Major Accountabilities

• Advise data42 and Novartis R&D leadership on data and AI strategy, risk, and investment, and communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Manage large, cross-functional teams and budgets within data42, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and high performance.
• Represent data42 in cross-functional and enterprise-wide working groups, standards bodies, and relevant external forums, ensuring data42’s needs and innovations are well integrated and recognized.
• Lead the development and deployment of AI-enabled metadata tools and knowledge graphs to facilitate data findability, semantic enrichment, and advanced analytics within data42.
• Champion the adoption and operationalization of FAIR data principles within data42, ensuring all data assets are properly tagged, governed, and aligned with both data42 and enterprise business and scientific objectives.
• Oversee the strategic evolution and governance of the data42 data catalog and metadata systems, ensuring comprehensive coverage, accessibility, and regulatory compliance of all managed data assets.
• Lead the design, build, and operationalization of scalable, cloud-based data and analytics platforms—including data lakes, catalogs, and ontology management solutions—within data42, supporting the full drug development lifecycle.
• Serve as the primary liaison between data42 and enterprise-level data and semantic governance bodies, ensuring that data42’s frameworks, standards, and tools are interoperable and consistent with company-wide objectives.
• Set and execute the semantic and metadata strategy for data42, ensuring all initiatives are fully aligned with the broader Novartis R&D and enterprise data strategy, while proactively fostering a culture of innovation within data42 to deliver transformative, next-generation solutions.

Experience / Professional Requirements

• Advanced degree (PhD or equivalent) and 15+ years of progressive experience in metadata management, semantic technologies, ontology engineering, AI, and insights generation within the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or related industry, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Deep expertise in industry standards such as CDISC (SDTM, ADaM, SEND), HL7 FHIR, MedDRA, and WHODrug, with a proven track record of applying these in large-scale, complex data environments within R&D or clinical settings.
• Demonstrated leadership in designing, building, and operationalizing department-level or cross-functional data initiatives involving semantic technologies, ontologies, and knowledge graphs, with a focus on driving innovation and aligning with broader enterprise data strategies as the most senior semantic technologies leader within data42.
• Strong proficiency in FAIR data principles and their operationalization in biomedical and business contexts, with experience championing FAIR adoption within a department or program.
• Advanced knowledge of ontology authoring and engineering, including lifecycle management, methodologies, tools, and languages for building and maintaining ontologies at scale.
• Proven ability to lead and inspire multidisciplinary teams, manage budgets, and influence stakeholders at all levels, including executive and enterprise partners.
• Familiarity with Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs), with a focus on transforming unstructured and unharmonized data into actionable insights and enabling AI-driven innovation within a department or program.
• Expertise in Semantic Web technologies (e.g., RDF, OWL, SKOS, SPARQL) and their application to biomedical domains, including OBO Foundry ontologies.
• Experience serving as a liaison between a department/program and enterprise-level data governance or standards bodies, ensuring alignment and interoperability.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management, and change leadership skills.

Novartis is committed to building an outstanding, inclusive work environment and diverse teams representative of the patients and communities we serve