Executive Director, Semantic and Knowledge Engineering

About the role

Reporting to the VP, Applied AI, Data Science and Commercial Intelligence, the Executive Director leads the strategy, architecture and implementation of the enterprise semantic layer and knowledge engineering capabilities that power NovaOS. The role builds a trusted, reusable knowledge foundation connecting data, business concepts, ontologies, taxonomies and AI agents so that reasoning, interoperability and enterprise intelligence are consistent and scalable. The preferred location is East Hanover, with possible remote work subject to legal-entity restrictions; relocation is not provided.

Key responsibilities

• Define and execute the enterprise strategy for semantic technologies, knowledge engineering and knowledge graph capabilities.
• Lead the development and governance of ontologies, taxonomies, business vocabularies and semantic models.
• Design and implement the enterprise semantic layer enabling trusted AI, consistent analytics, interoperability and reusable business knowledge.
• Partner with Applied AI, Data Science, Product Management, Engineering and Business teams to embed semantic capabilities into NovaOS products and AI solutions.
• Set up governance, metadata management, knowledge lifecycle processes and quality standards for enterprise knowledge assets.
• Drive innovation in knowledge graphs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), semantic search, reasoning engines and AI-enabled knowledge management.
• Build and lead a team of semantic engineers, ontology specialists and knowledge engineers.

Required profile

• Bachelor's or advanced degree in Computer Science, Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Bioinformatics or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in semantic technologies, knowledge engineering, enterprise architecture, data management or AI platforms, including leadership experience.
• Deep expertise in ontologies, taxonomies, metadata, RDF/OWL, knowledge graphs, graph databases, semantic web technologies and enterprise information architecture.
• Experience building enterprise semantic platforms that support AI, analytics, search and data interoperability at scale.
• Exceptional leadership, executive communication and cross-functional stakeholder management skills.
• Desirable: experience applying semantic technologies to generative AI, agentic AI, RAG and enterprise AI platforms, and experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare or other highly regulated industries.

Required skills

• RDF/OWL, knowledge graphs, graph databases, semantic web technologies
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and semantic search
• Data governance, data management and data quality

What we offer

• Expected salary range of $225,400 to $418,600 per year, with a performance-based cash incentive and possible eligibility for annual equity awards.
• Benefits package including health, life and disability coverage, a 401(k) with company contribution and match, and a time-off package including vacation, personal days and holidays.