Digital Strategy & AI Transformation
About the role
Join a Market Leader
About Hovione
At Hovione, we help partners turn scientific innovation into medicines that reach patients around the world. For more than 65 years, we have connected science, technology, and manufacturing to scale complex ideas into high-quality and innovative solutions that truly make a difference.
As an international Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), we support the development and manufacture of drug substances, intermediates, and drug products across the full life cycle. We are globally recognized for our leadership in specialized technologies such as Spray Drying and Continuous Tableting. But what truly sets us apart is not just what we do — it is how we do it: with purpose, care, collaboration, and a deep commitment to doing the right things right.
Our people are the reason for our success. We are a global and diverse team of more than 2,600 team members across Europe, the USA, and Asia, bringing together different experiences and perspectives to help our partners to overcome complex challenges. We believe that an inclusive environment — where everyone, regardless of background, identity or ability, is respected, heard and empowered to contribute — is essential to drive innovation, ensure quality, and secure long‑term sustainable success.
And as we grow, so do the opportunities for our people to develop, broaden their perspectives, and build meaningful careers. Because at Hovione, better starts with those who choose to make a difference every day. Will you be one of them?
You will be responsible to:
Acquires, designs, implements and operates Hovione digital resources, including computer hardware, operating systems, communications, software applications, data processing and security. Activities include developing digital strategies, policies and plans; managing the acquisition, implementation, maintenance and use of information technology resources; and training and supporting technology users. It also supports and promotes continual technological innovation, prototyping and subsequently developing digital and robotics solutions to improve and simplify processes.
Develops deep understanding of the business and its functions. Acts as the primary connection between Digital and Business functions. Establishes and manages the portfolio of digital initiatives. Provides support and services in relation to the identification, development and implementation of new systems and enhancement of existing systems. Assesses and/or develops program logic for new IT solutions or analyses and modifies logic in existing systems. Analyses requirements, tests and integrates solution components. Ensures that system improvements are successfully implemented. May test new code and typically works in a highly efficient “Agile” development environment. Prepares communications and makes presentations on system enhancements and/or alternatives.
Career band description:
Apply expertise in a professional area of specialty as an individual contributor or through contributing to/managing project teams in order to achieve results. Entry-level jobs typically require a university degree or equivalent work experience that provides knowledge of and exposure to fundamental theories, principles and practices.
Proficiency level description:
Require in-depth knowledge of their discipline to solve complex problems by analysing possible solutions and taking a new perspective on existing solutions.
May lead ad-hoc functional teams or projects, in a matrix environment, coordinating and overseeing the work of colleagues.
Work mostly independently with minimal guidance from their manager.
Main responsibilities:
AI Roadmap & Strategic Alignment
Define and align the AI digital transformation roadmap with Hovione strategic goals and business areas’ functional priorities, based on robust value cases, success metrics and benefit-tracking mechanisms.
Assess the maturity of business processes and technologies to identify improvement opportunities within the assigned business functions. This includes assessing AI readiness to pinpoint where AI can deliver tangible business benefits.
Enact the Hovione’s Digital Portfolio Management Framework, acting as the main driver for project lifecycle stages of Ideation and Preparation, ensuring AI use cases are compiled, assessed and prioritized consistently with portfolio governance.
Act as an embedded, ‘forward deployed’ AI partner within the assigned business areas, conducting rapid discovery of AI opportunities together with business and transformation teams and translating ambiguous business problems into actionable AI use cases.
Contribute to the definition and evolution of Hovione’s AI strategy and roadmap, feeding learnings from field engagements back into the enterprise AI agenda.
Stakeholder Engagement
Promote strong working partnerships with key stakeholders from business areas to ensure alignment regarding digital transformation priorities and AI adoption.
Engage with sponsors to secure support and resources required to drive digital transformation initiatives.
Serve as trusted AI advisor to business leaders, challenging assumptions, framing the problem before the solution and recommending pragmatic decisions even when information is incomplete.
Partner with Infrastructure, Data, Integrations, Cybersecurity, Quality and Compliance teams to ensure AI solutions are secure, scalable and aligned with enterprise standards and architectural principles.
Requirements & Backlog Management
Gather and analyze requirements related with business capabilities to be introduced / elevated through digital transformation initiatives. For AI use cases, this includes defining data and knowledge sources, expected outputs, human-in-the-loop controls and acceptance criteria.
Maintain and optimize the requirements backlog, ensuring prioritization according to business value, strategic impact, and risk considerations. Maintain a dedicated AI use case pipeline with clear status, value and risk visibility.
Identify opportunities to increase awareness and training regarding existing digital solutions and their applicability to business processes as to ensure effective adoption and sustained value throughout their lifecycle Drive AI literacy and adoption initiatives (enablement journeys, champions networks, prompting guidance) to embed AI in day-to-day ways of working.
AI Value Delivery & Rapid Prototyping
Rapidly validate AI ideas through proofs of concept and pilots, working hand in hand with end users to iterate on solutions, test assumptions and solve real-world problems.
Identify reusable patterns, prompts, agents and components emerging from field engagements, feeding them back into Digital teams to accelerate the scaling of successful solutions into enterprise capabilities.
Hand over validated prototypes to delivery teams and external partners with clear business rationale and requirements and non-functional considerations for industrialization.
Solution Assessment & Market Research
Identify and evaluate potential digital solutions, ensuring adherence to assessment processes and conducting end-to-end impact and feasibility analysis with key stakeholders (system owners, process owners, teach leads). This includes assessing AI platforms, agents and AI features embedded in existing vendor applications for fit, feasibility, risk and total cost of ownership.
Research user needs, business practices, and competitor approaches to inform solution design and drive continuous improvement.
Stay abreast of emerging technologies, market trends, and innovative solutions, proactively assessing their relevance and potential value to the organization.
Solution Delivery & Lifecycle
Coordinate requirements handover to project teams with detailed business rationale.
Support digital solutions lifecycle management, ensuring compliance and delivery of business value. For AI solutions, monitor adoption, output quality and value realization in operation, driving continuous improvement.
Ensure compliance with IT governance, standards and policies. For AI, this includes Hovione’s AI policy, data privacy and GxP / computerized system validation requirements, as applicable.
Contribute to AI governance practices, including use case risk classification, human oversight and agent/solution lifecycle management, as well as enterprise AI standards and best practices.
Budget Management & Monitoring
Review needs and priorities with business areas and digital functions regularly, to ensure alignment on priories and validate projected resource requirements.
Manage budget allocation and pipeline prioritization in agreement with Hovione strategic objectives and business areas’ requirements, maintaining transparency through regular communication and accountability for compiling updated resource forecasts. This includes AI-specific cost drivers such as licensing and consumption.
Ensure delivery of the digital roadmap on time, within scope, and aligned with budgetary constraints.
We are looking to recruit a Candidate:
- University, or equivalent, qualification in Information Technology or similar scientific field (mandatory)
Proven track record over 2+ years of identifying, shaping and delivering AI / generative AI use cases in an enterprise context, from discovery through pilot to adoption (mandatory).
Typically requires 5-8 years of relevant experience in businesses process management, product management in agile environment.
Exposure to AI, data or task automation initiatives (mandatory).
Experience working embedded within business teams in a consultative or ‘forward deployed’ capacity, translating ambiguous business problems into practical technology solutions (mandatory).
Experience moving AI or digital solutions from proof of concept to production-ready, adopted solutions in collaboration with technical delivery teams (mandatory).
Demonstrated capability of managing stakeholders across all levels of the organization (mandatory).
Experience in developing and spearheading the implementation of digital transformation initiatives (mandatory).
Strong process mapping and value engineering skills (mandatory).
Experience in driving continuous improvement initiatives, including change management (mandatory).
Experience leading adoption of AI-enabled ways of working (e.g. AI literacy programs, champions networks) (mandatory).
Experience in project management, project management certifications (desired).
Experience in regulated industries (pharmaceutical, life sciences) and GxP environments (desired).
Great communication and presentation skills, including the ability to explain AI concepts, risks and value to non-technical audiences and senior leadership.
Solid understanding of AI concepts and their business application: generative AI, large language models, agents and agentic workflows, knowledge grounding, prompt engineering and their limitations.
Hands-on proficiency configuring low-code AI solutions, namely agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio.
Understanding of data and integration foundations for AI (data quality, data access, APIs, connectors) sufficient to engage credibly with architects and engineers.
Great prioritization methodology with agile/scrum best practices combined with rapid experimentation and iterative prototyping approaches.
Fluency in English is a requirement
Computer literate with good working knowledge of the MS Office package, including advanced use of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate, Power Apps) and SharePoint as enablers of AI-powered workflows is a plus.
Knowledge of Responsible AI, AI governance and regulatory frameworks (e.g. EU AI Act, GDPR, GxP / computerized system validation) is a plus.
Hovione is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer
Inclusion and diversity are key to us. We are committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience and welcome applications from all qualified candidates. If you require any reasonable accommodation or support during the application or interview process, please contact us, and we will be happy to assist.
Notice to Agencies and Search Firms Representatives
Hovione does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies or search firms for this job posting. Any resumes submitted to Hovione by a third-party agency or search firm without a valid written and signed search agreement will become the sole property of Hovione. No fees will be paid if a candidate is hired for this position as a result of an unsolicited referral.