Parexel Director, AI Platforms – Data & Technology Recruitment 2026: Apply Online

Parexel is dedicated to improving global health by providing comprehensive biopharmaceutical services that transform scientific discoveries into new treatments. We operate with core values of Patients First, Quality, Respect, Empowerment, and Accountability.

Our innovative Data & Technology group is seeking a Director, AI Platforms to lead the engineering team responsible for the foundational technical infrastructure that powers AI delivery across the organization. This role is crucial for evolving our AI capabilities, fueling growth, and enhancing support for stakeholders, including customers and ultimately patients.

This position is remote and can be based in Poland or Romania, with the requirement to work from home within these specified countries only.

About the Role:

As the Director, AI Platforms, you will be instrumental in owning and shaping our AI infrastructure at an enterprise scale. You will lead the engineering team responsible for the shared technical foundation that powers AI delivery, encompassing the AI-specific platform stack – including environment management, infrastructure, and orchestration. Your focus will be on ensuring these platforms are reliable, scalable, and easily consumable by internal product teams, sponsor-funded delivery pods, and citizen developers. You will collaborate closely with Engineering, AI Solution Direction, Quality, and the centralized Infrastructure organization to deliver platform services that accelerate AI product development without introducing fragmentation.

Key Accountabilities:

• Platform Strategy & Architecture: Define and evolve the AI platform strategy in alignment with Parexel’s enterprise AI direction. Own architectural decisions for AI-first platforms.
• Platform Operations & Reliability: Ensure platform reliability, performance, and observability for AI workloads in production. Establish service-level expectations, capacity planning, and a consumption model that supports internal squads, sponsor pods, and light-track delivery.
• Vendor & Foundation Model Operations: Manage day-to-day operational relationships with AI-specific vendors (e.g., Anthropic, Palantir). Track vendor performance, contracts, and renewals; serve as the first escalation point for vendor-specific platform issues.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Work closely with Engineering to ensure platform capabilities meet the needs of product delivery. Partner with Quality and Compliance on validation tooling pipelines and audit readiness.
• Team Leadership: Lead a small, high-trust team of platform engineers; recruit and develop talent at the senior IC and engineering levels. Foster a working-leader culture where the Director remains technically hands-on while developing the team.

What We’re Looking For:

• Experience: Strong demonstrable experience in Platform Engineering, Data Engineering, or AI/ML infrastructure roles, operating at a Director level. Direct advanced experience operating AI platforms in production (GenAI runtimes, vector databases, agent orchestration, MLOps tooling, evaluation infrastructure) is essential.
• Technical Skills: Strong technical depth in cloud-based platform engineering (AWS or Azure), with experience in AI/ML infrastructure preferred. Familiarity with at least one of: Palantir Foundry, enterprise GenAI platforms, custom assistant infrastructure (e.g., Copilot Studio, Anthropic-based platforms).
• Leadership & Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, particularly with engineering, vendor, and business stakeholders. A service-oriented mindset is crucial for effective partnership with internal consumers of platform services.
• Environment Acumen: Comfortable in a regulated environment with familiarity in life sciences or another GxP-adjacent industry. Experience working with cloud platforms (AWS or Azure) is preferred; experience navigating shared infrastructure organizations is a plus. Vendor management experience including contract terms, performance management, and commercial negotiation support is required.

Education & Certifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is required.
• Master’s degree in a technical discipline is preferred.

What We Offer:

In return for your expertise and dedication, Parexel offers a structured career pathway, encouragement for professional development, and a competitive compensation package including a competitive base salary, bonus, car allowance, and holiday time. You will also receive other leading benefits expected from a top company in the CRO Industry.

Join Parexel and contribute to improving the world’s health!

Parexel is a global clinical research organization (CRO) that helps transform scientific discoveries into new treatments. We are dedicated to improving the world’s health through our comprehensive biopharmaceutical services, operating with core values of Patients First, Quality, Respect, Empowerment, and Accountability. Our innovative Data & Technology group is at the forefront of leveraging AI and advanced technologies to enhance clinical trial processes and outcomes.