Associate Director, Scientific Intelligence & AI

Novartis is hiring an Associate Director, Scientific Intelligence & AI. It pays £68k-£126k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.

AI in this role

ragai-evaluationai-safety

Salary Range:

£67,900.00 - £126,100.00

Job Description Summary

#LI-Hybrid

Location: London, United Kingdom

This role is based in London, United Kingdom. Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible.

Ready to help shape the future of AI in Medical Affairs?

As the Associate Director, Scientific Intelligence & AI, you will play a pivotal role in translating the International Medical Affairs AI ambition into scalable, measurable business outcomes. Working at the intersection of Medical Affairs, Generative AI, agentic AI, and product innovation, you will identify high-impact opportunities, validate AI-enabled solutions, and help transform promising concepts into adopted and scalable products. Partnering across International and Global Medical Affairs, Commercial, Value & Access, Data, Analytics & Platforms, Technology, enterprise AI teams, and country organizations, you will drive responsible AI innovation that enhances scientific workflows, accelerates insights, and delivers meaningful value for patients and healthcare stakeholders. Reporting to the Head of Scientific Intelligence & AI, this is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of AI-powered Medical Affairs while advancing Novartis' mission to reimagine medicine.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

Translate the International Medical Affairs AI strategy into high-impact initiatives, products, and measurable business outcomes.
Identify, evaluate, and prioritize high-value AI opportunities across Medical Affairs, regions, and countries.
Define product vision, user journeys, roadmaps, and success measures for AI-enabled solutions.
Lead rapid experimentation and prototyping of Generative AI and agentic AI use cases to validate business value.
Partner with enterprise AI, Technology, Data, Analytics, Commercial, and Value & Access teams to maximize reuse and scalability.
Drive adoption of AI-enabled solutions by embedding them into Medical workflows and demonstrating measurable impact.
Ensure responsible AI principles, scientific integrity, privacy, compliance, and human oversight are embedded by design.
Foster cross-functional collaboration and thought leadership to accelerate AI innovation across International Medical Affairs.

Essential Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, Business, Technology, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, or a related discipline; advanced degree preferred.
Significant experience driving AI and digital transformation initiatives within the pharmaceutical or life sciences industry.
Experience translating business or scientific needs into digital or AI-enabled products, roadmaps, and measurable business outcomes.
Proven track record progressing initiatives from discovery and experimentation through governance, adoption, and scale.
Practical fluency in Generative AI, Large Language Model-enabled applications, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic AI, prompting methodologies, AI evaluation, and human-in-the-loop approaches.
Strong product management capabilities across user discovery, prioritization, roadmap development, experimentation, and value realization.
Excellent communication, executive storytelling, influencing, and matrix leadership skills, with the ability to engage senior stakeholders.
Proficient English language skills, both written and spoken.

Desirable Requirements:

Medical Affairs experience, including an understanding of medical workflows, scientific engagement, stakeholders, and regulated healthcare environments.

Benefits: Read our handbook to learn about all the ways we’ll help you thrive personally and professionally: Novartis Life Handbook

Expected Annual Base Salary Range for role: 67,900.00 - 126,100.00 GBP

The base salary offered is determined based on gender-neutral objectives, such as relevant skills, competencies and experience in accordance with the Novartis pay setting policy and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically.

In addition to your base salary, you may be eligible for a performance-based bonus depending on certain performance parameters.

The rewards of being part of our team go far beyond base pay and incentives. We also offer a variety of competitive benefits in kind to help you thrive personally and professionally, such as insurance plans, retirement plans, wellbeing resources and global recognition programs. In addition, we provide flexible and hybrid working options, where possible, and minimum 14 weeks paid parental leave.

In addition to your base salary, you may be eligible for a performance-based bonus depending on certain performance parameters. Long-term equity awards granted at group level may also be part of your package. Further details will be provided during the application process.

Note: Benefits and compensation may vary by country and are subject to local legal requirements, including provisions of collective bargaining agreements where applicable. A full overview of your compensation package, including any relevant collective bargaining agreement details applicable to your role based on your employment location and Novartis employer entity, will be communicated separately to you during the application process.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams representative of the patients and communities we serve.

Skills Desired

Cross-Functional Collaboration, Data Analysis, Drug Development, Employee Development, Health Sciences, Influencing Skills, Innovation, Inspirational Leadership, Medical Affairs, Patient Care, People Management, Pharmaceutics, Product Launches, Real World Evidence (RWE), Regulatory Compliance, Research Methodologies, Results-Oriented, Stakeholder Engagement, Statistical Analysis

How we rate this

Associate Director, Scientific Intelligence & AI at Novartis rates 70 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.

Key facts

Associate Director, Scientific Intelligence & AI is an open job at Novartis.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is £68k-£126k a year.
The role is based in London (The Westworks).
The job was posted on October 9, 2026.
Seniority: executive.
Applications are handled by Novartis. Apply on Novartis

Prepare for this job

A free preview built only from this posting: what it asks for, what you could be asked in an interview, and how to adjust your resume.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

RAGAI EvaluationAI Safety

Questions you could be asked

How would you design a retrieval step so the model answers from real data instead of guessing?
How do you decide that one model's output is better than another's for a given task?
How do you think about the risk of an AI system in this kind of role failing silently?
Describe a typical day in a role like this one: which parts run through AI directly?
If you removed AI from this role, what would be left, and how do you decide what still needs a human?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: RAG, AI Evaluation, and AI Safety. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

Want an expert to read your CV for this job?

Free. Send your CV and the role you want next. We reply by email within 2 to 4 business days.

Get a free CV review Check your resume with the ATS resume checker

Get new AI jobs (Works on AI ●●●○ or higher) by email

One email a week with the new AI jobs (Works on AI ●●●○ or higher), each rated for how much AI is in the work. No recruiter spam, unsubscribe in one click.

Free. One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click.