Director of Data Science – Agentic AI

Are you ready to be part of the future of healthcare? Can you think big, be bold, and harness the power of data and AI to address longstanding life sciences challenges? Then Evinova, a new health tech business part of the AstraZeneca Group might be for you!  

The Human-centered AI team at Evinova aims to transform the patient experience and clinical trial process by embedding data science and AI in digital solutions serving clinical trials. We are looking for talented individuals to develop ideas into impactful product capabilities that make a difference to patients.  

Evinova delivers market-leading digital health solutions that are science-based, evidence-led, and human experience-driven. Thoughtful risks and quick decisions come together to accelerate innovation across the life sciences sector. Be part of a diverse team that pushes the boundaries of science by digitally empowering a deeper understanding of the patients we help. Launch pioneering digital solutions that improve the patients’ experience and deliver better health outcomes. Together, we have the opportunity to combine deep scientific expertise with digital and artificial intelligence to serve the wider healthcare community and create new standards across the sector.  

The team is looking for a Director of Data Science to lead machine learning and genAI projects, and develop innovative cross-product AI capabilities. The role is a technical expert driving hands-on development from prototyping to supporting production systems. The role will focus on the design of sophisticated AI agents, communication architectures for agents, and developing automated techniques for designing and evaluating agentic systems. The position involves collaborating with product, design, engineering, MLops, and subject matter experts and collaborators.  

Responsibilities  

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of advanced agentic AI applications tailored to life sciences/health tech challenges.  

• Develop automated techniques for designing and evaluating agentic systems.  

• Conceptualise, develop, and evaluate different tools for agents (e.g. search, memory, context compression, communication architectures for agents)  

• Design specialized agent/LLM observability pipelines for prototypes and production systems.  

• Mentor and develop the technical capabilities of the AI team, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous learning.  

• Lead a portfolio of high-impact AI projects. Drive technical and project-level architecture decisions, guiding cross-functional teams through stages of the AI lifecycle.  

• Collaborate in a multidisciplinary environment to align AI initiatives with business objectives and drive digital transformation.  

• Represent the company's AI expertise at conferences, publications, and industry events.  

Essential  

• Ph.D in a relevant field (such as mathematics, computer science, data science).  

• 6+ years of industry experience in applied machine learning, with a strong focus on deep learning, NLP, and generative AI.  

• Consistent track record of developing creative and novel AI solutions that have driven significant business impact.  

• Extensive prior experience exploring and testing language model behavior, prompting and building products with language models.  

• Experienced knowledge of Python and advanced ML/LLM frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, LangChain, LlamaIndex)  

• Extensive experience with AWS services (e.g. SageMaker, Bedrock, MSK, EKS, OpenSearch).  

• Deep understanding of agentic AI concepts and frameworks (e.g., agentic design patterns, multi-agent systems, reinforcement learning) and their applications in healthcare.  

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with experience speaking publicly to executive leadership and stakeholders.  

• Proven track record to lead and inspire cross-functional teams.  

Desirable  

• Demonstrated technical leadership experience, including successful delivery of large-scale AI projects.  

• Experience designing and implementing novel AI architectures or algorithms in real-world products.  

• Experience with low-level languages used for implementing high-performance ML code (C/C++, Rust, CUDA, etc.)  

• Contributions to open-source AI projects or development of proprietary AI frameworks.  

• Expertise in areas such as few-shot learning, meta-learning, explainable AI 

• Experience with regulatory environments in healthcare and life sciences.  

• Experience with AI ethics, responsible AI practices in the life sciences industry.  

Why Evinova (AstraZeneca)? 

Evinova draws on AstraZeneca’s deep experience developing novel therapeutics, informed by insights from thousands of patients and clinical researchers. Together, we can accelerate the delivery of life-changing medicines, improve the design and delivery of clinical trials for better patient experiences and outcomes, and think more holistically about patient care before, during and after treatment. We know that regulators, healthcare professionals and care teams at clinical trial sites do not want a fragmented approach. They do not want a future where every pharmaceutical company provides their own, different digital solutions. They want solutions that work across the sector, simplify their workload and benefit patients broadly. By bringing our solutions to the wider healthcare community, we can help build more unified approaches to how we all develop and deploy digital technologies, better serving our teams, physicians and ultimately patients. Evinova represents a unique opportunity to deliver meaningful outcomes with digital and AI to serve the wider healthcare community and create new standards for the sector. Join us on our journey of building a new kind of health tech business to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, pioneering cutting edge methods and bringing unexpected teams together. Interested? Come and join our journey. 

So, what’s next! 

Are you already imagining yourself joining our team? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you. 

Are you ready to bring new insights and fresh thinking to the table? Brilliant! We have one seat available, and we hope it’s yours. 

Where can I find out more? 

Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/ 

Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/ 

Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en 

Learn more about Evinova www.evinova.com 

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements. 

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.