guardrails, observability and industrialisation patterns.
- Strong client-facing experience and the ability to communicate complex decisions to both technical and executive audiences.
- Hands‑on experience in technical pre‑sales and in preparing and defending proposals.
- Professional English at a minimum C1 level. Professional Spanish. Italian or Portuguese is a plus.
- Availability to work in a hybrid model based in Barcelona and to travel occasionally depending on client/project needs.
Nice to have
- Previous experience in technology or strategy consulting.
- Commercial or business development experience within Data & AI.
- Relevant certifications across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Databricks, Snowflake or other leading platforms.
- Experience in Data Governance, Data Mesh, catalogues, MDM, data quality and data-product-oriented architectures.
- Experience with MLOps, LLMOps, CI/CD, DevOps and platform automation.
- Knowledge of FinOps and performance/cost optimisation.
- Ability to build accelerators, assets and reusable solutions.
- International experience, with a track record of working with stakeholders across different geographies and multicultural environments.
Personal capabilities
- Consulting mindset and client orientation: listen, structure ambiguous problems and turn them into actionable decisions.
- Technical credibility: ability to go deep when required while maintaining an end-to-end perspective.
- Business orientation: understanding that architecture is a means to create impact, not an end in itself.
- Communication and influencing skills: confidently present and defend proposals to technical teams, business stakeholders and senior management.
- Commercial and pre-sales mindset: comfortable participating in opportunity discussions and shaping a compelling value proposition.
- Leadership without hierarchy: ability to mobilise teams, make decisions and build trust.
- Pragmatism, autonomy and end-to-end ownership.
- Curiosity and continuous learning in a fast-moving technology environment.
What we offer
- A strategic role supporting the growth of Data & AI and Life Sciences within BIP Iberia.
- High client exposure and direct participation in relevant transformation initiatives.
- Real opportunity to influence the development of the practice and new business opportunities.
- Collaboration with international teams and specialists across multiple geographies.
- Data, Analytics, AI and GenAI projects using leading technologies.
- Professional development, training and support for certifications.
- Hybrid working model based in Barcelona, with flexibility aligned to project needs.
Competitive Compensation Aligned With Experience And Responsibility.
Why BIP?
Growth & Learning
- Access to 300 courses on emerging technologies and business topics, personalized development programs, and continuous training initiatives to support your professional and personal growth.
Flexibility & Work-Life Integration
- Hybrid working model with flexibility to balance remote and office work in agreement with your manager and project