Director, Generative AI Foundation

The Position Why Genentech

We're passionate about delivering on Our Promise to improve the lives of patients and create healthier communities for all. We foster a culture of inclusivity, integrity and creativity while boldly pursuing answers to the world's most complex health challenges and transforming society.

Genentech's Data, Digital, and Analytics (DDA) team is dedicated to solving complex healthcare challenges and improving patient outcomes. DDA empowers business partners across Commercial, Medical, and Government Affairs (CMG) to make impactful decisions by leveraging data, analytics, and AI/ML to enable fast, targeted actions in rapidly evolving business contexts.

In DDA, you will work as a trusted, objective advisor and expert, recommending critical decisions and actions to be taken with credibility and a focus on driving measurable impact. You will be part of a diverse, inclusive team that reflects the world we serve, thriving in a welcoming culture built on collaboration and innovation.

The Director, Generative AI Foundation leads a high-performing team focused on building the backend infrastructure for agentic systems. This role is responsible for envisioning and owning the roadmap for Gen AI backend infrastructure within a fast-moving experimental team. You will drive the design of extensible multi-agent frameworks, ensuring robust governance of agents and data sources while fostering relationships across the global Roche organization.

As a leader, you will oversee hiring, provide mentorship, and influence technical priorities to ensure the team's long-term success in a complex enterprise environment.

• Define and execute the roadmap for Gen AI backend infrastructure, ensuring it meets the needs of a fast-moving experimental team.
• Lead a team that designs and builds an extensible multi-agent framework and infrastructure.
• Own the governance of agents and data sources within the team to ensure compliance and reliability.
• Influence technical decisions and priorities within a complex enterprise environment.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to foster thriving relationships and represent the team within Genentech and the global Roche organization.
• Hire and develop talent specifically for the Gen AI foundation team to maintain a high standard of engineering excellence.
• Build and mentor a high-performing, motivated engineering team by setting strategic priorities, fostering a culture of belonging, and cultivating the next generation of leaders within the generative AI domain.

• Bachelors degree in a relevant field and 8+ years of work experience in Data Science, AI, or relevant technical field.
• Significant experience leading the development of B2B GenAI infrastructure and multimodal agentic architectures, with the ability to communicate technical roadmaps effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Mastery of agentic frameworks (Lang Chain, Lang Graph, AWS Agentcore) and protocols (MCP, A2A), with proven success transforming traditional ML models and API services into autonomous, MCP-compliant agents.
• Expertise in RAG architecture, document optimization (chunking), and the management of vector, graph, and SQL databases, including advanced AI-generated SQL techniques.
• Deep understanding of performance factors—specifically cost, reliability, and latency—supported by a mastery of observability tools designed for monitoring and scaling complex agentic systems.

• Experience with multimodal Gen AI tools, specifically regarding voice interfaces.
• Knowledge of security common protocols within an enterprise AI context.
• Experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, or highly regulated industries.
• Relevant certifications in cloud architecture or AI technologies.

This position is based in South San Francisco, CA and offers a hybrid schedule working 3 days per week on campus.

Relocation benefits are not available for this posting.

The expected salary range for this position based on the primary location of South San Francisco, CA is $214,500 - $398,300. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job‑related factors permitted by law. A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance. This position also qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided below.

Genentech is an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy and practice to employ, promote, and otherwise treat any and all employees and applicants on the basis of merit, qualifications, and competence. The company's policy prohibits unlawful discrimination, including but not limited to, discrimination on the basis of Protected Veteran status, individuals with disabilities status, and consistent with all federal, state, or local laws.

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