Sr. Director, Engineering Lead in Tadworth

Sr. Director, Engineering Lead in Tadworth

Tadworth Full-Time 60000 - 80000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
Pfizer

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead a team of engineers to design and maintain innovative software systems.
  • Company: Join a forward-thinking tech company shaping the future with AI.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, bonuses, health benefits, and generous leave policies.
  • Other info: Hybrid work environment with opportunities for career growth and development.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact by driving AI-first digital capabilities and leading talented teams.
  • Qualifications: 12+ years in engineering with strong leadership and technical skills.

The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.

We are seeking a skilled People Leader with strong expertise in Engineering who will lead a team of Software Engineers to design, build, and maintain software systems that deliver business value.

In this role, you will focus on code quality, architecture decisions, and reliable delivery while leveraging AI tools to enhance productivity.

You will lead and grow a high‑performing team to deliver AI‑first digital capabilities and AI‑native platforms, shaping both the technology and the talent that will define our digital future.

This role encompasses organization‑wide technical strategy, people management, and architectural direction.

You will define strategic direction and be accountable for outcomes, shape organizational practices, maintain external industry visibility, and handle organizational‑scale complexity to create clarity from chaos.

  • Role Responsibilities
  • Delivery: Drive delivery of the most critical technical initiatives and platforms, establish engineering delivery practices, and be the technical authority on high‑stakes projects.
  • People: Lead a team of technical leaders, develop their expert skills, shape engineering talent strategy, build high‑performing teams, and own succession planning.
  • Business: Shape technology‑driven business strategy and represent the technical perspective at the executive level.
  • AI: Lead the design of 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 a 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.
  • Role Behaviours
  • Don’t
  • Lose
  • Your

Curiosity: Shape organizational culture around curiosity and continuous learning; sponsor experimental initiatives across the organization; be recognized as a thought leader in problem discovery; influence industry practices around innovation and exploration.

  • Set an example for your team: Consistently demonstrate a clear vision, positive energy, and exemplary expert actions that motivate direct reports to strive for their highest potential.
  • Own the

Outcome: Define organizational accountability standards focused on business impact; shape industry practices around outcome ownership in the AI era; sponsor transformational initiatives with full outcome accountability; be recognized externally for ownership culture leadership.

  • Be
  • Polymath

Oriented: Enable cross‑disciplinary learning across the team; inspire the creation of holistic solutions spanning technical and business domains; embody the Renaissance Engineer ideal; translate specialized knowledge into accessible explanations; think like a business insider.

  • Communicate with

Precision: Enable spec‑driven development practices; mentor others on precise communication; span C‑level executives to frontline workers; drive clarity as a core value across your function; represent the organization externally.

  • Think in

Systems: Shape systems‑design practices across your function; enable chaos engineering experiments; influence cross‑team architecture decisions; create clarity from complexity; bridge technical systems with business processes.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field with 12+ years of relevant experience.

  • Expert‑Level Skills
  • Business

Immersion: You are a recognized thought leader across business stakeholders.

You influence business strategy, exemplify the business immersion mindset, and shape how engineering engages with the business.

  • Data

Integration: You lead the definition of data integration patterns and best practices; you enable the architecture of 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, ensuring the same for your team of direct reports.

You deliver production solutions in days, shape full‑stack practices, and exemplify polymathic engineering.

  • Multi‑Audience

Communication: You shape communication practices across teams.

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 transform ambiguous situations into clear opportunities, influence how teams engage with business problems, and are the go‑to person for the most undefined challenges.

  • Engineering Delivery & Quality: You shape engineering delivery culture.

You define standards for quality, reliability, and scalable delivery, and are recognized for driving consistent, high‑impact outcomes across complex initiatives.

  • Stakeholder

Management: You shape stakeholder practices and manage executive relationships, represent engineering at the highest levels, and are recognized for exceptional stakeholder partnerships.

  • People Manager Skills
  • Leading the team: You set a clear direction, align people around shared goals, and ensure strong communication to drive collective success.

You develop talent, foster collaboration, and create an environment where individuals feel empowered.

  • Team Collaboration: You create a collaborative culture. You transform dysfunctional dynamics, build exceptional teams, and mentor others on collaboration excellence.
  • Knowledge

Management: You grow experts and lead knowledge‑management initiatives across your team, create knowledge systems and taxonomies, establish practices that make institutional knowledge persistent, and mentor others on knowledge sharing.

  • 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 team capacity.

  • Practitioner‑Level Skills
  • AI Evaluation & Verification: You lead AI governance initiatives, 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, 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, train engineers on AI‑augmented workflows, evaluate new AI development tools, and establish practices that balance speed with verification rigor.

  • Architecture & Design: You design complex multi‑component systems end‑to‑end, evaluate architectural options for large initiatives, guide technical decisions for your area, and mentor engineers on architecture.
  • Code Quality & Review: You establish and enforce quality standards across teams, mentor engineers on effective code review, ensure verification depth for AI‑assisted development, and drive testing strategies.
  • Pattern

Generalization: You lead pattern generalization initiatives, define criteria for when to generalize vs keep custom, and establish intake processes for scaling validated solutions.

You mentor engineers on abstraction design.

  • Service

Management: You lead service management practices for multiple services, optimize service portfolios, balance service investments, and train engineers on service‑oriented thinking.

  • Site Reliability Engineering: You define reliability standards, drive post‑incident improvements, design capacity‑planning processes, and mentor engineers on SRE practices.
  • Technical Writing: You define documentation standards, create documentation systems and templates, train engineers on spec‑driven development, and ensure documentation quality.
  • 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, optimize queries, handle schema migrations safely, and choose appropriate storage technologies.
  • Dev Ops & CI/CD: You build complete pipelines, manage infrastructure as code (Terraform, Cloud Formation), implement monitoring, and design deployment strategies.
  • Lean Thinking & Flow: You optimize processes, measure and improve cycle time, remove bottlenecks, and deliver rapidly while maintaining quality.
  • Technical Debt Management: You prioritize debt systematically, balance debt reduction with feature work, and make pragmatic trade‑offs.

Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities, including influencing and collaborating with peers, developing and coaching others, overseeing and guiding the work of colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.

Work Location: Hybrid – On site strongly preferred. Remote locations will only be considered for internal candidates who are already designated remote.

Last Date to Apply: 7/28/2026

Annual base salary: $214,900.00 – $358,100.00.

Eligible for Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan (bonus 22.5% of base salary) and share‑based long‑term incentive program.

Benefits include 401(k) with matching contributions, paid vacation, holidays, personal days, caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits (medical, prescription drug, dental, vision).

Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.

U. S. work visa sponsorship (TN, O‑1, H‑1B, etc.) is not available for this role now or in the future.

Sunshine Act

Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws.

If you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses that Pfizer pays or reimburses, your name, address, and the amount of payments made will be reported to the government.

EEO & Employment Eligibility

Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in employment for all employees and job applicants irrespective of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability or veteran status.

Pfizer complies with applicable laws governing nondiscrimination, work authorization, and employment eligibility verification.

Pfizer is an E‑Verify employer.

Permanent work authorization in the United States is required.

#J-18808-Ljbffr

Sr. Director, Engineering Lead in Tadworth employer: Pfizer

Pfizer is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic and inclusive work culture that prioritises innovation and collaboration. As a leader in the healthcare industry, employees benefit from extensive growth opportunities, competitive compensation, and a comprehensive benefits package, including health coverage and retirement plans. The hybrid work model allows for flexibility while working on impactful projects that shape the future of clinician engagement globally.

Pfizer

Contact Details:

Pfizer Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Sr. Director, Engineering Lead in Tadworth

Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Pfizer or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

Contribute to Open Source Projects

Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Pfizer.

Tap into Online Developer Communities

Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Pfizer.

Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Pfizer that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!

We think you need these skills to ace Sr. Director, Engineering Lead in Tadworth

People Leadership
Software Engineering
Code Quality Management
Architectural Decision-Making
AI Tools Utilisation
Team Development
Technical Strategy Definition

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Pfizer.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Pfizer and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at Pfizer

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Pfizer uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.