Director of R&D, Artificial Intelligence

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office

About Thermo Fisher Scientific:

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue of approximately $50 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, increasing productivity in their laboratories, improving patient health through diagnostics or the development and manufacture of lifechanging therapies, we are here to support them. Our global team delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, Patheon and PPD.

How will you make an impact?

We are seeking a strategic, influential, technically fluent and hands-on Director, R&D AI Strategy and Transformation within the Chief Scientific Office (CSO) to shape how artificial intelligence is adopted across Thermo Fisher Scientific’s R&D organization.

The Director will help to develop the R&D AI roadmap, define the strategy for an AI-accessible knowledge layer, establish practical governance, and align leaders across a complex global matrix. The role will partner with scientific, product, business, data, technology, legal, cybersecurity, and other stakeholders to identify where AI can improve scientific work, knowledge access, portfolio decisions, and product development.

The role will also personally lead the design and prototyping of agentic AI solutions for the CSO office. The Director may develop prototypes directly or lead architecture, workflow design, orchestration, and evaluation in partnership with engineering teams.

What will you do?

AI strategy and transformation

• Shape and advance the enterprise R&D AI roadmap, aligning priorities with scientific, product, portfolio, and business objectives.
• Establish a consistent approach for identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing AI opportunities across R&D and adjacent functions.
• Translate scientific and organizational needs into strategic initiatives, capability requirements, implementation pathways, and adoption objectives.
• Define a federated operating model that clarifies roles, decision rights, reusable capabilities, and collaboration across businesses and functions.
• Lead enterprise initiatives through influence, building alignment and commitment across a complex matrix.
• Partner with R&D, Digital, IT, Data Science, Legal, and other teams as needed to drive AI adoption.
  
  

Knowledge layer and agentic AI

• Define the roadmap for an R&D knowledge layer that enables trusted AI access to disparate internal and external information.
• Establish principles for provenance, permissions, intellectual property, data quality, semantic consistency, traceability, and responsible access.
• Partner with scientific, data, technology, and governance teams to determine how knowledge can be accessed and used responsibly by AI systems.
• Personally lead the design, prototyping, and evaluation of agentic AI solutions for the CSO office.
• Lead agent architecture, workflows, tool orchestration, and evaluation through direct development or in partnership with engineers.
• Identify opportunities to extend successful CSO office prototypes across broader R&D, portfolio, and product-development workflows
  
  

Governance and organizational adoption

• Establish an R&D AI governance framework covering prioritization, data and knowledge access, evaluation, human oversight, security, privacy, intellectual property, responsible AI, and lifecycle management.
• Define the workflow, capability, and operating-model changes required to embed AI into R&D.
• Establish measures of adoption, trust, reuse, maturity, and sustained use.
• Ensure AI initiatives comply with regulatory, privacy, security, and ethical standards.
  
  

Technology, partnerships, and influence

• Evaluate AI platforms, foundation models, scientific information services, data providers, technology vendors, and external collaborators.
• Advise leaders on build-buy-partner decisions and lead selected pilots and technical evaluations.
• Cultivate working contacts and relationships with software development and engineering teams across R&D to stay abreast of current digital investments
• Translate emerging AI developments into clear strategic implications and recommendations for senior functional leaders.
• Communicate complex scientific and technical concepts clearly to executive, scientific, product, and technology audiences.
• Help define the future talent model and organizational capability required to scale AI across R&D.
• Build relationships with technology vendors, academic institutions, and strategic partners.
• Represent the organization at industry conferences and AI forums.
• Conduct competitive assessments of AI capabilities within the life sciences industry.
  
  

What will success look like?

During the first 12–18 months, success will include:

• An aligned enterprise R&D AI roadmap and operating model.
• An actionable knowledge-layer roadmap spanning internal and external information.
• Valuable agentic AI prototypes for the CSO office.
• An adopted governance framework and measurable progress in stakeholder engagement, trust, and sustained AI use.
  
  

How will you get here?

Education

• Advanced degree (PhD preferred) in a scientific, engineering, computational, informatics, or related discipline relevant to life-sciences R&D.
• The successful candidate will combine scientific depth with demonstrated leadership in AI strategy, transformation, and organizational adoption.
  
  

Experience

• 10 years of relevant experience in AI strategy, technology transformation, scientific informatics, R&D strategy, or related roles.
• Substantial experience shaping enterprise AI strategy, transformation, or capability-building initiatives in complex organizations.
• Experience in life sciences or scientific and product domains relevant to Thermo Fisher Scientific’s products, customers, or R&D workflows is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success influencing senior functional leaders and leading cross-functional initiatives in a matrix without direct authority.
• Proven ability to translate scientific and organizational needs into roadmaps, operating models, governance, partnerships, and practical AI solutions.
• Strong technical fluency in generative AI, foundation models, agentic systems, enterprise data and knowledge environments, and cloud technology ecosystems.
• Experience evaluating technology platforms, vendors, external data sources, and strategic partnerships.
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to convert complex AI concepts into clear strategic choices and recommendations.
• Ability to balance long-term strategy with hands-on prototyping and near-term delivery.
• Ability to travel up to 20%.
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with knowledge graphs, ontologies, semantic data models, enterprise search, retrieval-augmented generation, or related knowledge technologies.
• Experience designing or prototyping agentic AI systems directly or through hands-on technical leadership.
• Experience evaluating AI platforms, scientific data providers, vendors, and external partnerships.
• Experience establishing federated operating models or governance frameworks for enterprise AI adoption.
  
  

We Offer:

• Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits package
• Career development opportunities within a global organization
• Collaborative and innovative work environment
• Opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge scientific advances that impact human health
• Flexible work arrangements
  
  

Thermo Fisher Scientific is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

Compensation And Benefits

The salary range estimated for this position based in Massachusetts is $176,000.00–$264,050.00.

This position may also be eligible to receive a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy. We offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package that our U.S. colleagues and their families can count on, which includes:

• A choice of national medical and dental plans, and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs
• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement
• At least 120 hours paid time off (PTO), 10 paid holidays annually, paid parental leave (3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave), accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy
• Retirement and savings programs, such as our competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan
• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) offers eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount
  
  

For more information on our benefits, please visit: https://jobs.thermofisher.com/global/en/total-rewards