Senior Director, Principal Technical Architect

We are seeking a senior technical leader to define and advance the technical strategy and architecture for one of Pfizer’s key Digital Platforms. This role ensures the platform is modern, secure, scalable, reusable, and aligned with Pfizer’s enterprise architecture standards and business priorities. The leader will translate enterprise and divisional needs into a clear technical strategy, guide engineering teams, and collaborate with senior business and Digital leaders to deliver measurable value.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical strategy for the Platform, connecting business priorities, enterprise architecture standards, and emerging technology into a clear, actionable roadmap and target-state architecture.
• Serve as the design authority for the Platform, defining its target architecture, key technical standards, integration patterns, and ensuring major technical decisions are sound, sustainable, and fit for enterprise scale.
• Lead and develop the engineering team(s) that build and operate the Platform, ensuring investments are modern, secure, scalable, reusable, and aligned to enterprise priorities.
• Partner with senior business and Digital leaders, product owners, and divisional teams to translate ambiguous needs into practical technical choices, delivery models, and measurable outcomes.
• Define how AI, automation, and modern engineering practices are responsibly applied to the Platform to increase speed, improve quality, strengthen decision-making, and maintain governance and verification.
• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing team of engineers and technical leads, fostering a culture of technical excellence, hands-on credibility, business partnership, accountability, inclusion, and continuous learning.
• Establish and uphold expectations for reliability, security, documentation, and operational excellence, ensuring the Platform is compliant, observable, and resilient at global scale.

Role Behaviours

• Don’t Lose Your Curiosity: Fosters a culture of curiosity and continuous learning; sponsors experimentation and problem discovery; brings emerging technologies and outside-in perspectives into the Platform’s technical direction.
• Set an Example for Your Team: Demonstrates a clear technical vision, positive energy, and exemplary engineering practices to motivate the team to strive for their highest potential.
• Own the Outcome: Sets clear accountability standards focused on business impact and platform health; takes end-to-end ownership of technical outcomes; holds the team to delivery and quality commitments in the AI era.
• Connect Across Disciplines: Bridges technical and business domains; inspires holistic solutions spanning architecture, engineering, and platform operations; brings broad technical perspective and practical problem-solving to complex challenges.
• Communicate with Precision: Champions spec-driven development and precise technical communication; mentors others on framing trade-offs clearly; communicates effectively from executives to engineers; drives clarity as a core value.
• Think in Systems: Shapes systems design and architecture practices; anticipates failure modes and designs for resilience; enables chaos engineering experiments; influences cross-team architecture decisions; creates clarity from complexity.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, with 12+ years of significant senior engineering and technical leadership experience in enterprise platforms, cloud, or large-scale technology delivery.
• Demonstrated experience owning the technical strategy and architecture of a significant platform, product, or technology domain.
• Proven ability to lead and develop engineering teams, including engineers, architects, and technical leads.
• Deep, hands-on technical expertise in modern engineering practices, cloud platforms, data and integration patterns, APIs, security, and reliability.
• Experience partnering with senior business and Digital stakeholders to shape technical direction, investment choices, and measurable outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a technology, engineering, or related discipline.
• Experience operating in a highly regulated, global enterprise environment with complex compliance, privacy, security, and risk expectations.
• Experience applying AI-enabled delivery, automation, and platform reuse to improve speed and quality.
• Track record of influencing senior leaders, building trusted partnerships, and creating clarity in ambiguous, high-impact situations.
• Recognized technical depth in the Platform’s core technology domain (e.g., agent platforms, data fabric, developer experience, colleague-facing AI, or cyber defense).

Leadership Capabilities

• Technical Strategy and Judgment: Connects business needs, enterprise architecture, and platform strategy into a practical technical direction that guides design and investment.
• Influence and Partnership: Communicates clearly with senior business and Digital leaders, frames trade-offs, builds alignment, and drives decisions without relying solely on formal authority.
• Technical Depth and Breadth: Brings hands-on technical credibility to guide engineers, challenge assumptions, evaluate emerging technologies, and make sound platform-scale technology choices.
• Talent Leadership: Develops technical leaders, builds team capability and succession, and creates an inclusive culture of accountability, curiosity, 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.

Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities, including the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, and guide teams to achieve meaningful outcomes and business impact.

Work Location

Hybrid. Additional locations include Tampa, FL; Collegeville, PA; Groton, CT; La Jolla, CA; Bothell, WA; and Walton Oaks (UK). On-site is strongly preferred. Remote locations will only be considered for internal candidates already designated as remote.

Pay

• Annual base salary ranges from $214,900 to $358,100 (U.S. locations outside Tampa, FL).
• Annual base salary ranges from $193,400 to $322,400 (Tampa, FL).
• Eligible for participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 22.5% of base salary.
• Eligible to participate in Pfizer’s share-based long-term incentive program.
• Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and eligibility.

Benefits

• 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution.
• Paid vacation, holiday, and personal days.
• Paid caregiver/parental and medical leave.
• Health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage.