Director, R&D AI, Insights & Analytics

Scorpion Therapeutics; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base and bonus

Medical, dental, vision coverage

401(k) match

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Vacation and holidays

Job summary

Scorpion Therapeutics seeks a Director to lead strategy and execution of data, analytics, AI, and insights across R&D. You will drive a capability roadmap, establish data governance, and partner with IT on modern data platforms while delivering actionable dashboards and predictive analytics to optimize trials.

The role requires 10+ years in R&D analytics or AI-enabled solutions within pharma, with deep data governance experience and cloud platform familiarity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years in R&D analytics, data strategy, or AI-enabled solutions.
• Pharma or life sciences industry experience and drug development knowledge.
• Data governance leadership incl. FAIR, metadata, lineage, data quality.
• Experience with data lake/lakehouse/cloud strategies and modern platforms.
• Knowledge of Databricks, Snowflake, Fabric, AWS/Azure and semantic layers.
• Clinical performance metrics, dashboards, AI/ML, automation experience.
• Travel domestically/internationally as needed.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the R&D analytics and AI capability roadmap.
• Lead data governance, ontology, metadata, quality, and stewardship.
• Set definitions, metrics, and semantic standards for data quality.
• Collaborate with IT and data engineering on data platforms.
• Evaluate architecture, platforms, and vendors for scalability and security.
• Build benchmarking for clinical development and trial performance.
• Develop dashboards and predictive analytics for enrollment and site selection.
• Identify AI/ML and automation opportunities to accelerate trials.
• Translate use cases into scalable products with adoption metrics.
• Lead capability mapping, gap analyses, and future-state roadmaps.
• Partner across R&D to map high-value data opportunities and budgets.

Skills

R&D analytics

Data governance

AI/ML

Predictive analytics

Roadmap development

Dashboards

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Data Science/CS/Engineering/Life Sciences or related

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

Microsoft Fabric

AWS

Azure

Metadata/catalog tools

Job description

Position Summary

The Director, R&D AI, Insights & Analytics will lead strategy and execution of data, analytics, artificial intelligence, and insights capabilities across the R&D organization.

Primary Responsibilities

• Define and execute the R&D insights, analytics, AI, and data capability roadmap.
• Lead R&D data governance (ownership, stewardship, ontology, metadata, lineage, business glossary, data quality, FAIR principles, semantic consistency).
• Establish consistent definitions, metrics, semantic standards, and data quality expectations.
• Partner with Enterprise IT and data engineering on modern R&D data platforms (data lake/lakehouse/cloud).
• Provide leadership for architecture, platform, technology, and vendor evaluations (scalability, security, interoperability).
• Build clinical development benchmarking (start-up, enrollment, site performance, cycle times, data quality).
• Develop dashboards, predictive analytics, and decision support for enrollment, site selection, trial execution, portfolio oversight.
• Identify and implement AI/ML and intelligent automation opportunities to accelerate trials.
• Translate R&D use cases into scalable products with success metrics and drive adoption.
• Lead assessments, process/capability mapping, gap analyses, and future-state roadmaps.
• Collaborate across R&D functions to identify high-value data/analytics opportunities.
• Manage external partners/vendors within approved budgets.
• Present strategies and outcomes to senior leadership; monitor emerging technologies.

Education/Experience/Skills

• Bachelor’s degree required (Data Science, CS, Engineering, Life Sciences or related); advanced degree preferred.
• 10+ years in R&D analytics/data strategy/clinical development analytics/AI-enabled solutions/digital transformation.
• Pharmaceutical/life sciences industry experience.
• Drug development lifecycle knowledge and R&D functions.
• Data governance leadership (FAIR, metadata/lineage, quality standards).
• Experience with data lake/lakehouse/data fabric/cloud strategies.
• Working knowledge: Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, AWS, Azure, semantic layer, metadata/catalog tools.
• Clinical performance metrics/benchmarking and operational dashboards.
• AI/ML, predictive analytics, intelligent automation.
• Process mapping, capability assessments, gap analyses, roadmap development.
• Regulated environments/clinical standards: GxP, CDISC, SDTM, ADaM, FHIR.
• Ability/willingness to travel domestically/internationally.

Benefits (US-based Employees)

• Competitive base, bonus, and new hire/ongoing equity packages.
• Medical, dental, vision; employer-paid life, disability, business travel, and EAP.
• 401(k) match 1:1 up to 5%; Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
• 15+ vacation days; 13–15 paid holidays; 10 days paid sick time; paid parental leave; tuition assistance.