Alcon

Executive Director, Semantic and Knowledge Engineering

Alcon$225K — $418K *
Enterprise Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Bioinformatics, or related field
  • 10+ years of experience in semantic technologies, knowledge engineering, enterprise architecture, or data management
  • Deep expertise with ontologies, taxonomies, RDF/OWL, knowledge graphs, and semantic web technologies
  • Experience building enterprise semantic platforms for AI and analytics
  • Exceptional leadership and cross-functional stakeholder management skills

Responsibilities

  • Define and execute enterprise strategy for semantic technologies and knowledge engineering
  • Lead development and governance of enterprise ontologies and taxonomies
  • Design and implement an enterprise semantic layer for trusted AI and analytics
  • Partner with teams to embed semantic capabilities into NovaOS products
  • Establish governance and metadata management for knowledge assets
  • Drive innovation in knowledge graphs and semantic search
  • Build and lead a team of semantic engineers and knowledge specialists

Benefits

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

Band

Level 7

Job Description Summary

#LI-Hybrid

Reporting to the VP, Applied AI, Data Science, and Commercial Intelligence, the Executive Director, Semantic and Knowledge Engineering leads the strategy, architecture, and implementation of the enterprise semantic layer and knowledge engineering capabilities that power NovaOS. This role is responsible for creating a trusted, reusable knowledge foundation that connects data, business concepts, ontologies, taxonomies, and AI agents to enable consistent reasoning, interoperability, and scalable enterprise intelligence.

The ideal location for this role is East Hanover 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 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. This position will require 10% travel.


Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

  • Define and execute the enterprise strategy for semantic technologies, knowledge engineering, and knowledge graph capabilities.

  • Lead the development and governance of enterprise ontologies, taxonomies, business vocabularies, and semantic models thatestablisha shared understanding across the organization.

  • Design and implement the enterprise semantic layer that enables trusted AI, consistent analytics, interoperability, and reusable business knowledge.

  • Partner with Applied AI, Data Science, Product Management, Engineering, and Business teams to embed semantic capabilities intoNovaOSproducts and AI solutions.

  • Establish governance, metadata management, knowledge lifecycle processes, and quality standards for enterprise knowledge assets.

  • Drive innovation in knowledge graphs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), semantic search, reasoning engines, and AI-enabled knowledge management.

  • Build and lead a high-performing team of semantic engineers, ontology specialists, and knowledge engineers while fostering technical excellence and innovation.

Essential Requirements:

  • Education:3Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Bioinformatics, ora relateddiscipline.

  • 10+ years of experience in semantic technologies, knowledge engineering, enterprise architecture, data management, or AI platforms, including leadership experience.

  • Deepexpertisewith ontologies, taxonomies, metadata, RDF/OWL, knowledge graphs, graph databases, semantic web technologies, and enterprise information architecture.

  • Experience building enterprise semantic platforms that enable AI, analytics, search, and data interoperability at scale.

  • Exceptional leadership, executive communication, and cross-functional stakeholder management skills.

Desirable Requirements:

  • Experience applying semantic technologies to generative AI, agentic AI, RAG, and enterprise AI platforms.
  • Experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare, or other highly regulated industries.

Novartis Compensation Summary:

The salary for this position is expected to range between $225,400 and $418,600 per year.

The final salary offered isdeterminedbased 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,lifeand disability benefits, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a variety of other benefits. In addition, employees are eligible for a generous time off package including vacation, personal days,holidaysand other leaves.


Salary Range

$225,400.00 - $418,600.00


Skills Desired

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Business Value Creation, Change Management, Curious Mindset, Data Governance, Data Literacy, Data Management, Data Quality, Data Science, Data Visualization, Deep Learning, Learning Agility, Machine Learning (ML), Machine Learning Algorithms, Mentorship, Stakeholder Engagement, Statistical Analysis, Time Series Analysis

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

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