Director, Principal Engineer, Developer Surfaces

Use Your Power for Purpose
The vision for Pfizer's Digital function is a more integrated and coordinated healthcare model that improves patient outcomes, fuels tomorrow's breakthrough therapies, and brings medicines to patients faster.
Within Platform Engineering, the Spark Pro team builds and runs Pfizer's internal developer platform - the paved road that lets any engineering team take an idea from a laptop to production in minutes, whether that's a web application, an autonomous agent, or an MCP server.
Developers reach that platform through several surfaces - native Mac and Windows desktop apps, web-based tooling, and programmatic MCP interfaces - each built and owned by strong, independent engineering teams.
This role sits inside that team, bringing coherence across the desktop, web, and MCP surfaces without slowing down the engineers who already own each one.
Our vision is to innovate and engineer breakthrough digital products to power business performance and transform global health. We do this through our culture of agile, fast-adapting and pioneer working.What You Will Achieve
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Developer Surfaces Lead who will be accountable for the technical direction, architecture, and delivery of Spark Pro's developer surfaces - desktop, web, and MCP.
In this technical leadership role, you will act as the executor and the visionary behind the surfaces' technical direction. Rather than leading a single team, you will lead through influence across the experienced engineers who already own each surface, reconciling differing approaches into one coherent direction and ensuring a successful delivery of high-quality developer experiences from inception to completion. This role requires exceptional technical knowledge, hands-on credibility in the Electron and Vue desktop codebase, and the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams while sharing responsibility with the engineers driving each surface.
You will also be accountable for delivery of security-and privacy-first capabilities while creating an environment where engineers can do their best work as measured by a quarterly Developer's Experience survey, and alignment and contribution to the service network and technical engineering standards.
Key Responsibilities
A normal work week consists of leading one or more teams of engineers to deliver and implement technical solutions, following your design approach to meet your assigned program objectives and KPIs. You will also collaborate closely and often with your program lead, Digital Lead, and Product Owners, to ensure that technical decisions and their implementation align with broader strategic priorities.
You represent engineering in program and stakeholder meetings, as such you'll need to be able to think on your feet: provide consultation, identify risks based on a variety of factors, and rely on your past experiences to identify potential solutions and develop ballpark estimates.
In many situations you will be working with technology that is new to Pfizer and requires you to learn quickly, be able to read and understand documentation, and architect robust and scalable solutions that align with our business objectives.
Using influence more than authority, you will lead teams of engineers on the implementation of the solution. Individual members of the team are responsible for delivering on their commitments, but the team supports each other. The team pride themselves on the quality of their code, our delivery practices and breadth of our test coverage. You will be expected to document your work.
Key responsibilities for a Principal Engineer are listed below:
Technical Leadership
• \tServe as the top technical authority across the developer surfaces - Mac, Windows, web, and MCP - making decisions on technology choices, design approaches, solution architecture and implementation.
• \tLead and oversee the entire lifecycle excellence of engineering projects, ensuring alignment with architectural vision and adherence to best practices.
• \tResponsible for maintaining good code quality by promoting and ensuring secure code hygiene.
• \tResponsible for guiding the correct configuration of SaaS solutions to ensure security and compliance.
• \tBuild a team able to manage change. Take appropriate risks to achieve the desired results, balancing risks to stability and current norms versus the need for constant change, improvement, and simplification.
• \tFacilitate the conversation between Enterprise Architects, Business Architects, Vendors and Developers, by providing technical clarity on solution(s) to build and code to write, move content from ideation into delivery to move from concept to reality.
Cross-Team Collaboration
• \tAct asa translator between business stakeholders and technical engineers, to ensure that technical, security and privacy considerations are represented in strategic discussions and business objectives are being met by our solutions.
• \tAlign objectives, dependencies, and schedules across multiple teams to keep teams unblocked, and to ensure seamless projects execution.
• \tCollaborate with other Principal Engineers, and through the Principal Engineers Forum, to share best practices, quality standards, address improvement areas, and ensure effective communication of information.
• \tCollaborate with security teams to monitor vulnerabilities, implement defences, and ensure compliance with security best practices.
• \tCollaborate with digital operations and support to ensure smooth BAU operations.
Excellence by Design
• \tContinuously discover, define, architect, deliver, and enable solutions that support program OKRs.
• \tOffer deep technical expertise, providing insights and guidance, ensuring solutions are secure, compliant, scalable, maintainable, and efficient.
• \tAdvocate for the adoption of best practices, new technologies, automation, and continuous improvement initiatives in both technical and privacy domains.
• \tFoster a DevOps model of success by building a culture of shared responsibilities and transparency leading to higher quality and quicker delivery of outcomes.
• \tStay updated on emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices, and apply this knowledge to improve engineering processes and drive innovation within the organization.
• \tEnsure that privacy and security are an integral part of the system design, not merely layered on.
Coaching & Mentorship
• \tParticipate in or lead code reviews, where applicable.
• \tProvide technical guidance and mentorship to junior and mid-level engineers, facilitate knowledge sharing and taking an active role in supporting the development of the wider team and their careers. Foster a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous learning within the engineering team.
• \tAct on Developer Experience (DX) survey findings and feedback from the engineering team members, to drive continuous improvement initiatives to increase the "Ease of Delivery" of the team.
People Management & Development
• \tThis role has no direct reports - you lead through influence, setting technical direction for the engineers who already own each surface.
• \tMentor and coach engineers across each surface, and build consensus among strong, independent contributors.
• \tSupport Pfizer's Diversity and Inclusion objectives, as applicable
Incident Management & Recovery
• \tLead or assist in the response to security incidents, ensuring rapid containment, mitigation, and recovery.
• \tLead troubleshooting during operational outages, guiding the team to diagnose and resolve issues quickly.
• \tWork towards system resilience and implement post-mortem analyses to identify root causes and prevent future incidents.
• \tEnsure that solutions are designed with data privacy considerations from the outset.
Required Skills & Knowledge
In order to fulfil the responsibilities listed above, we expect that you possess and demonstrate:
• \tExtensive experience in software engineering, with a focus on leading complex projects.
• \tDeep technical expertise from a well-documented background as a senior-level engineer.
• \tStrong problem-solving and analytical abilities, with a keen attention to detail.
• \tA broad technical knowledge across frontend, desktop, and backend systems - comfortable across the full stack while leaning primarily frontend, as a genuine full-stack generalist.
• \tProven technical leadership skills, mentorship, with the ability to motivate and inspire team members and fellow engineers towards achieving common goals.
• \tExceptional interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively in a matrix environment with geographically distributed resources, and establish strong partnerships with senior non-technical stakeholders, with a talent to explain complex topics simply.
• \tAbility to influence and work with cross-functional teams to deliver complex projects in accordance with broader strategies.
• \tDeep understanding of software development methodologies and best practices for implementing principles of privacy & security 'by design'.
• \tUnderstanding of the implications, regulations, and best practices of data handling in the pharmaceutical industry.
• \tUnderstanding of the DevSecOps best practices that should be in place, driving an "Everything as Code instead of paperwork" mentality.
• \tFamiliarity with the multiple policies, standards, systems, and organizations within the pharmaceutical industry, to minimize risk of challenges or duplication in implementation.
Qualifications & Education Requirements
• \tBachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• \tMinimum of 8+ years' experience in frontend, desktop, or developer tooling engineering, with increasing responsibility delivering digital solutions, products, and services.
• \tProfessional certifications in engineering leadership are a plus.
• \tDemonstrable experience operating in a DevOps environment.
• \tProven capability handling large scale, enterprise software delivery in a global 24/7 environment.
At a technical level, we are looking for engineers with qualifications and expertise in the following areas:
• \tExperience driving and participating in technical discovery to architect and deliver solutions that meet program business objectives.
• \tSystems thinking experience demonstrated by architecting complex solutions that require integrating multiple solutions.
• \tDemonstrated hands-on experience building and shipping developer-facing tools across more than one surface, ideally including Electron and Vue.
• \tUnderstanding of CI/CD practices, RESTful APIs, integration patterns, microservice patterns and other areas of interest to modern software development.
• \tExperience with the Model Context Protocol or comparable programmatic interface standards for AI agents and scripts.
• \tExcellent experience with Agile team processes, including Scrum and Kanban delivery - we enjoy working with lean methods.
• \tExperience with the types of process problems that come when trying to build complex, new applications and comfortable when things are uncertain and require problem solving.
• \tExcellent experience estimating complex technical stories and breaking them down.
• \tStrong written and spoken English with excellent asynchronous collaboration and communication.
We don't expect you to know everything, but we want people who are open to learning new things.
Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including: the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.
Work Location Assignment: Hybrid
Other Job Details

• Last Date to Apply: October 19, 2026

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $176,600.00 to $294,300.00. In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer's Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 20.0% of the base salary and eligibility to participate in our share based long term incentive program. We offer comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life's moments. Benefits offered include a 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage. Learn more at Pfizer Candidate Site - U.S. Benefits | (uscandidates.mypfizerbenefits.com). Pfizer compensation structures and benefit packages are aligned based on the location of hire. The United States salary range provided does not apply to Tampa, FL or any location outside of the United States.
This role is posted in multiple locations. If you are applying for the role in an secondary job posting location where pay transparency regulations apply, your Talent Advisor will share the local pay information with you during the first interview.
Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.
Candidates must be authorized to be employed in the U.S. by any employer.
U.S. work visa sponsorship (such as 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 and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider's name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.
EEO & Employment Eligibility
Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer. This position requires permanent work authorization in the United States.
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