Head of Methods & AI Integration

Takeda; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Takeda is seeking a senior leader to head Methods & AI Integration within R&D Data and Quantitative Sciences. The role drives methodological innovation, AI/ML deployment, and enterprise-scale capabilities across therapeutic areas.

The incumbent will own end-to-end lifecycle from innovation to deployment, ensuring regulator-ready, auditable methods integrated into clinical development workflows and decision-making processes.

Qualifications

• Experience leading AI/ML strategy and governance within pharma/biotech R&D.
• Ability to translate fragmented AI advances into regulator-ready, enterprise capabilities.
• Proven track record of scaling innovations from pilots to enterprise deployment.

Responsibilities

• Define, integrate, and scale AI/ML methodologies into decision-grade capabilities across R&D.
• Own end-to-end lifecycle from innovation to enterprise adoption of AI-enabled tools.
• Bridge between innovation and execution to deliver a scalable quantitative backbone for R&D decisions.
• Engage regulators, academia, and external stakeholders to position DQS as a leader in AI-enabled development.
• Embed governance for model qualification, documentation, and auditability across programs.
• Establish standards for validation, qualification, and deployment readiness in GxP environments.

Skills

Leadership

AI/ML Strategy

R&D Data

Regulatory Readiness

Tools

GenAI

GxP software

Job description

Job Description

About the role:

The Head of Methods & AI Integration is a senior leadership role within R&D Data and Quantitative Sciences (DQS), reporting to the Head of DQS. This role sits at the intersection of methodological innovation, AI/ML and enterprise-scale deployment within DQS. Unlike traditional functional leadership, it is accountable for translating fragmented AI/ML and quantitative advances into standardized, regulator-ready capabilities adopted consistently across all therapeutic areas and R&D functions.

The Head of Methods & AI Integration will apply a relentless focus on scaling impact — moving innovation from pilot to enterprise deployment — and the integration of data and quantitative science depth with AI/ML and engineering fluency to build a scalable quantitative decision-making backbone for R&D. The role demands credibility with regulators and external scientific communities alongside the operating discipline to govern reproducible, auditable, GxP-ready methods.

Specific areas of accountability for this position include:

• Defining, integrating, and scaling advanced data & quantitative science and AI/ML methodologies into decision-grade capabilities across R&D, embedding methodological innovation into clinical development workflows, governance, and decision-making rather than delivering isolated pilots.

• Owning the end-to-end lifecycle from innovation to enterprise adoption, transforming fragmented AI and methodological advances into standardized, reusable, regulator-ready capabilities that materially improve decision quality, speed, and development outcomes.

• Acting as the critical bridge between innovation, methods, and execution, enabling DQS to deliver a scalable quantitative decision-making backbone across R&D.

• Positioning DQS as a global leader in AI-enabled clinical development and decision science through internal enablement and external engagement with regulators, academia, and consortia.

How you will contribute:

• Serves as a member of the DQS Leadership Team, influencingfuture strategyandoperations with DQS and more broadly across the R&D enterprise R&D framing the quantitative decision-making backbone that underpins portfolio-wide decision quality, consistency, and speed.

• Define and own the DQS methods strategy spanning data and quantitative science innovation, AI/ML, and decision science, establishing next-generation methodologies for clinical trial design and optimization (e.g., simulation, adaptive designs) and AI-enabled decision-making (e.g., GenAI, causal ML, digital twins, evidence synthesis).

• Lead the systematic integration of AI/ML into clinical development workflows, shifting from pilot use to embedded, standardized capabilities delivered as reusable tools, frameworks, playbooks, and decision-support systems.

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle (innovation → validation → deployment → scale), ensuring solutions are decision-ready, reproducible, governed, and deployable in GxP/regulated environments, and eliminating “pilot-only” efforts through repeatable scaling pathways.

• Embed advanced methods into core R&D decisions — Go/No-Go, trial design and simulation, and portfolio strategy and trade-offs — enabling consistent, transparent, and portfolio-comparable decision frameworks across therapeutic area units (TAUs).

• Define and implement the enterprise methods and AI governance framework, including model qualification, regulatory alignment, and standards for reproducibility, documentation, and auditability, driving standardization and reuse to reduce fragmentation and bespoke approaches across programs.

• Establish standards for model validation, method qualification, deployment readiness, and lifecycle management that are scientifically rigorous, transparent, and fit for