Associate Director, Research Technology & Scientific Computing (AI)

Location: Based in the Boston area with regular in-person engagement at Jnana and collaboration with hybrid teams in Boston and Rockville; up to 10% travel.

Salary: $169,222–$253,000 per year, plus incentive opportunity.

Company

Otsuka develops pharmaceutical products focused on better health worldwide, with emphasis on neuroscience and nephrology.

What you will do

• Partner with scientists, laboratory teams, and R&D leaders to improve scientific workflows, research computing, collaboration, data access, applications, and laboratory environments.
• Define roadmaps for laboratory technology, research applications, scientific computing, cloud and on-premises services, data flows, and supporting infrastructure.
• Deliver end-to-end capabilities with architecture, engineering, operations, cybersecurity, Data & AI teams, vendors, and managed service providers.
• Improve researcher experience through stakeholder personas, journey mapping, feedback, service measures, adoption practices, and value realization.
• Lead lifecycle management, reliability, monitoring, observability, incident and problem improvement, resilience, recovery, continuity, training, and operational readiness.
• Represent research requirements in enterprise AI initiatives and influence adoption of AI capabilities in scientific and research workflows.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, information technology, life sciences, engineering, or a related field.
• Eight or more years of progressive experience in Research IT, scientific computing, laboratory technology, platform leadership, infrastructure, or related technology roles in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, or another research-intensive environment.
• Ability to translate scientific workflows into practical, scalable, supportable technology capabilities and service experiences.
• Experience leading strategy, delivery, operations, service improvement, and stakeholder engagement in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Working knowledge of wet-lab technology, scientific applications, Linux, cloud and on-premises infrastructure, research data flows, and instrument connectivity.
• Strong relationship leadership and communication skills for working with scientists, R&D leaders, technology teams, cybersecurity, compliance partners, vendors, and senior stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Experience with computational chemistry or biology, high-performance or high-throughput computing, Benchling, CDD Vault, Posit Connect, AWS, automation, DevOps, infrastructure as code, R, Python, analytics, metadata, or integrations.
• Experience with personas, journey mapping, service design, product or platform management, service-level objectives, adoption practices, and experience measures.
• Experience in regulated, validated, or research-critical environments, including resilience, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
• Experience evaluating, deploying, or supporting enterprise AI solutions, large language model platforms, AI-assisted development tools, agentic capabilities, or scientific-research use cases.
• Broader platform or service portfolio ownership and enterprise influence for Director-level consideration.

Culture & Benefits

• Direct partnership with scientific and R&D leadership across Jnana, OAPI, and OPDC.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, prescription drug, life, disability, and paid leave benefits.
• Tuition reimbursement, student loan assistance, and a generous 401(k) match.
• Flexible time off and paid holidays.
• Opportunity to expand into broader platform, service, or enterprise leadership based on demonstrated impact.