Sr. Dir., Technical Product Pod Lead

ROLE SUMMARY

We are seeking a Senior Director-level delivery leader to lead one of Pfizer's technology pods — a high-velocity, multi-disciplinary team of Forward Deployed Engineers chartered to take the organization's most urgent and highest-profile technology opportunities from idea to working solution in weeks rather than quarters.

The role owns the squad's charter, intake model, and delivery approach, working directly with senior business and Digital leaders to frame problems, then embedding Forward Deployed Engineers alongside those teams to rapidly prototype, build, and prove solutions on top of Pfizer's eight Digital Core Platforms.

This position requires a hands-on leader accountable for personally delivering key aspects of high-priority initiatives alongside the squad; for the speed, quality, and business impact of every engagement; for the disciplined transition of proven solutions into permanent platform or product ownership; and for building a culture of experimentation, engineering excellence, and relentless

delivery.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Squad Leadership and Rapid Delivery

Owns the charter, operating model, and performance of the technology squad, directing a team of Forward Deployed Engineers and personally delivering key aspects of high-priority initiatives from concept to working solution within compressed timeframes.

Demand Intake and Prioritization

Partners with senior business and Digital leaders to identify, frame, qualify, and prioritize the opportunities the team takes on; sets clear entry and exit criteria so the team's capacity is focused on the highest-value work.

Rapid Build, Prototyping, and Experimentation

Directs and contributes directly to rapid prototyping, proofs of concept, pilots, and minimum viable products, leveraging AI-enabled engineering, reusable components, and the Digital Core Platforms to compress time from idea to demonstrable value on the initiatives that matter most.

Forward Deployed Engineering Team Leadership and Talent

Leads, grows, and develops a multi-disciplinary squad of Forward Deployed Engineers, architects, designers, and delivery leads; deploys them into business and platform teams as high-priority initiatives demand, and builds a high-performing, adaptable group capable of moving fluidly between very different problems.

Platform Alignment and Transition to Ownership

Ensures solutions align to platform architecture, digital standards, and reuse expectations; manages the disciplined hand-off of proven solutions into permanent platform or product ownership, or their deliberate retirement.

Executive Stakeholder Engagement

Serves as the senior point of contact for sponsoring executives, communicating progress, outcomes, and trade-offs with clarity, and actively managing expectations on scope, speed, and risk.

Delivery Excellence, Risk, and Governance

Maintains quality, security, privacy, compliance, and responsible-AI standards even under aggressive timelines; measures and reports the impact of each engagement and continuously improves the team's delivery practices.

ROLE BEHAVIOURS

Move with Urgency

Creates momentum from day one; makes decisions quickly and keeps teams focused on the shortest credible path to a working outcome.

Lead Through Ambiguity

Thrives where the problem is not yet defined, bringing structure, direction, and confidence to fast-moving, open-ended work.

Communicate with Precision

Translates complex technical work into clear, credible narratives for executive and business audiences, keeping every stakeholder aligned on what is real and what is next.

Empower and Build Teams

Sets direction and removes obstacles, then trusts small empowered squads to solve problems, developing talent and confidence with every engagement.

Raise the Bar on Quality

Refuses to trade away security, privacy, or engineering integrity for speed, and makes the trade-offs that are made explicit and deliberate.

Learn, Adapt, Improve

Treats every engagement as a chance to learn, capturing what worked, retiring what did not, and continuously sharpening how the team delivers.

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, with 12+ extensive relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Extensive experience leading technology delivery teams, including significant experience at a senior leadership level within a large, complex, matrixed enterprise.

Demonstrated success personally delivering and directing key aspects of complex, high-priority technology initiatives under aggressive timelines, including rapid prototypes, pilots, proofs of concept, and minimum viable products that progressed to real adoption.

Proven people-leadership experience building, leading, and developing multi-disciplinary engineering and delivery teams, including forward deployed or embedded engineers working directly with business stakeholders.

Strong technical grounding in modern engineering practices, including cloud, APIs, data, and AI/ML, sufficient to direct architecture and technical trade-offs with credibility.

Exceptional communication, executive stakeholder management, and organizational skills, with a track record of influencing at senior levels.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience establishing or leading a rapid delivery, incubation, innovation, or dedicated tiger team function.

Experience delivering AI, agentic, or automation solutions at enterprise scale.

Fluency in Agile/Scrum, lean start-up, and design-thinking methods.

Experience operating in a highly regulated, global enterprise environment with complex compliance, privacy, security, and risk expectations.

Advanced degree in technology, engineering, business, or a related discipline preferred.

Executive Leadership Capabilities

Decisive Leadership: Makes clear calls quickly with incomplete information and takes full accountability for the outcome.

Executive Influence: Commands the confidence of senior leaders, communicating with precision, structure, and credibility, and building alignment without relying solely on formal authority.

Organization and Prioritization: Runs a demanding, fast-changing portfolio of engagements with rigor, sequencing work so the team's capacity always lands on the highest value.

Talent Leadership: Attracts, develops, and retains exceptional technical talent, builds succession plans, and creates an inclusive culture of accountability and continuous learning.

AI and Modern Delivery Mindset: Understands how AI, automation, modern engineering, product thinking, and platform reuse can improve speed, quality, and value while maintaining appropriate controls and verification.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Reports to the VP, Strategic Tech. Partners closely with the SD, Strategic Technology Initiatives Lead and the SD, Business Technology Strategy to align squad delivery with enterprise initiatives and divisional priorities, and with platform owners, technical architects, and product leaders to ensure solutions land on the eight Digital Core Platforms. Embeds Forward Deployed Engineers with sponsoring executives and business leaders across divisions, and engages security, privacy, quality, and compliance partners, and external technology and delivery partners.

RESOURCES MANAGED

Financial Accountability

Manages the technology squad's operating budget, including headcount for Forward Deployed Engineers, contractor and vendor spend, and the cloud, tooling, and platform consumption costs associated with active engagements.

Stewards investment in short-cycle initiatives, ensuring resources are deployed to the highest-impact opportunities and stopped quickly when an idea does not prove out.

Provides cost and feasibility input into executive decisions on whether to scale, transition, or stop an initiative, and drives transparency in reporting the business outcomes delivered.

Supervision