Associate Director, Research Technology & Scientific Computing

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 169,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd in Boston seeks a senior leader to translate evolving research priorities into roadmaps and capabilities across laboratory technology, scientific computing, and AI-enabled research.

You will partner with scientists, IT teams, and vendors to shape platforms, improve researcher workflows, ensure security and resilience, and deliver end-to-end capabilities in a complex, matrixed environment.

Qualifications

• Required Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field.
• Eight or more years of progressive experience in Research IT, scientific computing, laboratory technology, platform leadership, infrastructure, or related technology roles in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or another research‑intensive environment.
• Ability to understand scientific workflows and translate them into practical, scalable, supportable technology capabilities and service experiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead the lifecycle, reliability, service health, supplier performance, and continual improvement of Research Technology capabilities.
• Establish clear ownership, support models, operational readiness, knowledge, communications, training, and early-life support for new and changing services.
• Partner with Data & AI teams to represent research requirements and influence AI capability adoption in enterprise roadmaps.

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field

Tools

Benchling

CDD Vault

Posit Connect

Job description

About Otsuka

At Otsuka, we defy limitation, so that others can too. We have an unwavering belief in doing more, transcending expectations, and going beyond for patients, families, providers, and each other. We are committed to creating new products for better health worldwide, with a focus on neuroscience and nephrology.

Why This Role Matters

Scientific discovery increasingly depends on technology. Researchers rely on laboratory systems, scientific applications, data platforms, AI-enabled capabilities, and computing environments to turn ideas into insight and advance new therapies. When these capabilities work together well, science moves faster. This role exists to make technology an accelerator for research.

Based in Boston, the leader will work closely with Jnana Therapeutics and Research & Development teams across OAPI and OPDC to reduce friction in scientific workflows, shape modern research platforms, and connect local needs to sustainable enterprise capabilities.

The Opportunity

This role sits at the intersection of scientific discovery, laboratory technology, scientific computing, AI-enabled research, and enterprise platforms. The successful candidate will be a trusted technology partner to scientists and R&D leaders, translating evolving research priorities into roadmaps, capabilities, and measurable outcomes. This includes representing needs in enterprise initiatives involving AI, scientific computing, data platforms, and emerging technology capabilities, ensuring research requirements are clearly articulated and appropriately prioritized.

The role will also shape how technology is experienced by specific stakeholder personas, including laboratory scientists, computational researchers, research associates, lab managers, data scientists, and support teams. By connecting their end-to-end journeys across platforms, suppliers, and technology teams, this leader will improve both research outcomes and the way services are delivered.

What Success Looks Like

Accelerate Scientific Outcomes

• Partner with scientists, laboratory teams, and research leaders to ensure technology enables discovery rather than creates friction.
• Understand critical workflows and improve how researchers compute, collaborate, access data, use applications, and operate laboratory environments.

Shape Research Technology Direction

• Translate scientific priorities and emerging opportunities into an integrated roadmap for laboratory technology, research applications, scientific computing, cloud and on-premises services, data flows, and supporting infrastructure.
• Balance speed and innovation with security, compliance, resilience, cost, supportability, and long-term platform health.

Deliver End-to-End Capabilities

• Bring together researchers, IT business partners, architecture, platform engineering, operations, cybersecurity, Data & AI, vendors, and service providers to deliver complete outcomes.
• Resolve cross-platform dependencies early and ensure new capabilities are usable, observable, supportable, recoverable, and ready for adoption.

Improve the Researcher Experience

• Use stakeholder personas, journeys, feedback, and service measures to identify and remove friction across organizational and technology boundaries.
• Measure service health through technical performance, experience, adoption, and research impact, not component availability alone.

Build Sustainable Platforms and Services

• Lead the lifecycle, reliability, service health, supplier performance, and continual improvement of Research Technology capabilities.
• Establish clear ownership, support models, operational readiness, knowledge, communications, training, and early-life support for new and changing services.

Shape What Comes Next

• Partner with Data & AI and other enterprise technology teams to influence the adoption of emerging AI capabilities, ensuring research, scientific computing, and laboratory requirements are reflected in enterprise roadmaps and delivery plans.
• Create reusable approaches for platform roadmaps, service ownership, stakeholder experience, adoption, and cross-platform delivery that can be applied across Infrastructure & Operations.

Successful impact can lead to broader platform, service, and leadership responsibilities as Otsuka’s needs evolve.

Core Scope

• Laboratory technology, instrument connectivity, research applications, integrations, workflow automation, and metadata management.
• Scientific computing across Linux, cloud, on‑premises, high‑performance, and resource‑intensive research environments.
• Research platforms such as CDD Vault, Benchling, Posit Connect, and comparable scientific applications.
• Platform and service roadmaps, demand and capacity visibility, lifecycle planning, business cases, budgets, vendors, and managed service providers.
• Service health, monitoring, telemetry, observability, incident and problem improvement, resilience, recovery, and continuity.
• Introduction and adoption of new capabilities, including readiness, training, communications, feedback, and value realization.
• Partnership with Data & AI teams to represent research requirements, influence AI capability adoption, and support successful use of AI technologies within scientific and research workflows.

What We Are Looking For

Required Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field.

Eight or more years of progressive experience in Research IT, scientific computing, laboratory technology, platform leadership, infrastructure, or related technology roles in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or another research‑intensive environment.

Ability to understand scientific workflows and translate them into practical, scalable, supportable technology capabilities and service experiences.

Experience leading across strategy, delivery, operations, service improvement, and stakeholder engagement in a complex, matrixed environment.

Working knowledge of wet‑lab technology, scientific applications, Linux, cloud and on‑premises infrastructure, research data flows, and instrument connectivity.

Strong relationship leadership and the ability to influence scientists, R&D leaders, technology teams, cybersecurity, compliance partners, vendors, and senior stakeholders.

Judgment and communication skills that make complex technical, operational, and investment choices understandable and decision‑ready.

Preferred Experience with computational chemistry or biology, high‑performance or high‑throughput computing, and platforms such as Benchling, CDD Vault, Posit Connect, or similar technologies.

Experience with AWS, automation, DevOps, infrastructure as code, R, Python, analytics, metadata, integrations, or AI‑enabled research and support capabilities.

Experience applying personas, journeys, service design, product or platform management, experience measures, service‑level objectives, or adoption practices.

Experience supporting regulated, validated, or research‑critical environments and designing for resilience, disaster recovery, and business continuity.

For Director‑level consideration, demonstrated ownership of a broader platform or service portfolio, enterprise influence, and leadership across multiple teams, providers, or major outcomes.

Experience evaluating, deploying, or supporting enterprise AI solutions and AI‑enabled workflows, preferably including large language model (LLM) platforms, AI‑assisted development tools, agentic capabilities, or scientific‑research use cases.

Growth and Impact

This role offers direct partnership with scientific and R&D leadership, the opportunity to influence Research Technology strategy across Jnana, OAPI, and OPDC, and the ability to shape platforms that support discovery and innovation. As the organization and portfolio evolve, the role may expand into broader platform, service, or enterprise leadership based on demonstrated impact and business need.

Location and Travel

Based in the Boston area, with regular in‑person engagement at Jnana and collaboration with hybrid teams in Boston and Rockville. Up to 10% travel based on business needs.

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.

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.

Company culture

We invite you to explore our open positions for an opportunity to join our 2,200 colleagues in the U.S. whose passion for our mission and pride in our company has earned us certification as a Great Place to Work by the Great Place to Work Institute.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a global healthcare company with the corporate philosophy: “Otsuka–people creating new products for better health worldwide.” In the U.S., Otsuka is comprised of two companies, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc., that share a deep commitment to the development and commercialization of innovative products in the spaces of neuroscience, nephrology, and digital medicine. Driven by our purpose to defy limitation, so that others can too, we have an unwavering belief in doing more and transcending expectations.

It’s this deep‑rooted dedication that drives us to uncover answers to complex, underserved medical needs, so that patients can push past the limitations of their disease and achieve more than they thought was possible each and every day. OPDC and OAPI are indirect subsidiaries of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd. headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The Otsuka group of companies employed 34,400 people worldwide and had consolidated sales of approximately USD 14.2 billion in 2023.