Director, Semantic & Knowledge Engineering

U014 (FCRS = US014) Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; East Hanover (NJ); Hybrid; USD 195,000 - 361,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation in East Hanover is seeking a Director, Semantic and Knowledge Engineering to lead the design, governance, and deployment of enterprise semantic models, ontologies, and knowledge graphs powering NovaOS. The role partners across Applied AI, Data Science, Product, and Engineering to enable interoperable data and AI-powered insights.

The position requires 8+ years in semantic tech, leadership skills, and hands-on expertise with RDF/OWL and graph databases.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in semantic technologies and enterprise information architecture.
• Hands-on experience with ontologies, RDF/OWL, and knowledge graphs.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of ontologies, taxonomies, and semantic models.
• Develop and maintain knowledge graphs and semantic services for AI and analytics.
• Collaborate with AI, Data Science, Product, and Engineering teams to integrate semantic capabilities.
• Establish metadata standards and semantic governance processes.
• Support AI initiatives with semantic foundations for RAG and contextual search.
• Mentor semantic and knowledge engineers and promote reusable patterns.

Skills

Semantic technologies

Leadership

Knowledge graphs

Metadata management

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher in CS/IS/AI/Data Science

Tools

Ontologies (OWL)

RDF/OWL

Graph databases

Job description

Band Level 6 Job Description Summary #LI-Hybrid

Reporting to the Executive Director, Semantic and Knowledge Engineering, the Director, Semantic and Knowledge Engineering leads the design, implementation, and governance of enterprise semantic models, ontologies, knowledge graphs, and metadata frameworks that power NovaOS. This role partners across Applied AI, Data Science, Product, and Engineering to establish trusted semantic assets that enable interoperable data, AI reasoning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and scalable enterprise intelligence. The ideal location for this role is East Hanover but remote work may be possible (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). Please note that this role would not provide relocation as a result. If associate is remote, all home office expenses and any travel/lodging to specific East Hanover for periodic live meetings will be at the employee’s expense. The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager. This position will require 10% travel.

Job Description Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of enterprise ontologies, taxonomies, business vocabularies, and semantic models.
• Develop and maintain knowledge graphs and semantic services that support AI, analytics, search, and business applications.
• Partner with AI, Data Science, Product, and Engineering teams to integrate semantic capabilities into NovaOS products and platforms.
• Establish metadata standards, semantic governance processes, and quality controls for enterprise knowledge assets.
• Support AI initiatives by developing semantic foundations for RAG, agentic AI, reasoning engines, and contextual search.
• Evaluate emerging semantic technologies and recommend improvements to the enterprise knowledge architecture.
• Lead and mentor semantic and knowledge engineers while promoting reusable engineering patterns and technical excellence.

Essential Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Bioinformatics, or a related discipline.
• 8+ years of experience in semantic technologies, knowledge engineering, metadata management, or enterprise information architecture.
• Hands-on expertise with ontologies, RDF/OWL, knowledge graphs, graph databases, metadata management, and semantic web technologies.
• Experience implementing semantic solutions that enable AI, analytics, interoperability, and enterprise search.
• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills with experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience applying semantic technologies to generative AI, agentic AI, RAG, and enterprise AI platforms.
• Experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare, or other highly regulated industries.

Novartis Compensation Summary

The salary for this position is expected to range between $194,600 and $361,400 per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors. Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

Salary Range $194,600.00 - $361,400.00

EEO Statement

The Novartis Group of Companies are Equal Opportunity Employers. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. We strive to create an inclusive workplace that cultivates bold innovation through collaboration and empowers our people to unleash their full potential.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodations

The Novartis Group of Companies are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to [e-mail] call [phone] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.

Skills Desired

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Business Value Creation
• Change Management
• Curious Mindset
• Data Governance
• Data Literacy
• Data Quality
• Data Science
• Data Visualization
• Deep Learning
• Learning Agility
• Machine Learning (ML)
• Machine Learning Algorithms
• Mentorship
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Statistical Analysis
• Time Series Analysis

Improving the lives of people living with disease takes more than innovative science. It takes a focus on the needs of people and a community committed to meeting them. It takes a team of people like you. Working together. Learning together. Thriving together. Discover how you can join us in changing people’s lives.

https://www.novartis.com/careers/careers-research/notice-all-applicants-us-job-openings