[Remote] Associate Director, AI Development Lead

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Jazz Pharmaceuticals is a global biopharma company dedicated to developing life-changing medicines for serious diseases. The Associate Director, AI Development Lead is responsible for advancing the company's enterprise AI capability and driving business value through AI and machine learning, while leading a team of AI developers and shaping the AI strategy.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship end-to-end ML solutions — data ingestion, feature engineering, model training, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring — across supervised, unsupervised, and other classical/statistical learning paradigms
• Design and ship end-to-end GenAI solutions — including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, agentic workflows, vector stores, and integrations with foundation model APIs
• Across Gen AI and AI/ML, write production-quality code (Python or related languages/frameworks as needed), with attention to readability, modularity, scalability, performance, and maintainability
• Design and review architectures across Gen AI and AI/ML solutions that are secure, reusable, and rigorous. Work with the Enterprise AI Architect to ensure your designs follow our architectural standards
• Debug, profile, and optimize solutions — including cost, latency, accuracy, and reliability trade-offs
• Support deployment and post-deployment operations, including CI/CD, observability, model monitoring, drift detection, and incident response
• Establish and continuously refine technical standards for development: reference architectures, design patterns, coding conventions, evaluation methodologies, and reusable components
• Lead a small team of AI developers across traditional ML and Generative AI, setting clear technical direction, priorities, and quality expectations
• Be accountable for the quality and outcomes of the team's work: solution design, code and model quality, documentation, and delivery
• Mentor team members through code & design review, both informal and formal feedback; build technical depth and ownership across the team
• Plan and sequence delivery work in partnership with stakeholders, balancing scope, technical risk, and timelines
• Help recruit, onboard, and grow AI talent as the team expands
• Serve as a go-to technical advisor to teams across Jazz, many of them non-technical, helping them: understand how AI works, how to ensure human-in-the-loop review and how to increase and optimize adoption of solutions while maintaining responsible and ethical use
• Evaluate AI use cases and proposed solutions for technical feasibility, data readiness, value, and risk
• Use expertise to support business in prioritizing AI initiatives based on business impact, technical feasibility, bandwidth constraints, solution complexity, and scalability. Within agreed upon product priorities, decide resource allocation and development activities for the team
• Vet AI vendors and platforms in collaboration with our Enterprise AI Architect, as well as Infrastructure and Digital Security teams. Together, conduct technical due diligence on solution feasibility, data handling, security, transparency, and overall operational maturity. During such evaluations, this role will focus on solution fit for the use-case, overall solution practicality, and vendor knowledge of AI’s capabilities and limitations
• Support build-vs-buy decisions with a clear-eyed view of time-to-value, total cost of ownership, extensibility, and vendor risk
• Partner with the Director, Enterprise AI and the VP of Data, AI, and Research to help shape and execute Jazz's enterprise AI strategy, including operating model, governance, technology stack, best practices, and policies
• Contribute to the maturation of the AI capability through reference architectures, MLOps practices, evaluation frameworks, and reusable components that make future delivery faster and more reliable
• Help define and apply Responsible AI practices — explainability, evaluation, privacy, security, and risk management — across the work the team delivers and supports
• Collaborate with Data Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure, InfoSec, and Compliance to ensure AI solutions meet enterprise standards
• Build credibility quickly with senior technical and business stakeholders through effective communication and deep expertise

Skills

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in a quantitative or technical field required
• 5–7 years of relevant experience in AI, machine learning, or data science required
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and be accountable for the technical work of others
• Demonstrated experience leading offshore or near shore development teams required
• Hands-on technical depth in building and shipping ML/GenAI solutions to production
• Proficiency in writing production-quality code and designing AI/ML architecture
• Strong understanding of core machine learning algorithms and statistical modeling techniques, model evaluation, and real-world deployment considerations
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g. Python, R) and ML frameworks (such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn)
• Strong understanding of modern Generative AI concepts and approaches: LLMs, RAG, fine-tuning, agentic patterns, evaluation, and guardrails
• Significant hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure); AWS or GCP preferred
• Familiarity with AI governance and risk frameworks
• Excellent communication skills with ability to explain complex technical concepts in clear, non-technical terms, and a demonstrated ability to influence and guide stakeholders across various levels of an organization
• Advanced degree or equivalent preferred
• 10+ years preferred
• Experience in pharmaceutical, life sciences, or another regulated industry strongly preferred
• Experience evaluating and integrating third-party AI/ML solutions and vendor platforms strongly preferred

Benefits

• Discretionary annual cash bonus or incentive compensation (depending on the role), in accordance with the terms of the Company's Global Cash Bonus Plan or Incentive Compensation Plan
• Discretionary equity grants in accordance with Jazz's Long Term Equity Incentive Plan
• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• 401k retirement savings plan
• Flexible paid vacation

Company Overview