AstraZeneca Looking for Senior Director of Platform Engineering – Evinova at Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Full Time

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

Transform billions of patients’ lives through technology, data, and pioneering ways of working. You’re disruptive, decisive, and transformative. Someone who’s excited to use technology to improve patients’ health. We’re building a new health-tech business – Evinova, a fully-owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca Group.

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’re helping. Launch pioneering digital solutions that improve the patient 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.

Our core platform will play a crucial part in the success of Evinova as the foundation for our current and future digital products. We are creating a dynamic and innovative team to take our organization to the forefront of technology solutions for the life sciences industry. We are committed to delivering innovative, secure, and regulated experiences for our customers. As we begin our journey, we are seeking a dedicated and experienced leader for our core software platform to drive the design, planning, and technical implementation of our base product capabilities.

The Senior Director of Platform Engineering holds a paramount position at the intersection of technology, strategy, and compliance within our organization. This role is charged with overseeing the product management, design, and technical implementation of a multi-tenant SaaS platform that will serve as the bedrock for hosting regulated applications in the pharmaceutical industry. It requires a versatile leader who can navigate the complexities of highly regulated environments while fostering innovation, collaboration, and scalability.

The successful candidate will have a deep understanding and history of software engineering and the ability to bring clarity and simplicity to sophisticated problems. You will need to be very meticulous and organized as well as have a strong technical background.

This role will oversee and lead what will eventually become a large software engineering team focused on the delivery of our core platform and shared functional capabilities that our products will consume. This role will be accountable for both core platform services and functional capabilities. Core platform services cover areas such as monitoring and reporting. Functional capabilities cover areas such as Identity and Access Management and core capabilities used by our customer-facing products such as Patients, Sites, and Studies. You and your team will be responsible for owning the roadmap and delivery of these services in accordance with the overall product strategy. And access

This position offers a unique opportunity to lead, innovate, and make a significant impact on our ability to meet customer needs. An ideal candidate should be a creative problem solver who can identify and deeply understand challenges and opportunities for Evinova customers and products. This role presents an opportunity to join Evinova from the beginning, implementing a market-leading, foundational platform designed by industry, for the industry.

• Platform Product Management: Develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for the multi-tenant SaaS platform that aligns with the company’s objectives. Create a roadmap for platform development, scalability, and sustainability.
• Technical Leadership: Led a team of skilled engineers, providing guidance and mentorship to ensure the successful implementation of the platform. Cultivate an environment of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Regulatory Compliance: Ensure the platform meets all regulatory requirements specific to the pharmaceutical industry, including data security, privacy, and compliance with industry standards.
• Architecture and Infrastructure: Architect the platform’s technical infrastructure, considering scalability, duplication, and performance. Select and implement appropriate cloud services and technologies.
• Multi-Tenant Architecture: Design and implement a secure, efficient, and scalable multi-tenant architecture to support multiple customer-facing applications.
• Security and Data Protection: Develop and maintain robust security measures, including access controls, encryption, and data protection, to safeguard sensitive pharmaceutical data.
• Integration and APIs: Enable seamless integration with customer applications, internal systems, and third-party services through well-documented APIs and data exchange mechanisms.
• Monitoring and Performance Optimization: Implement monitoring and analytics tools to track platform performance, identify bottlenecks, and optimize resource utilization.
• Collaboration: Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product management, quality assurance, and customer support, to ensure platform alignment with customer requirements and company goals.
• Clinical Landscape Expert: Demonstrate expertise in different versions of clinical systems provided by various vendors, ensuring compatibility and smooth data integration. This will be crucial to the success of this role when it comes to understanding what to build and our credibility with customers.
• Team Leadership: Lead and develop a team of engineers responsible for the development, testing, and maintenance of our core platform. You will be responsible for recruiting the team required to deliver this solution as well as handling external delivery partners as we scale.
• Quality Assurance: Ensure data integrity, security, privacy, and compliance with industry regulations.
• Performance Optimization: Continuously optimize the data gateway for efficiency, speed, and scalability, staying updated with industry best practices.
• Documentation: Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for the data gateway solution, ensuring transparency and ease of use for both internal teams and customers.
• Comprehension of regulatory data requirements while creating, maintaining, and updating processes for testing and assessment of adherence to regulatory compliance policies.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s in a relevant field with 8 plus years of confirmed experience
• Experience in designing and implementing multi-tenant SaaS platforms in a regulated industry, preferably pharmaceuticals or healthcare.
• Excellent product management capabilities.
• Strong leadership skills with a track record of leading and running high-performance engineering teams.
• In-depth knowledge of cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern DevOps practices.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements in the pharmaceutical industry, including compliance with FDA and international regulatory agencies.
• Proficiency in security best practices, data protection, and encryption methods.
• Experience with leading database technologies and data query languages.
• Experience with modern programming languages.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
• Strong project management and time management skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities to engage with customers and internal collaborators.
• Knowledge of data security standards and regulatory compliance in the healthcare and clinical research industry.

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field
• Direct experience leading engineering teams in a software product setting
• Broad IT management experience including project or service management.
• Familiarity with technical concepts in infrastructure or applications.
• External qualifications such as ISPE PCC CPIP and ISACA CISM.
• Well-versed in data security standards and regulatory compliance, particularly in the healthcare and clinical research industry.
• Knowledge of industry good practices and standards such as ISO (multiple), GAMP GxP, ICH GCP, FDA 21 CFR, GDPR, CMMI, ITIL, GDPR.
• Direct customer experience using in-scope products

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 its 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.

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