Director, Agentic Lab

Novartis is hiring a Director, Agentic Lab for a remote role open to applicants in United States. It pays $195k-$361k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Novartis.

Level's read on this job

Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this role: the job is building AI systems.
The posting lists this role as remote.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Python, LLMs and Vector databases.
Level classifies it as a lead role.
Level lists 864 other open roles at Novartis.

AI in this role

Lead the design, prototyping, and validation of next-generation AI agents and autonomous workflows.

PythonLLMsVector databases

prompt-engineeringragai-agentsagentic-aiartificial-intelligencemachine-learningsoftware-engineeringcloud-native

Job Description Summary

#LI - Remote

Reporting to the Executive Director, Agentic Architecture & Lab, the Director, Agentic Lab leads the design, prototyping, and validation of next-generation AI agents and autonomous workflows. The role evaluates emerging AI technologies, develops reusable reference implementations, and partners with engineering teams to transition successful innovations into enterprise-scale capabilities.

This position can be based remotely anywhere in the U.S. (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). Please note that this role would not provide relocation as a result. The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager. This position will require 10% travel.

Job Description

Major Accountabilities

Lead rapid prototyping and technical validation of agentic AI solutions and autonomous workflows.
Evaluate foundation models, agent frameworks, orchestration technologies, and developer tooling.
Develop reusable proof-of-concepts, accelerators, and reference implementations for the Agentic Factory.
Partner with AI Engineering, Platform Engineering, Product, and Architecture teams to productionize successful prototypes.
Define best practices for prompt engineering, reasoning strategies, memory architectures, evaluation, and observability.
Contribute to enterprise standards, documentation, and reusable engineering patterns for AI agents.
Mentor AI engineers and cultivate a culture of experimentation, innovation, and continuous learning.

Essential Requirements:

Education: Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

7+ years of experience building AI, machine learning, or software engineering solutions, including technical leadership experience.

Hands-on expertise with LLMs, agent frameworks, RAG, vector databases, APIs, Python, and cloud-native development.

Strong software engineering background with experience building production-grade AI applications.

Excellent communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work across research, engineering, and business teams.

Desirable Requirements:

Experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare, or other regulated industries.
Experience building enterprise agentic AI platforms and developer ecosystems.

Novartis Compensation Summary:

The salary for this position is expected to range between $194,600 and $361,400 per year.

The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors.

Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards.

US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

EEO Statement:

The Novartis Group of Companies are Equal Opportunity Employers. We do not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodations

The Novartis Group of Companies are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If, because of a medical condition or disability, you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or to perform the essential functions of a position, please send an e-mail to us.reasonableaccommodations@novartis.com or call +1(877)395-2339 and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. Please include the job requisition number in your message.

Salary Range

$194,600.00 - $361,400.00

Skills Desired

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Value Creation, Change Management, Curious Mindset, Data Governance, Data Literacy, Data Quality, Data Science, Data Visualization, Deep Learning, Learning Agility, Machine Learning (ML), Machine Learning Algorithms, Mentorship, Stakeholder Engagement, Statistical Analysis, Time Series Analysis

How we rate this

Director, Agentic Lab at Novartis rates 90 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● 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. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Director, Agentic Lab is an open job at Novartis.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $195k-$361k a year.
The role is based in Remote Position (USA) and is marked remote.
The job was posted on August 21, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Novartis. Apply on Novartis

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Prompt engineeringRAGAI agentsAgentic AIArtificial IntelligenceMachine learningSoftware EngineeringCloud Native

Questions you could be asked

How do you structure and test a prompt to get consistent output from a language model?
How would you design a retrieval step so the model answers from real data instead of guessing?
How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
Tell me about a project where agentic ai was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where artificial intelligence was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Prompt engineering, RAG, AI agents, Agentic AI, and Artificial Intelligence. 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.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

Get your CV reviewed before you apply

Send your CV and the role you want next. Your review arrives by email within 3 days.

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