Sr. Manager - Platform Engineering Lead, R&D DP&TS Platform and Data Engineering

Pfizer • San Diego, CA

22h • Onsite

About The Position

Pfizer’s mission to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives is rooted in our commitment to science and innovation. Within Discovery, Preclinical, and Translational Solutions (DP&TS), we accelerate the journey from target identification to clinical translation by leveraging advanced digital technologies, AI, and data-driven insights. We are building a high-impact, outcome-oriented platform engineering team focused on enabling scalable, secure, and resilient infrastructure and developer experiences. As a Platform Engineering Lead, you will be part of a team of well-rounded generalists who thrive on solving complex problems, automating everything, and driving innovation across cloud-native environments. We’re looking for high-caliber engineers who bring initiative, adaptability, and a broad technical skill set. You’ll be joining a team that values curiosity, collaboration, and continuous learning. While we expect you to take ownership and solve meaningful problems, you’ll be supported by a friendly, inclusive environment with clear goals, strong mentorship, and a culture of shared success. We believe in setting our team up to thrive—not just deliver. ROLE SUMMARY Each day brings a mix of routine and challenge. You’ll start by reviewing system health and platform metrics, ensuring everything is running smoothly. From there, you’ll collaborate with teammates to prioritize work—whether it’s deploying infrastructure, refining automation, or addressing a new technical challenge. Some days you’ll be deep in Terraform modules or Kubernetes tuning; other days you’ll be troubleshooting unexpected issues or helping a colleague solve a complex problem. You’ll have space for focused work, but also plenty of opportunities to engage with others, share ideas, and contribute to solutions that drive real value. The environment is fast-paced but supportive, and your contributions will directly impact the reliability, scalability, and security of the platform.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Engineering, or related discipline)
• 6+ years of experience in platform engineering, DevOps, or infrastructure roles
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS or Azure
• Proficiency in Terraform, Ansible, and GitHub
• Solid understanding of Kubernetes, Docker, and container orchestration
• Strong software development skills
• Strong scripting skills (e.g., Bash, Python, Typescript)
• Experience with Linux/Unix system administration
• Familiarity with networking, security, and database administration
• Strong understanding of infrastructure security best practices, including IAM, secrets management, and secure configuration
• Proven ability to troubleshoot complex systems and resolve issues independently
• Fluent in English; capable of clear technical communication across scientific and engineering disciplines
• Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including: the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with observability tools (e.g., OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)
• Knowledge of secrets management (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
• Experience implementing encryption at rest and in transit using cloud-native tools (e.g., AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, TLS)
• Experience working in regulated environments or with compliance frameworks (e.g., GxP, SOC2, HIPAA)
• Experience with and strong understanding of the software development lifecycle

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain AWS and Azure cloud infrastructure using Terraform, Ansible, and Kubernetes.
• Develop and manage CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions.
• Implement and enforce security best practices across infrastructure and applications.
• Automate operational tasks and improve system reliability through scripting and tooling.
• Collaborate with developers, data scientists, researchers, digital peers, and other stakeholders to understand platform needs and deliver solutions.
• Manage containerized workloads using Docker and Kubernetes.
• Administer systems, databases, and networks with a focus on scalability and resilience
• Participate in incident response and root cause analysis
• Continuously evaluate and integrate new technologies to improve platform capabilities
• Lead and grow a high-performing team of software and infrastructure engineers

Benefits

• comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life’s moments. Benefits offered include a 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, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level