Associate Director, Senior AI Engineer

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.); Princeton (NJ); On-site; USD 169,222 - 253,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical insurance

Tuition reimbursement

Generous 401(k) match

Paid holidays and paid leave

Job summary

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.) is seeking a hands‑on Senior AI Platform Engineer (Associate Director) to drive platform‑aligned AI outcomes across the enterprise. You will provide engineering leadership, architecture oversight, and implement guardrails, CI/CD & IaC blueprints, and governance by design on Dataiku, Azure AI, AWS Bedrock/AgentCore, and Snowflake Cortex.

You will lead small delivery teams, collaborate with Data Science, Cloud/Infrastructure, and IT to secure reliable

Qualifications

• 10–12+ years hands‑on AI/ML Platform Engineering experience
• Cloud platform experience on Azure OpenAI / Cognitive Search and AWS Bedrock/AgentCore
• Proficient in Python and building AI services (FastAPI/Flask)

Responsibilities

• Design and engineer reusable Agentic AI components and multi‑agent workflows
• Lead platform/framework delivery teams for CI/CD, IaC, governance, and observability
• Enable enterprise AI reference architectures and guardrails across domains
• Ensure security, privacy‑by‑design, and compliance in pharma environment
• Collaborate with Data Science, Cloud/Infra, and IT to productionize AI use cases

Skills

Python engineering

FastAPI/Flask

LangChain

LangGraph

AutoGen

Semantic Kernel

Dataiku

Azure AI / AWS Bedrock

CI/CD & IaC

Security & compliance

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT/Engineering

Cloud/GenAI Certifications

Tools

Docker

OpenSearch / Pinecone

Snowflake Cortex

Dataiku

Job description

We are seeking a hands on Sr. AI Platform Engineer (Associate Director) to collaborate and drive platform aligned AI outcomes across the enterprise. The role provides engineering leadership and AI solution architecture oversight for platform and framework deliverables - reference patterns and guardrails, CI/CD & IaC blueprints, governance by design controls, observability, and cost/performance posture - delivered on approved platforms (Dataiku, Azure AI, AWS Bedrock/AgentCore, Snowflake Cortex). Operating in a regulated pharmaceutical environment, you will lead small delivery teams and collaborate with Data Science, Cloud/Infrastructure, and IT to guide use cases onto secure, reliable, compliant production pathways, while building reusable components and agentic enablement patterns adopted across domains.

• Design and Engineer reusable Agentic AI components and multi‑agent workflows for planning, reasoning, memory, and tool orchestration using LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, and Semantic Kernel.
• Apply emerging AI interaction standards including Model Context Protocol (MCP) and A2A (Agent‑to‑Agent) communication to support scalable multi‑agent systems.
• Lead small platform/ partner teams to deliver framework components: CI/CD blueprints, IaC modules, prompt/model versioning, evaluation harnesses, policy‑as‑code, observability dashboards (telemetry/drift/safety), and incident runbooks.
• Help and drive enablement of the Agentic AI C4E by creating practitioner knowledge articles, supporting and leading office hours, and engaging on project scoping, architecture reviews, and governance alignment.
• Contribute and operationalize enterprise AI reference architectures, standards, and guardrails to align teams on consistent patterns and quality.
• Implement evaluation frameworks for LLMs, prompts, safety/guardrails, hallucination risk, and performance metrics; de‑emphasize RAG where not required.
• Contribute to enhancing internal AI frameworks, orchestration templates, and reusable components to improve scalability and delivery consistency.
• Collaborate with Platform Engineering to align deployments with enterprise CI/CD, observability, governance, and operational standards; advance reliability for AI workloads (SLOs, telemetry, incident prevention) with SRE/SecOps.
• Ensure solutions follow Responsible AI practices, security requirements, privacy‑by‑design, and pharma regulatory controls (GxP, 21 CFR Part 11); embed security‑by‑design and policy enforcement with documentation and traceability.
• Influence technical priorities, sequencing, and trade‑offs across partner teams; provide inputs to vendor selection and adoption decisions where relevant.
• Guide solution teams onto approved platform pathways (Dataiku automation, Azure/AWS AI services, Snowflake Cortex), ensuring scalability, reliability (SLOs), security, and governed delivery in a regulated setting.
• Influence priorities and sequencing, unblock delivery risks, and communicate progress, risks, and value to senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 10–12+ years of hands‑on experience in AI/ML Platform Engineering, LLMOps/MLOps, DevOps with a proven track record of building and deploying production‑grade AI systems.
• Depth with cloud AI platform services on Azure (OpenAI, Azure AI/ML, Cognitive Search) and AWS (Bedrock, AgentCore, Comprehend, SageMaker), with sound build‑vs‑buy judgment.
• Strong Python engineering skills and proficiency with FastAPI or Flask for building AI‑powered services.
• Hands‑on with Dataiku for workflow orchestration, automation scenarios, model integration, or plugin‑based extensions.
• Deep familiarity with Agentic AI frameworks - LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, Semantic Kernel - with demonstrated experience building multi‑agent workflows, autonomous task orchestration, and tool‑enabled agent systems. (RAG familiarity is valued but not the primary emphasis.)
• Experience with prompt engineering and iterative prompt refinement for internal LLM use cases.
• Working knowledge of containerization (Docker), CI/CD tooling, and vector database integrations (e.g., OpenSearch, Pinecone).
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work closely with data scientists, engineers, security/compliance partners, and business stakeholders in a regulated environment.
• Effective communication, technical storytelling, and problem‑solving skills; able to influence technical direction across teams.
• Self‑motivated, hands‑on, and results‑oriented, with continuous learning in GenAI, Agentic AI, and modern orchestration patterns.

Educational Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Preferred Certifications (nice to have):
• Cloud/GenAI: AWS or Azure AI / AWS or Azure Developer / AWS Solutions Architect; AWS Bedrock or Generative AI, Machine Learning Specialty.
• Agentic/AI Tooling: LangChain / Semantic Kernel badges or equivalent micro‑credentials.

Competencies

Accountability for Results

Stay focused on key strategic objectives, be accountable for high standards of performance, and take an active role in leading change.

Strategic Thinking & Problem Solving

Make decisions considering the long‑term impact to customers, patients, employees, and the business.

Patient & Customer Centricity

Maintain an ongoing focus on the needs of our customers and/or key stakeholders.

Impactful Communication

Communicate with logic, clarity, and respect. Influence at all levels to achieve the best results for Otsuka.

Respectful Collaboration

Seek and value others’ perspectives and strive for diverse partnerships to enhance work toward common goals.

Empowered Development

Play an active role in professional development as a business imperative.

Minimum $169,222.00 - Maximum $253,000.00, plus incentive opportunity: The range shown represents a typical pay range or starting pay for individuals who are hired in the role to perform in the United States. Other elements may be used to determine actual pay such as the candidate’s job experience, specific skills, and comparison to internal incumbents currently in role. Typically, actual pay will be positioned within the established range, rather than at its minimum or maximum. This information is provided to applicants in accordance with states and local laws.

Application Deadline

This will be posted for a minimum of 5 business days.

Company benefits

Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, company provided basic life, accidental death & dismemberment, short‑term and long‑term disability insurance, tuition reimbursement, student loan assistance, a generous 401(k) match, flexible time off, paid holidays, and paid leave programs as well as other company provided benefits.

Disclaimer

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the people assigned to this position. It is not intended to include every job duty and responsibility specific to the position. Otsuka reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs as necessary.

Otsuka is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will be given consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, national origin, veteran status, marital status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation, if you are unable or limited in your ability to apply to this job opening as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by contacting [e-mail].

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