Director, AI & Technology Transformation

GlaxoSmithKline; Upper Providence (Delaware County); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Competitive salary

Annual bonus

Pension plan membership

Shares and savings programme

Job summary

GSK seeks a Director, R&D AI & Technology Transformation to lead the diagnostics and design of R&D data foundations, spanning data quality, ontology, governance and data products. You will drive end-to-end delivery, map data journeys, and translate findings into prioritized interventions with strong business cases.

The role requires hands-on leadership, executive collaboration, and ability to anchor decisions with measurable outcomes as you guide multi-site, cross-functional teams through

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading data strategy, governance, or R&D digital transformation in a pharmaceutical R&D environment.
• Proven ability to map processes or data journeys, synthesize pain points, and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Proven track record of turning strategy into successful implementation and delivery.
• Experience designing and facilitating workshops that align senior stakeholders and SMEs.
• Experience developing and delivering change plans with stakeholder engagement and capability building.

Responsibilities

• Lead comprehensive diagnostics of R&D data journeys across systems, users and data.
• Identify pain points across seven data elements, distinguishing journey-specific issues from enterprise-wide gaps.
• Engage 50+ SMEs and core team members to ground findings in real user experience.
• Define a future-state ambition for priority data-management capabilities.
• Run sessions with R&D leadership to align stakeholders on future state and interventions.
• Develop and prioritize interventions based on impact, breadth of reuse and feasibility.
• Build business cases for priority interventions including impact and effort.
• Report progress and recommendations at RDLT level and secure leadership endorsement.
• Take direct ownership of end-to-end implementation through to measurable outcomes.
• Establish workstreams, governance and ownership structures to move interventions.
• Identify where existing platforms can be leveraged vs where new capabilities are required.

Skills

Data strategy

Data governance

Pharma R&D

Stakeholder facilitation

Change management

Job description

We create a place where people can grow, be their best, be safe, and feel welcome, valued and included. We offer a competitive salary, an annual bonus based on company performance, healthcare and wellbeing programmes, pension plan membership, and shares and savings programme.

We embrace modern work practises; our Performance with Choice programme offers a hybrid working model, empowering you to find the optimal balance between remote and in-office work.

Discover more about our company wide benefits and life at GSK on our webpage Life at GSK | GSK

Director, R&D AI & Technology Transformation

R&D Tech Transformation & Operations connects strategy, investment and delivery across priority R&D technology programmes. The team works with scientific, technology and business leaders to strengthen decisions, accelerate value and support consistent adoption across R&D.

The Director, R&D AI & Technology role leads the diagnosis, design and implementation of R&D's data foundations across its seven core elements - data quality, ontology, governance and ownership, data discovery, access and authorization, data integration and platforms, and data products.

You will map end-to-end data journeys, identify systemic pain points, and translate findings into a prioritized set of interventions with clear business cases. You will run sessions with a broad set of R&D leadership, design and run cross-functional workshops to build alignment on the future state, report progress at RDLT level, take direct ownership of implementation and delivery through to measurable outcomes.

This is a role for someone who can bring a top-down, strategic picture of R&D's data landscape while staying hands-on through delivery, combining structured diagnostic thinking with strong stakeholder influence and execution rigor.

For candidates seeking to be located at our Stevenage site, this role will temporarily be based at Stevenage. However, the Company plans to relocate its offices to Cambridge, UK. The location of this role will therefore subsequently change to Cambridge, UK in accordance with timelines to be set by the Company. The relocation is currently proposed to take effect by early 2029.

Why you?

In this role you will

• Lead comprehensive diagnostics of R&D data journeys, reconstructing end-to-end flows from scientific question to data-driven decision across systems, users, and data.
• Identify and synthesize pain points across all seven data elements, distinguishing journey-specific issues from systemic, enterprise-wide gaps.
• Engage 50+ subject matter experts (SMEs) and core team members across Research, Development, Tech, and AI/ML to ground findings in real user experience.
• Define a future-state ambition for priority data-management capabilities.
• Run sessions with a broad set of R&D leadership, and design and facilitate cross-functional workshops to align stakeholders on the future state and foundational interventions.
• Develop and prioritize interventions based on R&D impact, breadth of reuse, and organizational feasibility, focusing on cross-cutting strategic moves.
• Build supporting business cases for priority interventions, including expected impact, effort/cost, and implementation considerations.
• Report progress and recommendations at RDLT level, securing leadership endorsement for the roadmap.
• Take direct ownership of implementation, leading delivery of prioritized interventions end to end through to measurable outcomes.
• Establish workstreams, governance, and ownership structures needed to move interventions.
• Identify where existing platforms or initiatives can be leveraged versus where new capabilities are required.

Basic qualifications

• Significant experience leading data strategy, data governance, or R&D digital transformation initiatives in a pharmaceutical R&D environment.
• Demonstrated experience conducting organizational diagnostics - mapping processes or data journeys, synthesizing pain points, and translating findings into actionable recommendations.
• Proven track record of taking a strategy from design through to implementation and delivery.
• Experience designing and facilitating workshops or working sessions that build alignment across senior stakeholders and subject matter experts (SMEs).
• Experience developing and delivering change plans that include stakeholder engagement, readiness, communications and capability building.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to assess complex, cross-functional problems and develop a structured, prioritized path forward.
• Ability to analyse complex issues, develop practical recommendations and follow through to implementation.
• Experience developing business cases, including articulating impact, effort, and feasibility trade-offs.
• Working knowledge of data management concepts across data quality, ontology, governance and ownership, data discovery, access and authorization, data integration and platforms, and data products.
• Strong communication, facilitation and influencing skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently, manage ambiguity and contribute beyond a narrowly defined change-management remit.
• Experience defining measures for adoption, outcomes or value realisation and using data to inform decisions.

Preferred Qualifications & Skills:

• Experience with R&D data platforms.
• Background in management consulting combined with in-house strategy and transformation delivery implementation.
• Change-management, project-management or related professional certification.
• Experience building and leading cross-functional core teams or workstreams through to delivery.
• Familiarity with data governance frameworks, IHD/consent-related data access processes, or regulatory data considerations.
• Experience managing delivery-focused teams or programs with direct accountability for outcomes.
• Learning, capability-building or workforce upskilling experience.

Closing Date for Applications - 25th November 2026

#LI-GSK #LI-Hybrid

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people's lives.

GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients' needs and have the highest probability of success. We're uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

Find out more:
Our approach to R&D

Skills

• Change Management
• Communication
• Cross-Departmental Collaboration
• Decision Making
• Financial Acumen
• Innovation
• Leadership
• Portfolio Management
• Project Management
• Project Management Governance
• Risk Management
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Stakeholder Management
• Strategic Leadership
• Visionary Thinking

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive.

We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases - to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we're committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at [e-mail] where you can also request a call.

Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide. Click the Link where you will find answers to multiple questions we receive

Please note that if you are a US Licensed Healthcare Professional or Healthcare Professional as defined by the laws of the state issuing your license, GSK may be required to capture and report expenses GSK incurs, on your behalf, in the event you are afforded an interview for employment. This capture of applicable transfers of value is necessary to ensure GSK's compliance to all federal and state US Transparency requirements. For more information, please visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/