Senior Director, Emerging Technology and Engineering

Alkermes

8d•$246,000 - $275,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Emerging Technology and Engineering is a critical leadership role responsible for defining the company’s technology future across Enterprise Architecture, Data, Advanced Analytics, and core Engineering practices. This role manages an integrated function to ensure our IT roadmap, digital strategy, core technologies, and AI/Analytics capabilities are designed to drive competitive advantage, accelerate business insights, enhance decision-making, and are implemented with high-quality engineering standards. The Senior Director will serve as a primary interface for the Emerging Technology and Engineering Team within the Global IT organization while championing the adoption and maturity of advanced data and analytical capabilities across the enterprise. This role will work a hybrid weekly office schedule in our Waltham location.

Requirements

Basic Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information management, mathematics, or related discipline; advanced degree preferred.
15+ years of broad technology experience in at least three disciplines (business, analytics, data science, IT project management, solution/technical architecture, solution delivery, or IT operations).
Demonstrated experience with AI technologies and solutions is required.
Proven experience leading transformational initiatives in complex, regulated environments (Life Sciences or Biotech preferred).
Deep experience with cloud-based infrastructures (especially AWS).

Nice To Haves

Strong data architecture and governance acumen, with experience implementing technology for advanced/predictive analytics (Python/R, Snowflake, or similar platforms).
Expertise in modern software engineering and DevOps methodologies (CI/CD, automation, observability).
Exceptional interpersonal, facilitation, and communication skills; able to explain complex technical concepts to both business executives and IT teams.
Demonstrated ability to build relationships, influence at all levels, and instill confidence in IT’s business value.
Preferred: Professional certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Professional), TOGAF, or similar Enterprise Architecture credentials.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership Build and mature IT capabilities to support current and emerging enterprise technologies, data, and advanced analytics, including AI/ML and MLOps best practices.
Partners with Data, Analytics & Insights, business leads, and IT teams to develop and implement the INDIGO Program strategy and roadmap (architecture, platform selection, data cataloging, storage, processing, and governance).
Lead and contribute to research, evaluation, and implementation of new technologies supporting data, analytics, AI, and emerging tech.
Advise IT and business leaders on technology investments and implementation strategies.
Enterprise Engineering & Architectural Oversight Define engineering and architectural disciplines, methods, and processes for consistency across Global IT.
Lead the Architectural Review Board (ARB) to ensure architecture quality, compliance, and alignment with target state.
Deliver solutions that adhere to enterprise architecture standards and advance future capabilities.
Provide leadership and guidance to architecture, engineering, and development teams.
Champion DevOps methodologies, technology standards, and engineering best practices for agile, high-quality solution delivery.
Management, Governance & Operationalization System Resilience & Security: Oversee the lifecycle of business-critical platforms—from design to support—ensuring systems are reliable, securely configured, and observable.
Operational Readiness: Establish rigorous standards for monitoring, documentation, and vulnerability management (patching/upgrades) to minimize risk and total cost of ownership.
Collaborative Support Model: Build a tiered incident management and escalation model that links Architecture with AI/Data workstreams, including security incident response loops.
Strategic Collaboration: Partner across Security, Infrastructure, and Application teams to foster a culture of shared accountability, integrated delivery, and proactive threat mitigation.
Change Management: Communicate the strategic value of roadmaps to executive stakeholders, applying a risk-based security approach to ensure regulatory compliance (FDA, GxP, SOX, GDPR, HIPAA).
Talent Mentorship: Lead a team of Engineers, Architects and Data Experts, acting as a consultant to ensure technical teams document business requirements and security controls effectively.