Head Of Data & Ai Platforms, Beijing

AstraZeneca

Beijing, China
Fully onsite
10+ years ai/ml platform engineering experience
5+ years leading technical teams with 8+ direct reports
Mandarin fluency required for beijing operations
AstraZeneca is seeking a Head of Data & AI Platforms for its Beijing AI Center, responsible for establishing AI methodologies, standards, and data governance to enhance drug discovery through AI. The role requires extensive experience in AI/ML platform engineering, team leadership, and familiarity with the Chinese AI ecosystem, including fluency in Mandarin

Job Summary

  • This role owns the AI capability layer for the Beijing AI Center, defining how AI gets done by connecting raw compute infrastructure to Discovery science teams.
  • The successful candidate will recruit and manage a team of 8 platform FTEs in 2026, scaling to 10+, while establishing rigorous evaluation frameworks and data governance standards.
  • You will deploy agentic AI capabilities and integrate China-specific LLMs like Qwen and DeepSeek to drive scientific workflow automation for AstraZeneca's drug discovery efforts.

Matching Summary

Match Score: 85

AstraZeneca is seeking a Head of Data & AI Platforms for its Beijing AI Center, responsible for establishing AI methodologies, standards, and data governance to enhance drug discovery through AI. The role requires extensive experience in AI/ML platform engineering, team leadership, and familiarity with the Chinese AI ecosystem, including fluency in Mandarin.

Skills & Requirements

Must-have

  • 10+ years AI/ML platform engineering experience
  • 5+ years leading technical teams with 8+ direct reports
  • Mandarin fluency required for Beijing operations
  • Experience building internal AI products from scratch
  • Knowledge of distributed training and parameter-efficient fine-tuning
  • China cloud provider experience (Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei)
  • Familiarity with Chinese LLM ecosystem (Qwen, DeepSeek)

Nice-to-have

  • Biopharma domain knowledge in drug discovery
  • Experience with academic partnership management
  • Track record of attracting top AI talent in competitive markets
  • Comfort operating in matrix organization structures

Key Requirements

  • 10+ years in AI/ML platform engineering or data engineering
  • 5+ years leading technical teams with minimum 8 direct reports
  • Mandarin fluency required
  • On-site presence in Beijing mandatory
  • Experience serving scientific or research teams in biopharma or genomics

Work Rights

Must be able to work on-site in Beijing full-time; Mandarin fluency required

Tailored Resume

Cover Letter