Assoc. Dir. DDIT IES Cloud Engg., Azure AI Full-time

Job Description Summary
Responsible for designing and developing cutting-edge AI and Generative AI infrastructure platform on Microsoft Azure cloud, tailored for pharmaceutical business use-cases. The platform will facilitate pharma research scientists and other business users for early molecule development and other research activities by providing robust, scalable, and secure computing resources.

Job Description

MAJOR ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Architect and Design: Lead the design and architecture of an Azure-based AI infrastructure platform, with a focus on supporting generative AI workloads and advanced analytics for pharma business use-cases.
• Platform Development: Develop and deploy scalable AI solutions, leveraging Azure’s suite of services, including Azure Machine Learning, Azure Synapse Analytics, and other relevant tools.
• Data Management: Oversee the design and implementation of data storage, retrieval, and processing pipelines, ensuring the efficient handling of large datasets, including genomic and chemical compound data.
• Security and Compliance: In collaboration with cloud domain security architects, implement robust security measures and ensure compliance with relevant industry standards, particularly in handling business sensitive data.
• Collaboration: Work closely with data scientists, research scientists, and other business stakeholders to understand their needs and translate them into technical requirements.
• Performance Optimization: Optimize the performance and cost-efficiency of the platform, including monitoring and scaling resources as needed.
• Innovation: Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies in AI and cloud infrastructure, continuously exploring new ways to enhance the platform’s capabilities.
• Multi–Cloud: Has good exposure/understanding of other Cloud and GenAI technologies like GCP, OpenAI, AWS, etc

Additional Specifications Required for the Position:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or Engineering.
• MS-Azure Solution Architect certification – professional level
• 10+ years of solid experience working in public cloud environments; delivering infrastructure and platform services across geographic and business boundaries
• Minimum 5+ years’ experience working in MS-Azure Solution Architect / Design Expert role for large enterprises
• Deep understanding of Architecture and Design of Platform Engineering products with focus mainly on Data science/ML compute products, Cognitive, (Gen)AI, etc.
• Extensive experience in building infra solutions on Microsoft Azure, particularly with services like Azure OpenAI, AI Studio, Machine Learning, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Data Lake.
• Proficiency in AI and Machine Learning frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras) and familiarity with model deployment and operationalization (MLOps).
• Solid hands-on experience in Generative AI techniques, including Natural Language Processing (NLP), Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), and transformer models (e.g., GPT, BERT).
• Good understanding in data engineering, including ETL processes, data warehousing, and working with both structured and unstructured data.
• Knowledge of containerization and orchestration technologies, such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with DevOps practices and tools, including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (IaC), and monitoring solutions.
• Excellent skills in collaborating with business users, Product team, Operationalizing the delivered products, working closely with Security for implementing compliance, close interaction with Cloud operations team for provisioning Azure services.
• Good knowledge on implementing well defined & industry standard Change management process for platform & its products. Have a well-structured Use-case onboarding process. Should ensure to have documentation for Platform products and implementations done.
• Experience with DevOps Orchestration/Configuration/Continuous Integration Management technologies
• Good understanding of High Availability and Disaster Recovery concepts for infrastructure
• Ability to analyze and resolve complex infrastructure resource and application deployment issues.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS / MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Adherence to the Novartis IT quality standards
• Deliver on time
• Cost optimization
• Completeness and quality of deliverables
• Customer feedback (expectations met/exceeded)
• Application on boarding delivery success
• Actively contribute to the business with innovative solutions that show results in the form of cost optimization and / or growth of the business top line revenue.

LANGUAGES

• Excellent written, presentation and verbal communication skills
• Languages: Fluent in English (written & spoken), additional languages a plus

COMPETENCY PROFILE

• Technical Leadership
• DevOps, CI/CD
• Scrum Methodology
• Agile Software Development
• System integration and Built
• Problem solving / Root Cause Analysis
• Cloud services monitoring & cost optimization

Skills Desired
Budget Management, Business Acumen, Performance Management, Planning, Risk Management, Service Delivery Management, Stakeholder Management, Waterfall Model