Pfizer

Director, Principal Software Engineer - Strategic Engineering

Pfizer • $176K — $294K *
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (8+ years experience) or Master's degree (7+ years) or PhD (5+ years).
  • Proven experience creating applications used by senior leadership (ELT/ELT-1).
  • Strong ability to influence and collaborate with peers and develop talent.
  • Track record of overseeing and guiding teams towards meaningful business outcomes.
  • Demonstrated excellence in presenting complex technical solutions to executive audiences.

Responsibilities

  • Lead a forward-deployed pod of engineers and product owners for high-quality application development.
  • Drive delivery of critical technical initiatives and establish engineering practices.
  • Develop technical leaders and shape engineering talent strategy.
  • Shape technology-driven strategy and represent technical perspectives at executive levels.
  • Design AI-augmented engineering workflows and evaluate new AI tools for team training.
  • Establish service-level objectives (SLOs/SLIs) and lead reliability initiatives.
  • Create documentation standards and mentor engineers in technical writing.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to influence organizational technical strategy.
  • Engagement in organizational culture that fosters curiosity and continuous learning.
  • An environment that encourages cross-disciplinary learning and holistic solutions.
  • Access to mentorship programs and leadership in community events.
  • A hybrid work model that supports work-life balance.
Full Job Description

What You Will Achieve

In this role, you will focus on code quality, architecture decisions, and reliable delivery while leveraging AI tools to enhance productivity. You will verify and review AI-generated code to ensure it meets our quality standards.


You will be bridging the gap between building products and solving real business problems through rapid solution delivery and deep domain expertise. As part of the discovery-to-scale pipeline, you will identify recurring patterns, and lead validated solutions generalization into enterprise capabilities.


This role encompasses organization-wide technical strategy and architectural direction. You will define strategic direction and be accountable for outcomes, shape organizational practices and maintain external industry visibility. You will handle organizational-scale complexity creating clarity from chaos.


ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

  • Forward-Deployed Pod Leadership: Lead a forward-deployed pod of engineers and product owners responsible for creating quick, high-quality applications supporting ELT and ELT-1 initiatives
  • Delivery: Drive delivery of the most critical technical initiatives, establish engineering delivery practices across the team, and be the technical authority on high-stakes projects
  • People: Develop technical leaders, shape engineering talent strategy, and build high-performing engineering teams
  • Business: Shape technology-driven strategy, represent technical perspective at executive level, and be recognized as a bridge between engineering and business
  • AI: Design AI-augmented engineering workflows for your area, evaluate new AI tools, train engineers on effective AI usage, and balance speed with verification
  • Reliability: Establish SLOs/SLIs across teams, build resilient systems, lead reliability initiatives for your area, mentor engineers on reliability practices, and drive reliability culture
  • Documentation: Establish documentation standards across teams in your area, build knowledge management systems, and mentor engineers on effective technical writing
  • Process: Drive process efficiency within your team, coordinate cross-functional technical work, and lead retrospectives
  • Executive Communication: Present complex technical solutions to senior leadership and executive audiences in a clear, compelling way
  • Community & Mentorship: Participate as a leader in guild events and serve as an active leader in the mentorship program

ROLE BEHAVIOURS

  • Don't Lose Your Curiosity: Shapes organizational culture around curiosity and continuous learning; sponsors experimental initiatives across the organization; recognized externally as a thought leader in problem discovery; influences industry practices around innovation and exploration
  • Own the Outcome: Defines organizational accountability standards focused on business impact; shapes industry practices around outcome ownership in the AI era; sponsors transformational initiatives with full outcome accountability; recognized externally for ownership culture leadership
  • Be Polymath Oriented: Champions cross-disciplinary learning; creates holistic solutions spanning technical and business domains; embodies the Renaissance Developer ideal; translates specialized knowledge into accessible explanations; thinks like a business insider
  • Communicate with Precision: Creates spec-driven development practices; mentors others on precise communication; spans C-level executives to frontline workers; drives clarity as a core value across their function; represents the organization externally
  • Think in Systems: Shapes systems design practices across their function; conducts chaos engineering experiments; influences cross-team architecture decisions; creates clarity from complexity; bridges technical systems with business processes

EXPERT-LEVEL SKILLS

  • Business Immersion: You are a recognized thought leader. You influence strategy across the business, exemplify the business immersion mindset that defines engineering, and shape how engineering engages with the business.
  • Data Integration: You define data integration patterns and best practices. You architect large-scale data flows, solve the most complex integration challenges, and are the authority on enterprise data integration.
  • Full-Stack Development: You work comfortably in any language and rapidly acquire new skills as needed. You deliver production solutions in days not months, shape full-stack practices and exemplify polymathic engineering.
  • Multi-Audience Communication: You shape communication practices. You represent engineering externally, communicate at board and executive level, and are recognized as an exceptional communicator who bridges any audience gap.
  • Problem Discovery: You shape approaches to problem discovery. You are recognized for transforming ambiguous situations into clear opportunities, influence how teams engage with business problems, and are the go-to person for the most undefined challenges.
  • Rapid Prototyping & Validation: You shape culture around rapid validation and iterative delivery. You are recognized for transformative fast delivery, define standards for prototype-to-production, and exemplify the 44;deliver in days44; mindset.
  • Stakeholder Management: You shape stakeholder practices. You manage executive relationships, represent engineering at the highest levels, and are recognized for exceptional stakeholder partnerships.
  • Team Collaboration: You create collaborative culture. You transform dysfunctional team dynamics, are recognized for building exceptional teams, and mentor others on collaboration excellence.

PRACTITIONER-LEVEL SKILLS

  • AI Evaluation & Verification: You lead AI governance initiatives across teams in your area, create evaluation standards and checklists, and train engineers on rigorous AI verification. You design review processes for AI-assisted work.
  • AI Literacy: You guide AI adoption decisions across teams in your area, assess AI risks and benefits systematically, and train engineers on responsible AI usage. You design human-in-the-loop workflows.
  • AI-Augmented Development: You optimize AI tool usage across teams in your area, train engineers on AI-augmented workflows, evaluate new AI development tools, and establish practices that balance AI speed with verification rigor.
  • Architecture & Design: You design complex multi-component systems end-to-end, evaluate architectural options for large initiatives across teams, guide technical decisions for your area, and mentor engineers on architecture. You balance elegance with delivery needs.
  • Code Quality & Review: You establish and enforce quality standards across teams in your area. You mentor engineers on effective code review, ensure verification depth for AI-assisted development, and drive testing strategies.
  • Developer Experience: You lead developer experience initiatives across teams in your area. You design comprehensive self-service platforms, establish DX metrics, conduct systematic user research, and mentor engineers on platform-as-product thinking.
  • Knowledge Management: You lead knowledge management initiatives across teams in your area, create knowledge systems and taxonomies, establish practices that make institutional knowledge persistent, and mentor others on knowledge sharing.
  • Pattern Generalization: You lead pattern generalization initiatives across teams, define criteria for when to generalize vs keep custom. You mentor engineers on abstraction design.
  • Service Management: You lead service management practices for multiple services across teams, optimize service portfolios for your area, balance service investments, and train engineers on service-oriented thinking.
  • Site Reliability Engineering: You define reliability standards across teams in your area, drive post-incident improvements systematically, design capacity planning processes, and mentor engineers on SRE practices.
  • Technical Writing: You define documentation standards across teams in your area, create documentation systems and templates, train engineers on spec-driven development, and ensure documentation quality across projects.

WORKING-LEVEL SKILLS

  • Cloud Platforms: You design cloud-native solutions, manage infrastructure as code, implement security best practices, and make informed service selections. You troubleshoot cloud-specific issues.
  • Data Modeling: You create efficient data models that balance normalization with query performance. You optimize queries, handle schema migrations safely, and choose appropriate storage technologies.
  • DevOps & CI/CD: You build complete CI/CD pipelines end-to-end, manage infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation), implement monitoring, and design deployment strategies for your services.
  • Lean Thinking & Flow: You optimize team processes systematically, measure and improve cycle time, remove bottlenecks proactively, and deliver rapidly while maintaining quality.
  • Technical Debt Management: You prioritize debt systematically based on risk and impact, balance debt reduction with feature work, and make pragmatic trade-offs. You know when to take on debt intentionally.
  • Time Management & Deep Work: You protect focused time for complex work, balance multiple priorities without dropping balls, minimize context switching, and help others understand your capacity.

Here Is What You Need (Minimum Requirements)

  • Applicant must have a bachelor's degree, in Computer Science, Engineering or related field preferred, with at least 8 years ofexperience; OR a master's degree with at least 7 years of experience; ORa PhD with 5+ years of experience
  • Demonstrated track record of having personally created applications that are actively used with senior leadership (ELT / ELT-1), with the ability to present complex technical solutions to executive audiences
  • 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.

PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS

Extended Laptop and Desk time throughout the workday


NON-STANDARD WORK SCHEDULE, TRAVEL OR ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS

25% required travel


Work Location Assignment:Hybrid


Last Date to Apply: October 16, 2026

The annual base salary for this posit

About Pfizer

Hospira, Inc. is the provider of injectable drugs and infusion technologies. Through its broad, integrated portfolio, Hospira is uniquely positioned to Advance Wellness™ by improving patient and caregiver safety while reducing healthcare costs. The company is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., and has approximately 16,000 employees.

Pfizer Careers

Joining Pfizer’s global team offers more than just job opportunities; it’s a chance to be a part of a company that leads with science and innovates for better health. As a leading biopharmaceutical company, Pfizer is at the forefront of transforming lives through innovation, leadership, and diversity. Work You’ll Do At Pfizer, you will collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry, engaging in work that enhances global health and saves lives. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, professional growth, and inclusivity, making every day a learning opportunity. Here, your skills will be honed, your professional acumen will be expanded, and you will be part of a team that values the power of diverse insights to drive success. Pfizer’s Leadership and Growth Lead and innovate with Pfizer, where we value the growth of each employee. Our leadership is committed to providing employees with the training and resources needed to excel in their careers. Pfizer offers a variety of career paths, including roles in research, marketing, finance, technology, and more, each offering a unique blend of challenges and rewards. Internship and Employment Opportunities Start your career with Pfizer through our internship programs or dive straight into a full-time position. We are hiring individuals who are passionate about healthcare and who seek to make a difference in the world. Our internships provide invaluable industry experience, networking opportunities, and a potential pathway to full-time employment. Benefits and Culture Pfizer is dedicated to fostering a workplace where all employees feel valued and can achieve their full potential. We offer competitive benefits packages that support the health, well-being, and financial security of our employees and their families. At Pfizer, you’ll find a culture that encourages collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning. Join Our Team Explore the numerous job opportunities at Pfizer by searching open positions that match your skills and interests. We look for driven, curious, and innovative team players who are ready to advance their careers in a transformative company. Stay Connected Keep up to date with career tips, insider perspectives, and industry-leading insights you can put to use today—all from the people who work here. Personalize your subscription to receive job alerts, latest news, and insider tips tailored to your preferences. Discover the exciting and rewarding career opportunities that await at Pfizer. Interview and Resume Tips Prepare for your future with Pfizer by utilizing our resources for resume building and interview preparation. We provide guidance on how to effectively showcase your skills and experiences to align with the needs of a position at Pfizer. Our goal is to help you succeed in securing a role that suits your professional goals and personal growth aspirations. Pfizer: A Place Where You Can Make a Difference Every position at Pfizer contributes to our mission of making the world a healthier place. Whether through direct patient care, research innovation, or corporate roles that support our operations, your work will have global impact. Join us in our journey to change lives—explore Pfizer careers today.
Learn more about Pfizer
Size
79,000 employees
Market Cap
$285.9 billion
Industry
Net Income
$9.6 billion
Founded
1849
5 Year Trend
+9%
Revenue
$41.9 billion
NASDAQ

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