Sr Dir, Engineering

• The Technology & Data Solutions (TDS) business unit is the Syneos Health accelerator for life sciences innovation.
• TDS houses advanced technology acquisitions, homegrown products and applications, actively participates in new M&A and partnership activities, delivers critical insights as part of our integrated strategy for customers, and drives enterprise-wide adoption and change management for innovative tech and data solutions.
• Our work supports bringing meaningful new medicines to patients faster, with greater positive impact.
• The Senior Director, Engineering (Data & Master Data Management) supports these goals by leading global engineering teams that design, build, and maintain high-quality data-centric and master data solutions addressing complex business and customer needs.
• This role is heavily focused on Master Data Management, data engineering, data integrity, and foundational data capabilities, while partnering closely with product and business stakeholders in a highly dynamic environment.

Core Responsibilities

• Lead and develop teams of managers and engineers across onshore and offshore locations, including line management, performance management, professional development, interviewing, and onboarding.
• Combine strong technical depth with people leadership skills to effectively lead teams of teams.
• Set clear goals aligned to business strategy and customer expectations; facilitate resourcing and coordination of work across multiple initiatives.
• Lead engineering teams to deliver high-quality, scalable, and timely data and master data solutions.
• Own and prioritize the technical backlog, with a strong focus on master data, data engineering, and data quality initiatives.
• Partner closely with product management, engineering leadership, and technical leads in strategic planning and execution.
• Drive technical decision-making and work with product managers to manage backlogs supporting multiple engineering teams.
• Oversee technical architecture for master data platforms, data pipelines, analytics enablement, dashboards, and custom tools, ensuring data integrity and governance.
• Support teams in presenting findings and recommendations to internal and external stakeholders in a clear, concise, and business-relevant manner; assist with client queries or escalations as needed.
• Oversee production schedules, test plans, documentation, and presentation materials that define project milestones and delivery standards.
• Mentor and coach junior team members across the organization, fostering autonomy, accountability, and strong engineering practices.
• Foster collaboration across global teams toward shared objectives and outcomes.
• Stay current with industry trends in data engineering, master data management, and life sciences data, sharing relevant insights with senior leadership.
• Communicate and collaborate effectively across internal functions to drive optimal business outcomes in a fast-paced, change-oriented environment.

Qualifications

• BS/BA required; MS/MA preferred in Information Systems, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Engineering, Statistics, or a related field.

• Proven experience in a senior engineering leadership, data engineering, or solutions architecture role delivering data-centric and master data driven solutions.
• Strong experience with Master Data Management platforms (eg, Reltio strongly preferred).
• Hands-on experience with modern cloud data ecosystems such as Azure, Databricks, and Snowflake.
• Strong background in data modeling, data quality, data governance, and data integrity.
• Experience leading high-performing, globally distributed teams and working across multiple stakeholders to deliver results.
• Ability to influence, align, and partner effectively with peers and senior leadership.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-relevant insights.
• Experience working within life sciences, clinical research, pharma, or CRO environments is highly preferred.
• Familiarity with healthcare and clinical data domains (eg, Rx data, medical claims, ICD, HCPCS, NPIs) is a strong plus.
• Comfortable operating in environments with evolving requirements and ambiguity, demonstrating sound judgment and adaptability