Director AI, Algorithms & Intelligent Architecture

Company: Abbott Laboratories
Location: San Diego
Posted on: January 6, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 114,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries. Abbott Rapid and Molecular Diagnostics (RMDx) is part of Abbott’s Diagnostics family of businesses, bringing together exceptional teams of experts and industry leading technologies to support diagnostic testing which provides important information for treatment and management of diseases and other conditions. The Director, AI, Algorithms & Intelligent Architecture is a key member of the global R&D leadership team that leads the AI and Algorithm teams and owns the strategic aspects of software development in the Infectious Diseases (ID) Business Unit (BU) within RMDx. This position is responsible for building and developing an AI team to advance our AI strategy to significantly enhance resource efficiency, streamlining product development processes, and elevate the overall quality of products and deliver lasting value to our customers. It is also responsible for leading an algorithm team supporting our diagnostics platforms to deliver high performance assays with efficient execution. This role works cross functionally and collaborates with other functions both within and outside of R&D, collaborates across the division, and through external partners to strategically define and execute on all elements of project design, development, and integration on multiple platforms. This job description will be reviewed periodically and is subject to change by management. RESPONSIBILITIES: • Lead a global organization of 12 data scientists, engineers, and algorithm specialists including full time, contractors, and off shore engineers located in Europe and the US, responsible for algorithm development, AI projects, and product architecture capable of supporting advanced AI solutions. • Create the vision and strategic direction of the organization, ensuring alignment with the purpose, behaviors and mission of ID: o Drive cost optimization by leveraging off shore engineers for appropriate project tasks, and own the relationship with our off shore partners. o Build and grow the competencies of the organization to meet both near term and long range roadmap. o Hire strategically, keeping in mind both current needs and future needs of the organization. • Define and lead the AI Innovation strategy, roadmap and R&D team to develop leading edge products and solutions within Abbott as well as to our customers: o Leverage the latest advancements in AI to develop tools and solutions that bring efficiency and optimizations in projects that delivers significant savings in R&D and overall ID budgets. o Lead AI projects including AI generated project documentation, Bioinformatics solutions, and large data analytics that will accelerate project timelines and improve predictable execution. o Define architectures to enable AI capabilities for our platforms. o Develop customer facing AI solutions that bring unique value to drive new revenue streams for ID. o Leverage the AI solutions developed within ID to impact all parts of Abbott, and take a lead role in driving AI across the entire Abbott business. • Ensure a robust cybersecurity framework is applied to all AI solutions. Understand key and emerging risks in order to set objectives and give input to cybersecurity designs and standards. • Drive the long-term effectiveness of the organization ensuring it is a high achieving multi-disciplined organization that understands how to execute projects, overcome obstacles, solve complex challenges, and demonstrate commitment to meeting deadlines. • Own and drive major software projects tied to corporate officer goals. Deliver with quality and deliver on time. • Champion for software projects and initiatives, representing the organization and working collaboratively with QA, RA, Operations, Marketing, Commercial, and MA functions to resolve conflicts, remove obstacles, and solve complex problems facing the teams. • Develop leaders within the organization to build a succession pipeline capable of becoming future leaders of teams/organizations. • Drive and promote our Purpose and Values across the organization. Keeping it front and center with each individual to keep everyone focused on working on the right things and to remind the team that our work matters. Ownership, teamwork, and leading change are the keys to winning. • Collaborate with R&D peers and Marketing stakeholders to understand diverse customer/market needs and translate them into software platform architecture and technology roadmap(s). • Drive cross BU software direction to align on sharing solutions, promoting an integrated offering that delights customers and improves overall efficiency across RMDx, including software development tools. • Promote strong functional excellence by embracing relevant best-in-class industry practices and methodologies, and by adopting a culture of continuous improvement. • Demonstrate commitment to the development, implementation and effectiveness of Abbott Quality Management System per ISO, FDA, and other regulatory agencies. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS | EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE: • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering; Master’s or doctoral degree preferred. • Minimum 15 years of experience in software development, preferably in a medical device/diagnostics or other regulated environment. Direct experience with IVD instrumentation is a plus. • Minimum of 10 years of experience in leading teams of software engineers or scientists, preferably to include systems, verification, and all areas of software engineering. • Minimum 5 years experience (7 years preferred) in AI solutions, ML, and Generative AI technologies PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: • Master’s or doctoral degree preferred. • Minimum 10 years of experience in algorithm development, preferably in a medical device/diagnostics or other regulated environment. Direct experience with IVD instrumentation is a plus. • Strong knowledge of cybersecurity technologies and solutions. • Relevant work experience will include functional leadership, project leadership, software technology planning, resource planning and management, as well as management and development of a team of direct reports. • Strong knowledge of software development lifecycle, coding principles, state-of-art software tools, technologies, and design methodologies. • Strong experience in fundamentals of people management, including mentorship/coaching, career development, change management and performance management. • Ability to clearly articulate team vision, roles and responsibilities. • Excellent presentation, written and verbal communication skills. • Ability to work effectively with a variety of personalities and styles, and ability effectively delegate work accordingly. Ability to work well with global teams, including time-zone flexibility. • Understands and is aware of the quality consequences; has awareness of device defects that may occur in the area of responsibility, including product design, verification and validation, manufacturing and testing activities • Responsible for exhibiting professional behavior with both internal/external business associates that reflects positively on the company and is consistent with the company’s policies and practices; build productive internal/external working relationships • Communicate effectively to all levels of the R&D organization and support true cross-functional alignment, especially with key cross-functional partners such as Quality Assurance, Operations, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs. • Strong technical, negotiating, decision-making and analytical skills are necessary, with proven experience in developing strategic solutions. COMPETENCIES: • Develops Talent: Attracts, selects, develops and manages talent for higher levels of performance. Acts on feedback improving engagement and performance of teams. Motivates the team by understanding unique needs and engages in frequent conversations and performance coaching. • Drives Results: Assesses issues thoroughly and solves complex problems; removes roadblocks for the team. Empowers others to take calculated risks. • Holds others accountable by focusing on the right metrics, tracking results and creating transparent reviews. • Foster Collaboration: Improves problem-solving by connecting the team to resources outside his/her own department. Creates a workplace environment of mutual respect. Takes time to explain decisions. Champions new projects or programs enrolling others in the vision. • Focuses on Customer: Prioritizes team projects to best meet customers’ needs. Communicates important messages so that the customer and team are well informed. Reaches across departments, organizations or geographies to best serve the customer. • Clear Thinker: Demonstrates critical and clear thinking to work through ambiguity and limited problem definition. • Motivated: Enjoys and thrives on the challenge of solving complex and technical challenges. • Motivator: Solid, assertive, motivational leader able to guide a team into reaching common goal through encouragement, belief and the search for excellence. Understands the principle that it is people that deliver projects; methods and software are enablers. • Influencer: An excellent rapport builder with the ability to quickly gain the confidence of colleagues and stakeholders. Ability to handle and resolve conflicts. • Communicator: Has ability to explain concepts, processes and data to diverse audiences, including senior management. • Agile: Ability to manage change and effectively communicate impact to the team and support them through it. • Customer Focused: Ability to understand customer and market needs and to instill a culture of customer-centricity within the team. • Team Player: Provides excellent support, objective advice and clear unambiguous information and knowledge transfer to the peer organizations. The base pay for this position is $197,300.00 – $394,700.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.

Keywords: Abbott Laboratories, San Clemente , Director AI, Algorithms & Intelligent Architecture, IT / Software / Systems , San Diego, California