Alcon

Associate Director, Data Engineering Lead

Alcon$152K — $283K *
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related field.
  • 5+ years of experience in data engineering or related fields.
  • Experience with enterprise data pipelines and data integration capabilities.
  • Direct experience with data contracts and data observability.
  • Experience in complex enterprise settings with multiple data stakeholders.

Responsibilities

  • Define and enforce enterprise data engineering standards and controls.
  • Design scalable, governed data pipelines for business needs.
  • Lead the data contract lifecycle from review to enforcement.
  • Implement monitoring and anomaly detection for data observability.
  • Establish controls to ensure data traceability and protection.
  • Develop safeguards against incomplete or non-compliant data.
  • Collaborate with data modeling teams to align engineering with data models.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, life, and disability benefits.
  • 401(k) with company contribution and match.
  • Generous time off including vacation and personal days.
  • Performance-based cash incentives and potential equity awards.
Full Job Description

Job Description Summary

#LI-Onsite

Location: East Hanover, New Jersey

Novartis is unable to offer relocation support: please only apply if accessible.

Company will not sponsor visas for this position.

The preferred location for this role is East Hanover, New Jersey site but remote work may be possible (there may be some restrictions based on legal entity). Please note that this role would not provide relocation as a result. If associate is remote, all home office expenses and any travel/lodging to specific East Hanover, New Jersey site for periodic live meetings will be at the employee’s expense. The expectation of working hours and travel (domestic and/or international) will be defined by the hiring manager.

Ready to build the foundation that powers trusted, AI-ready data at scale? As Associate Director, Data Engineering, you will play a pivotal role in shaping how enterprise data is engineered, governed, and delivered across Novartis. Working at the intersection of data platforms, governance, and innovation, you will establish the standards, controls, and engineering capabilities that enable reliable, compliant, and high-quality data products. This is an exciting opportunity to influence enterprise-wide data strategy, drive modern DataOps practices, and help accelerate data-driven decision making that ultimately supports better outcomes for patients worldwide.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities

  • Define and enforce enterprise standards for data engineering, pipeline reliability, and production controls.

  • Design and oversee scalable, governed data pipelines supporting critical business and data domains.

  • Lead the enterprise data contract lifecycle, including review, approval, governance, and enforcement.

  • Implement data observability capabilities across monitoring, anomaly detection, service levels, and operational alerting.

  • Establish controls that ensure critical data elements remain traceable, validated, and protected.

  • Develop safeguards that prevent incomplete, inaccurate, or non-compliant data from reaching downstream systems.

  • Partner with data modeling teams to align engineering implementation with approved enterprise data models.

  • Collaborate across governance, privacy, architecture, and platform teams to enable compliant data delivery.

  • Drive automation for deployment, validation, metadata capture, lineage generation, testing, and reporting.

  • Monitor operational performance and lead resolution of pipeline, contract, and data reliability issues.

Essential Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, Data Management, Engineering, Analytics, or a related field.

  • 5+ years of experience in data engineering, data governance, data architecture, data product management, or enterprise data platform delivery.

  • Experience designing, building, or governing enterprise data pipelines, data products, data platforms, or data integration capabilities.

  • Direct experience with data contracts, schema validation, data pipeline monitoring, data observability, or data product certification.

  • Experience working in complex enterprise environments with multiple data producers, consumers, vendors, platforms, and governance stakeholders.

Desirable Requirements

  • Advanced degree or relevant cloud, data engineering, data management, or architecture certification.

  • Experience supporting regulated, privacy-sensitive, or compliance-driven data environments.

The salary for this position is expected to range between $152,600 - $283,400per year. The final salary offered is determined based on factors like, but not limited to, relevant skills and experience, and upon joining Novartis will be reviewed periodically. Novartis may change the published salary range based on company and market factors.

Your compensation will include a performance-based cash incentive and, depending on the level of the role, eligibility to be considered for annual equity awards. US-based eligible employees will receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, life and disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and avariety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days, holidays and other leaves.

To learn more about the culture, rewards and benefits we offer our people click here.


Salary Range

$152,600.00 - $283,400.00


Skills Desired

Cross-Functional Collaboration, Customer Engagement, Customer Insights, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Market Research, Media Campaigns, Product Marketing, Stakeholder Engagement, Stakeholder Management, Team Leadership, Waterfall Model

About Alcon

Alcon is a global medical company specializing in eye care products and services. The company's products include surgical equipment, contact lenses, and eye drops. Alcon was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Baar, Switzerland. The company operates in over 70 countries and has over 20,000 employees. In 2019, Alcon became an independent publicly traded company after being spun off from Novartis.
Learn more about Alcon
Size
24,389 employees
Market Cap
$33.3 billion
Industry
Founded
1945
NASDAQ

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Alcon

More Information Technology Jobs

Find similar Associate Director, Data Engineering Lead jobs: