Platform and Solution Engineering Lead

Job description:

The Platform and Solution Engineering Lead owns the technical foundation on which the entire Digital Quality (DQ) portfolio is built, delivered and operated. Digital Quality delivers the solutions that transform Quality, Safety and Environmental Operations (QSEO) across Pfizer, and this role is accountable for the platforms, engineering capability and delivery pipelines that allow that portfolio to move at pace while remaining compliant, secure and supportable.

The incumbent leads a global engineering organisation covering platform engineering, solution architecture and design, integration and data engineering, DevSecOps, environment and release management, and vendor delivery oversight. Accountability spans the full technology mix - Software as a Service (SaaS), commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and in-house developed solutions - ensuring each is engineered, integrated, validated and operated to a consistent standard rather than as isolated stacks.

The role is the engineering counterpart to the DQ Solution Leads, who own product strategy and business outcomes, and to the Scaled AI and Solution Architect, who sets cross-portfolio architecture direction and standards; this role is accountable for making those standards real in code, configuration, pipelines and operations. It is also the principal point of alignment between Digital Quality and the wider enterprise technology landscape, including Enterprise Architecture, Cyber Security, the enterprise AI and Data organisation, and central platform and infrastructure teams. The role is global in scope, spanning the PGS network, R&D, commercial markets and corporate locations.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Own the strategy, engineering and lifecycle of the shared technical foundation for Digital Quality, including cloud footprint, runtime platforms, shared services, reusable components, developer tooling and non-production environments.
• Build the foundation as a product used by delivery teams across the portfolio, with defined service levels, roadmaps, adoption measures and a managed path for retiring legacy and duplicated technology.
• Provide engineering leadership and design accountability across the full technology mix, establishing how SaaS platforms are configured and extended, how COTS products are deployed and integrated, and how in-house applications are designed, built and maintained.
• Ensure engineering rigour, supportability and consistent quality regardless of delivery model, and prevent unmanaged customisation that undermines upgradability and cost of ownership.
• Own the integration and data engineering layer connecting Digital Quality solutions to each other and to the wider Pfizer landscape, including manufacturing, laboratory, enterprise resource planning and enterprise data platforms.
• Establish reusable integration patterns, interfaces and data contracts, and ensure integrations are resilient, monitored, documented and compliant with data integrity requirements.
• Define and run the engineering operating model for Digital Quality, covering source control, continuous integration and delivery pipelines, automated testing, security scanning, infrastructure as code, and environment and release management.
• Drive automation of validation and compliance evidence so that release frequency, deployment reliability and lead time improve without weakening GxP control.
• Own the release calendar and change governance across the portfolio, including coordination of platform vendor release cycles.
• Hold strategic technology vendors, systems integrators and managed service partners to account for engineering quality, delivery commitments, security posture and service performance.
• Shape sourcing strategy and the internal-versus-partner capability mix, define technical standards and acceptance criteria in statements of work, and manage capacity and demand across internal and external engineering teams.
• Act as the principal interface between Digital Quality and enterprise technology functions, ensuring DQ solutions adopt enterprise platforms, standards and services rather than building parallel capability.
• Influence enterprise roadmaps, standards and investment decisions on behalf of the QSEO domain, and represent Digital Quality in enterprise architecture, cyber security and technology governance forums.
• Lead, develop and grow a global engineering team of approximately 8-10 direct reports, spanning platform engineers, solution architects, integration and data engineers, DevSecOps and release specialists, alongside matrixed and contract resources.
• Build engineering capability, talent pipelines and succession plans; set technical performance expectations and career pathways; and foster a culture of engineering excellence, automation, innovation, accountability and continuous improvement across Digital Quality.
• Ensure the technical foundation and all solutions built on it are maintained in a validated and compliant state in accordance with GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) guidelines, computerised system validation expectations, data integrity, data privacy and cyber security requirements.
• Maintain audit and inspection readiness for engineering processes and evidence, support internal audits and regulatory inspections, and balance pace of innovation with regulatory compliance through effective governance and risk management.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree required in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of relevant experience in software or platform engineering, technical delivery leadership or engineering management (9+ years with an MS/MBA; 7+ years with a PhD), including accountability for engineering across a portfolio rather than a single application.
• Demonstrated experience leading, hiring and developing engineering teams at scale, including matrix leadership of vendor and contract resources across multiple geographies.
• Deep hands-on grounding in cloud platform engineering, integration architecture and modern software engineering practice, with practical experience of CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing and security-in-the-pipeline.
• Experience delivering and operating across SaaS, COTS and custom-developed solutions, including vendor platform configuration, extension and upgrade management.
• Strong experience with Agile ways of working; SAFe preferred.
• Knowledge of financial management and procurement activities, with the ability to manage complex budgets, vendor contracts and internal-versus-partner capacity decisions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence senior technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience in the pharmaceutical industry or another highly regulated manufacturing environment, including GxP computerised system validation, data integrity and inspection readiness.
• Experience automating validation and compliance evidence within CI/CD pipelines in a regulated context.
• Working knowledge of quality, or EHS platforms and their integration landscape (for example Veeva, LIMS, Cority, Enablon).
• Experience engineering or operating AI and data capability in production, in partnership with architecture and data functions.
• Demonstrated success leading technology rationalisation, platform consolidation or large-scale migration programmes.
• Recognised cloud or architecture certification.

PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS:

Typical desk job; no specific physical or mental requirements beyond standard office work.

NON-STANDARD WORK SCHEDULE, TRAVEL OR ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS:

• Occasional travel up to 20%.
• Ability to meet with colleagues virtually across different regions and time zones, including occasional out-of-hours working to support deployment go-lives and hypercare.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:

Reports into Pfizer Digital, PGS, Enabling Functions & Enterprise Platforms - Quality Solutions Lead.

Key business stakeholders include Enterprise Architecture, Cyber Security, the enterprise AI and Data organization, central cloud, infrastructure and platform teams, Digital Compliance and Computerized System Validation.

External: strategic software and cloud vendors, systems integrators and managed service partners.

RESOURCES MANAGED:

Financial Accountability:

Annual accountability of approximately $10M across platform, cloud consumption, engineering services and managed service investment, including business case development and investment recommendations for the Digital Quality technical foundation.

Supervision:

Direct leadership of approximately 8 colleagues, including platform engineers, solution architects, integration and data engineers, and DevSecOps and release specialists. Accountability for external partner and managed service relationships, including contract and systems integrator resources working across the Digital Quality portfolio under the colleague's leadership.

Work Location Assignment:

Hybrid

Skills

CI / CD, Cloud, Data Engineering, DevSecOps, ETL, Engineering Management, IaC, Infrastructure as Code, Integration, Platform Engineering, Solution Architecture