Lead at the Intersection of Biology, AI, and Drug Development
At Pfizer, breakthroughs in biology, data science, and artificial intelligence are changing how medicines are discovered and developed. As the Executive Director, Translational & Computational Biology, you will serve as a senior scientific leader connecting Pfizer's AI Core with therapeutic-area, translational, and clinical teams across Research & Development.
This is not primarily a role for building algorithms or performing downstream analyses. It is a role for identifying high-value biological and clinical questions, translating them into computational and AI-enabled strategies, and ensuring that the resulting evidence informs better scientific, development, and portfolio decisions.
You'll work alongside AI scientists, engineers, computational biologists, translational researchers, clinicians, and therapeutic-area leaders to bring deep biological judgment to some of the most consequential questions in drug discovery and development.
Why This Role Is Different Lead High-Impact Science Across R&D This role is designed for an experienced scientific leader ready to take ownership of important biological and translational problems and mobilize the right data, computational approaches, and AI capabilities to address them. You'll operate with a high degree of autonomy, working across organizational boundaries to frame questions, guide scientific strategy, challenge assumptions, and translate complex evidence into decisions.
Shape How Science Drives Decisions
You'll lead and influence work across areas such as:
· Target identification and validation · Biomarker discovery and patient stratification · Mechanisms of response and resistance · Disease biology and translational research · Clinical development and trial strategy · Real-world evidence and lifecycle or post-marketing science · Business development and external innovation assessments
Most importantly, you'll connect biology, data, and AI to decisions throughout the drug development lifecycle - focusing effort where better evidence can materially change what Pfizer does next.
Move Beyond Downstream Analysis This is not a downstream analytics role waiting for completed models or narrowly defined requests.
You will help shape the scientific questions themselves, determine what evidence is required, challenge analytical and model assumptions, and translate results into biological and clinical understanding that can influence programs and portfolios.
Operate as a Senior Scientific Partner You'll partner directly with therapeutic-area, translational, clinical, and AI leaders to identify high-value opportunities, align scientific and analytical strategy, and help teams act on the resulting evidence.
Bridge AI, Data, and Biology to Drive R&D Impact This role sits at the intersection of the AI Core and Pfizer's scientific and therapeutic-area organizations. You may come from a computational or translational biology background; what matters most is deep biological and scientific judgment combined with the ability to use data, computational approaches, and emerging AI capabilities to answer important questions.
You will identify high-value problems, connect them with the right AI and analytical capabilities, guide study and validation strategy, interpret results in biological and clinical context, and help translate new approaches into scientific practice. You will be an early adopter of AI-enabled ways of working and a trusted partner who helps R&D teams use these capabilities effectively.
The Opportunity As the Executive Director, Translational & Computational Biology, you will apply deep biological and translational expertise, computational fluency, and scientific judgment to lead AI-enabled work that informs high-value decisions across Research & Development.
Success in this role is measured not by the volume of analyses delivered, but by the quality of the questions selected, the rigor of the evidence generated, the decisions influenced, and the scientific capabilities that become reusable across R&D.
You will:
· Lead a portfolio of high-value biological, translational, and clinical questions across R&D · Serve as a senior scientific bridge between therapeutic-area teams and the AI Core · Shape analytical and AI strategies, including study design, validation, and evidence standards · Interpret complex multimodal evidence and translate it into clear scientific recommendations · Influence scientific, development, and portfolio decisions through data and biological judgment · Drive adoption and reuse of successful AI-enabled scientific approaches across programs and teams
This role is ideal for an experienced scientist who combines biological depth, computational fluency, strategic judgment, and the ability to influence across a complex, matrixed R&D organization.
What You'll Do Lead High-Impact Translational and Computational Programs · Identify and prioritize questions where integrated biological, clinical, and computational evidence can materially change a scientific or development decision · Lead scientific strategy from problem formulation through analysis, validation, interpretation, and recommendation · Generate and test hypotheses that connect molecular mechanisms to patient biology, treatment response, and development strategy · Ensure work is tied to measurable scientific, development, or portfolio outcomes
Translate Scientific Questions into AI and Analytical Strategies · Partner with AI scientists, engineers, computational biologists, statisticians, and domain experts to define fit-for-purpose approaches · Define cohorts, endpoints, labels, biological annotations, evaluation criteria, and validation plans that reflect biological and clinical reality · Guide selection and application of computational methods and AI capabilities, including where new methods or models are required · Challenge outputs for biological plausibility, robustness, generalizability, uncertainty, and decision relevance
Partner Across Therapeutic Areas and Development · Serve as a trusted advisor to scientific and clinical leaders across discovery, translational medicine, and clinical development · Bring emerging AI capabilities into therapeutic-area workflows and help teams identify where they can create meaningful scientific advantage · Build durable partnerships across R&D functions, connecting scientific needs, technical capabilities, and evidence · Represent translational and computational perspectives in cross-functional program and portfolio discussions
Integrate Diverse Scientific Data
Lead or guide analyses involving:
· Multi-omics data · Single-cell and spatial biology · Genetics and genomics · Perturbational and functional biology · Imaging and digital pathology · Clinical trial datasets · Real-world data and evidence · Scientific literature, internal knowledge, and other multimodal data sources
You will not need to be the deepest technical expert in every modality; you will know how to assemble the right expertise and evidence to answer the question.
Set Standards for Scientific and Analytical Judgment · Interpret results in biological, clinical, and development context · Assess uncertainty, confounding, bias, alternative explanations, and failure modes · Establish fit-for-purpose standards for rigor, reproducibility, validation, and evidence · Distinguish statistically interesting findings from evidence that is actionable for R&D Scale Impact Through Partnership and Adoption · Communicate complex evidence clearly to scientific, clinical, technical, and senior leadership audiences · Influence decisions in matrixed teams through scientific credibility, judgment, and execution · Mentor and guide scientists and cross-functional colleagues; elevate translational and computational fluency across teams · Serve as an early adopter of AI-enabled ways of working and help embed successful approaches into repeatable scientific practice
What You Bring Education & Scientific Leadership
You have:
· A PhD, MD, PharmD, or equivalent advanced degree in Computational Biology, Translational Biology, Bioinformatics, Genetics, Genomics, Systems Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Biostatistics, or a related discipline with 10+ years of relevant industry or research experience; or · A Master's degree with 12+ years of relevant experience, or an equivalent record of scientific and translational impact Most importantly, you have a sustained record of translating complex biological and clinical data into insights that influenced meaningful scientific, development, or portfolio decisions.
Demonstrated Strategic and Scientific Leadership
You have experience:
· Leading cross-functional scientific or translational programs from an ambiguous question to an evidence-based decision · Defining strategy and priorities for complex analytical, biomarker, precision-medicine, or data-driven work · Applying computational and quantitative approaches to real-world biological and clinical questions · Influencing senior stakeholders through clear scientific reasoning, evidence, and recommendations · Operating with substantial autonomy in matrixed organizations and aligning contributors without relying on formal authority
We are looking for a senior scientific leader who combines depth of biological judgment with the ability to mobilize computational, AI, and data capabilities around the questions that matter most.
Computational & AI Fluency
You bring working or strong proficiency in:
· R and/or Python, or equivalent computational tools sufficient to work directly with data and analytical workflows · Statistical reasoning, experimental design, and quantitative interpretation · Biological and clinical data analysis and visualization · Reproducible research and evidence-generation practices · Machine learning and AI concepts relevant to biomedical research · Evaluating model outputs, uncertainty, limitations, and scientific validity
You have demonstrated depth in one or more major scientific domains such as: · Multi-omics · Single-cell or spatial biology · Genetics and genomics · Translational or systems biology · Imaging or digital pathology · Clinical development and biomarker science · Real-world data and evidence
Experience integrating multiple data types and working with AI-enabled scientific workflows is strongly valued.
Leadership, Judgment & Scientific Mindset
Successful candidates demonstrate:
· Deep intellectual curiosity and biological judgment · Strategic thinking and the ability to identify the questions that matter most · Scientific rigor, healthy skepticism, and evidence-based decision-making · Comfort operating with ambiguity and high autonomy · Ability to move fluidly between biology, data, AI, and drug-development context · Executive-level communication and influence across scientific and technical audiences · A collaborative, low-ego approach to building trust and enabling others
We're looking for someone who is equally comfortable diving into the science, challenging an analysis, advising a program team, and helping senior leaders understand what the evidence should mean for a decision.
Preferred Qualifications · Significant experience in biotechnology or pharmaceutical R&D · Demonstrated impact across drug discovery, translational research, clinical development, precision medicine, or biomarker strategy · Experience applying or adopting AI-enabled scientific workflows in real R&D settings · Experience leading multidisciplinary teams or major cross-functional workstreams · Deep expertise in one or more therapeutic areas and a track record of translating computational evidence into program or portfolio decisions
Why Pfizer At Pfizer, AI and data are becoming foundational capabilities across R&D, creating an opportunity to connect the scale of our science and data with new ways of understanding disease and developing medicines.
You'll have the opportunity to work with exceptional scientific and technical colleagues, influence high-value decisions across the R&D lifecycle, and help translate emerging AI capabilities into trusted scientific practice.
Here, you'll find:
· Senior-level scientific ownership and autonomy · High-value problems spanning discovery through clinical development · Access to rich biomedical and clinical data and advanced AI capabilities · Direct collaboration with therapeutic-area, clinical, and technical leaders · The opportunity to shape how AI-enabled science is adopted across R&D · The chance to accelerate decisions that matter for patients If you're looking for a role where deep biological judgment, computational thinking, and AI-enabled science come together to influence important R&D decisions, Pfizer offers an opportunity to create impact at enterprise scale.
Work Location Assignment Hybrid: Colleagues must live within commuting distance and work on-site at a Pfizer location an average of 2.5 days per week.
The annual base salary for this position ranges from $230,900.00 to $384,800.00. In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 25.0% of the base salary and eligibility to participate in our share based long term incentive program. We offer comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life’s moments. Benefits offered include a 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage. Learn more at Pfizer Candidate Site – U.S. Benefits | (uscandidates.mypfizerbenefits.com). Pfizer compensation structures and benefit packages are aligned based on the location of hire. The United States salary range provided does not apply to Tampa, FL or any location outside of the United States.
This role is posted in multiple locations. If you are applying for the role in an secondary job posting location where pay transparency regulations apply, your Talent Advisor will share the local pay information with you during the first interview.
Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.
Sunshine Act Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider’s name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.
EEO & Employment Eligibility Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer. This position requires permanent work authorization in the United States.
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