Data & AI Strategist (Pharma R&D)

Slalom; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 150,000 - 183,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with match

Health, dental, & vision coverage

Disability insurance

Well-being reimbursement

Job summary

Slalom is seeking a Pharma R&D Data & AI Strategist to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients translate ambitious scientific, business, Data, and AI strategies into measurable R&D outcomes. You will collaborate with senior leaders and multidisciplinary teams to modernize data and AI capabilities across the full R&D lifecycle.

The role spans Research to Clinical Development, enabling scalable data products, governance, and enterprise platforms such as Databricks, Azure, AWS, and Snowflake.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences R&D, or consulting to R&D organizations.
• Strong understanding of pharma R&D lifecycle with depth in Research & Discovery and/or Clinical Development.
• Experience working with Research and/or Clinical data, capable of handling scientific and regulated data.

Responsibilities

• Develop Data & AI strategies for pharmaceutical R&D and translate into actionable roadmaps.
• Partner with R&D executives and scientists to identify high-value Data & AI opportunities.
• Translate strategy into MVPs, data products, backlogs, and governance.

Skills

Pharma R&D experience

Data & AI strategies

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Life sciences / R&D background

Tools

Databricks

Azure

AWS

Snowflake

Job description

Pharma R&D Data & AI Strategist
Who You’ll Work With

Slalom is seeking a Pharma R&D Data & AI Strategist to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients translate ambitious scientific, business, Data, and AI strategies into measurable R&D outcomes. You will work alongside senior R&D leaders, research scientists, translational scientists, clinical development teams, data and AI leaders, enterprise architects, product teams, and technology partners to modernize how data and AI enable the discovery and development of new therapies.

You will collaborate with multidisciplinary Slalom teams spanning Life Sciences, Data & AI, Strategy, Organizational Change, Product, and Technology to help clients move from fragmented scientific and clinical data and isolated AI experimentation toward scalable, governed, reusable enterprise capabilities.

The role spans the R&D lifecycle, with opportunities across Research & Discovery, Translational Science, Preclinical Development, Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Safety, Regulatory, CMC, and R&D Portfolio Management.

What You’ll Do

• Develop Data & AI strategies for pharmaceutical R&D, connecting scientific and business priorities to actionable roadmaps across Research and Development.
• Partner with R&D executives, scientists, and functional leaders to identify and prioritize high-value Data & AI opportunities based on scientific impact, business value, feasibility, data readiness, risk, and organizational readiness.
• Shape Data & AI strategies across target identification and validation, disease biology, computational biology, medicinal chemistry, molecular design, assay and screening sciences, translational research, biomarker development, preclinical development, clinical development, and trial operations.
• Help clients unlock value from complex Research data, including compound and molecular data, chemical structures and properties, assay results, experimental and ELN data, genomics and other omics, imaging, biomarkers, targets, pathways, in vitro/in vivo data, literature, and other scientific knowledge.
• Help clients unlock value from Clinical data, including study, site, investigator, subject, visit, endpoint, laboratory, safety, operational, and other clinical trial data.
• Translate R&D outcomes and AI use cases into the data products, knowledge assets, platform capabilities, governance, operating models, and organizational capabilities required to deliver them.
• Define domain-oriented and data product strategies that improve the accessibility, interoperability, quality, discoverability, and reuse of scientific and clinical data.
• Establish AI-ready data foundations, including canonical models, metadata, scientific ontologies, semantic layers, knowledge graphs, data quality, lineage, and data product certification standards.
• Design Data & AI operating models that establish ownership, decision rights, governance, funding, product management, and effective collaboration between scientists, R&D business teams, data organizations, AI teams, and centralized technology organizations.
• Shape strategies for GenAI and agentic AI, including scientific copilots, research assistants, knowledge agents, molecule and target intelligence, clinical agents, and increasingly automated R&D workflows.
• Connect AI ambitions to enterprise architecture and modern platforms such as Databricks, Microsoft/Azure, AWS, Snowflake, scientific platforms, and specialized life sciences technologies.
• Facilitate executive and scientific workshops that bring together R&D, Data, AI, and Technology stakeholders around a shared vision and executable roadmap.
• Define business cases, value frameworks, OKRs, and KPIs that connect Data & AI investments to outcomes such as research productivity, decision quality, cycle-time reduction, probability of technical success, trial performance, and speed to patients.
• Translate strategy into execution through MVPs, data products, prioritized backlogs, delivery increments, governance gates, and implementation roadmaps.
• Advise leaders on organizational readiness, skills, adoption, and change required to embed Data & AI into scientific and operational ways of working.

What You’ll Bring

• Significant experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences R&D, or consulting to R&D organizations.
• Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical R&D lifecycle, with depth in Research & Discovery and/or Clinical Development.
• Experience working with Research and/or Clinical data, with the ability to understand the unique challenges associated with scientific and regulated data.
• For Research-oriented candidates, experience with one or more data types such as compound/molecular, chemistry, assay, experimental, ELN/LIMS, target, genomics/omics, imaging, biomarker, translational, preclinical, or scientific knowledge data.
• For Development-oriented candidates, experience with one or more data types such as clinical trial, study/site, subject, endpoint, laboratory, safety, operational, regulatory, or real-world data.
• Demonstrated experience developing and operationalizing enterprise Data, Analytics, and/or AI strategies.
• Ability to connect emerging AI capabilities to meaningful scientific and business decisions, rather than approaching AI as a technology-first initiative.
• Experience with modern data concepts including data products, domain-oriented architectures, canonical models, metadata, ontologies, semantic models, knowledge graphs, and enterprise data governance.
• Understanding of how structured, semi-structured, unstructured, and multimodal scientific data can be prepared for analytics, machine learning, GenAI, and agentic AI.
• Familiarity with R&D considerations such as scientific provenance, intellectual property, FAIR principles, GxP, privacy, validation, traceability, responsible AI, and appropriate data use, as applicable to the candidate's area of expertise.
• Experience defining operating models, organizational structures, governance frameworks, and decision rights within complex global organizations.
• Strong executive communication, workshop facilitation, storytelling, and stakeholder-management capabilities.
• Ability to operate effectively with both scientific stakeholders and deeply technical Data & AI teams.
• Experience translating strategy into execution through use-case portfolios, data products, MVPs, roadmaps, backlogs, OKRs, and value realization.

About Us

Slalom is a fiercely human business and technology consulting company that leads with outcomes to bring more value, in all ways, always. From strategy through delivery, our agile teams across 52 offices in 12 countries partner with clients to co-create powerful customer experiences, modern ways of working, and meaningful impact.

What sets us apart?

We believe work should be challenging and fulfilling, not perfect, but possible. That’s why we prioritize purpose, flexibility, connection, and recognition, so our people can thrive and love what they do, most days.

Compensation and Benefits

Slalom prides itself on helping team members thrive in their work and life. As a result, Slalom is proud to invest in benefits that includemeaningful time off and paid holidays, parental leave, 401(k) with a match, a range of choices for highly subsidized health, dental, & vision coverage, adoption and fertility assistance, and short/long-term disability. We also offer yearly $350 reimbursement account for any well-being-related expenses, as well as discounted home, auto, and pet insurance.

Slalom is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.For this role, we are hiring at the following levels and targeted base pay salary ranges below. In addition, individuals may be eligible for an annual discretionary bonus . Actual compensation will depend upon an individual’s skills, experience, qualifications, location, and other relevant factors. The salary pay range is subject to change and may be modified at any time.

Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, Nashville, and St. Louis

Principal : $149,500 - $183,000

Houston

Principal: $163,000 - $199,500

Wearecommittedtopaytransparencyandcompliancewithapplicablelaws.Ifyouhavequestionsorconcernsaboutthepayrangeorothercompensationinformationinthisposting,pleasecontactusat: [e-mail] .Pleasenote,thisrecipientisnotabletosupportrecruitmentinquiriesbeyondthispurpose.

EEO and Accommodations

Slalomisanequalopportunityemployerandiscommittedtoattracting,developingandretaininghighlyqualifiedtalentwhoempowerourinnovativeteamsthroughuniqueperspectivesandexperiences.Allqualifiedapplicantswillreceiveconsiderationforemploymentwithoutregardtorace,color,religion,sex,nationalorigin,disabilitystatus,protectedveterans’status,oranyothercharacteristicprotectedbyfederal,state,orlocallaws.Slalomwillalsoconsiderqualifiedapplicationswithcriminalhistories,consistentwithlegalrequirements.Slalomwelcomesandencouragesapplicationsfromindividualswithdisabilities.Reasonableaccommodationsareavailableforcandidatesduringallaspectsoftheselectionprocess.Pleaseadvisethetalentacquisitionteamorcontact [e-mail]tionsduringtheinterviewprocess.