Associate Director, Full Stack Clinical Platform Engineer

Kardigan

$206K — $268K *
Pharmaceuticals & Biotech
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Advanced degree in computer science, biomedical informatics, or related field; PhD or MS with extensive experience preferred.
  • 5-7 years in data engineering solutions within life sciences or healthcare with proven accountability.
  • Expertise in clinical data infrastructure design and maintenance, particularly regulatory-grade data lakes.
  • Proficiency in modern cloud data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks) and programming languages like Python and SQL.
  • Strong background in cloud architecture and DevOps practices, with relevant certifications favored.
  • Experience in building and scaling data pipelines across structured and unstructured data.
  • In-depth knowledge of regulatory frameworks and clinical data standards applied in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

  • Translate clinical and operational issues into AI solutions from problem framing to deployment.
  • Design MLOps pipelines for production deployment of large language models with best practices.
  • Collaborate with data scientists on fine-tuning Generative AI models using current methods.
  • Develop robust data and ML pipelines for the clinical development ecosystem.
  • Evaluate AI tools and frameworks for compliance and performance in clinical settings.
  • Ensure data integrity by integrating internal and external data sources securely.
  • Implement automated quality monitoring for clinical data quality and compliance.

Benefits

  • Flexible 4-day on-site workweek (Monday-Thursday).
  • Opportunity to collaborate across teams and impact global digital transformation initiatives.
  • Exposure to cutting-edge technologies in AI and data engineering for clinical applications.
Full Job Description
Job Overview The Full Stack Clinical Platform Engineer will design, implement, and operate production-grade Generative AI and Machine Learning solutions that power Kardigan's Global Development Digital Transformation initiative. This role sits at the intersection of data engineering and applied AI-partnering closely with Clinical Operations, Data Management, Regulatory, and IT to design, build, and maintain the modern data platforms and AI-enabled pipelines that underpin the transformation program. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in clinical data infrastructure and modern data engineering, combined with hands-on experience deploying machine learning solutions in regulated life sciences environments. This role will act as both a technical authority and strategic liaison between transformation projects and enterprise IT, ensuring that solutions are scalable, compliant, and aligned with evolving regulatory and data standards. This is 4 day on-site position (M-Th) Key Responsibilities 3 Translate ambiguous clinical and operational problems into well-scoped AI solutions, from problem framing and data assessment through prototype, validation, and production deployment. 3 Design and implement MLOps/LLMOps pipelines to deploy, monitor, and manage large language models in production environments, following software engineering best practices 3 Collaborate with data scientists to deploy and/or fine-tune high-performing Generative AI models, and apply modern techniques from relevant published work where appropriate. 3 Develop scalable and robust data and ML pipelines for ingestion, preprocessing, validation, training, evaluation, and model deployment across the clinical development ecosystem. 3 Evaluate and recommend AI tools and frameworks to meet clinical and operational requirements, including decisions around retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector databases, embedding models, and LLM providers, balancing compliance, performance, and cost. 3 Develop, deploy, and maintain robust data pipelines for structured and unstructured clinical data, integrating internal systems with CRO and external partner data sources, and ensuring end-to-end data integrity and traceability. 3 Identify and implement opportunities to increase data interoperability and standardization across Global Development systems and other business units, reducing manual effort and accelerating data availability for clinical programs. 3 Develop and implement automated quality monitoring pipelines for both internal and CRO-sourced clinical data, surfacing quality metrics and triggering corrective workflows in alignment with the study's Medical Monitoring Plan. 3 Ensure all data solutions comply with applicable regulatory frameworks including HIPAA, GDPR, and 21 CFR Part 11, and contribute to data governance strategy, data lineage documentation, and audit-readiness. 3 Maintain and manage code repositories (e.g., Bitbucket, GitHub) with clean, well-documented, version-controlled code; uphold engineering best practices including code review, testing, and CI/CD pipelines. Qualifications 3 Advanced degree in computer science, biomedical informatics, statistics, or a closely related field required; PhD with 6+ years of relevant experience or MS with 10+ years of relevant experience strongly preferred. 3 Minimum of 5-7 years of experience designing, implementing, and leading data engineering solutions in life sciences or healthcare, with demonstrated accountability for end-to-end delivery. 3 Demonstrated expertise in designing and maintaining clinical or biomedical data infrastructure, including data lake and warehouse architectures optimized for regulatory-grade clinical data. 3 Expertise in modern cloud data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, BigQuery) and proficiency in Python, SQL, R, and related programming languages. 3 Proficiency in cloud architecture (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and DevOps practices including CI/CD, containerization (Docker/Kubernetes), and infrastructure-as-code; relevant certifications a plus. 3 Demonstrated experience building, scaling, and maintaining pipelines for structured and unstructured data, with the ability to integrate pipelines across the enterprise. 3 Deep knowledge of regulatory frameworks (HIPAA, GDPR, 21 CFR Part 11) and clinical data standards (CDISC, HL7, FHIR), with experience applying them in regulated development environments. 3 Hands-on experience developing or integrating machine learning pipelines and working with clinical AI/ML applications such as natural language processing, anomaly detection, or predictive modeling. 3 Strong scientific communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical architectures and outputs into clear strategic recommendations for non-technical clinical and executive stakeholders. 3 Experience with data governance frameworks, data quality tooling, and metadata management practices in clinical or regulated settings. Ideal Candidate Trail 3 A builder at heart - someone who moves fluidly from whiteboard to working solution, comfortable owning the full arc from idea through deployed product. 3 Able to assess a clinical or operational challenge and independently determine whether and how AI can meaningfully solve it - not just implement what's handed to them. 3 A natural cross-functional collaborator who earns the trust of clinical, operations, regulatory, and IT stakeholders alike-comfortable operating as both a technical lead and a strategic partner. 3 Solutions-oriented and innovation-driven, with the confidence to constructively challenge legacy thinking and the pragmatism to deliver within the constraints of a regulated environment. 3 Thrives in ambiguity and fast-moving environments, able to balance long-horizon architectural thinking with near-term delivery commitments across multiple concurrent transformation workstreams. 3 A proactive learner who actively monitors advances in AI/ML, data engineering, and clinical informatics and brings external insights back to accelerate the program's evolution. Exact Compensation may vary based on skills, experience and location. Pay range $206,000-$268,000 USD

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