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Associate Director Data Engineering

Posted date Oct. 23, 2026
Contract type Full time
Job ID R-262374
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Why choose AstraZeneca Spain?

AstraZeneca Spain is a rising force in our global business. With headquarters in Madrid and our global hub in Barcelona, we’ve become an important international centre of excellence in the fight against critical disease. Boasting vibrant universities and business schools, the Barcelona ecosystem is a place where scientists can thrive. We attract a diverse workforce from across the globe, shining a beacon for innovation in a country that’s committed to clinical development.

We invite you to bring your talents to Barcelona where our respiratory medicine R&D and Global Marketing centre offers opportunities in R&D, IT, Commercial and HR. Or join us in Madrid and shape our growth in our BUs (Respiratory, Oncology & CVRM ), and a range of Corporate functions. Additionally, you can find sales roles throughout the country. Together, we’re contributing to a world-leading pipeline of therapeutics and delivering life-changing medicines to patients.

Who do we look for?

Calling all tech innovators, ownership takers, challenge seekers and proactive collaborators. At AstraZeneca Spain, breakthroughs born in the lab become transformative medicine for the world's most complex diseases. Alongside technical expertise, colleagues have the resilience, energy and collaborative mindset to change lanes, work with different teams and start projects from scratch.

Here, diverse minds and bold disruptors can meaningfully impact the future of healthcare using cutting-edge technology. Whether you join us in Madrid or Barcelona, you can make a tangible impact within a global biopharmaceutical company that invests in your future. Join a talented global team that's powering AstraZeneca to better serve patients every day.

Success Profile

Ready to make an impact in your career? If you're passionate, growth-orientated and a true team player, we'll help you succeed. Here are some of the skills and capabilities we look for.

Diverse collaborators

This is a speak-up culture that values collaboration. You’ll proactively bring your unique perspectives, experiences and skills to the table and seek the same from others. With our international team composition and the need for fast-paced collaboration, you’ll always be building new connections with colleagues.

Cutting-edge innovators

When you join us, you’ll be part of a team that embraces digital technology and data to transform the way we work and the work we do. Every day, you’ll help make history, empowered to ignite your creativity and build something enduring.

Resilient trailblazers

Here, the answers aren’t always available. So, you’ll need to bring a fearless, self-starter mindset to navigate uncharted territories. You’ll harness your ceaseless energy to discover and make the necessary connections with colleagues to shape the future and achieve maximum impact.

Agile movers

Seize ownership and excel with autonomy to enjoy the constant rush of ground-breaking discovery. Your ability to anticipate sudden shifts and adapt swiftly will prove critical as you make your mark in an environment that rewards initiative and resilience.

Responsibilities

Job ID R-262374 Date posted 10/23/2026

This is an in-office role based in Barcelona, ES, with a requirement to work a minimum of three days per week on-site. Remote or travel flexibility is not available.

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Data Engineer to join our dynamic team. You will significantly impact the role of data engineering on the delivery of Data Products to the Oncology R&D organisation. Ensuring we are continuously advancing our data stack as well as our automation and observability capabilities will be central to your work.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

  • Building and maintaining the infrastructure and pipelines for extracting, transforming, and loading data for use in data products and analyses.
  • Working with data scientists and other stakeholders to understand the data needs and requirements of the organization and designing data systems and pipelines to meet these needs.
  • Implementing data ingestion, transformation, and storage systems in a FAIR and high-quality way 
  • Ensuring the reliability, scalability, and performance of data systems and pipelines.
  • Implementing data governance policies and procedures to ensure the security, privacy, and integrity of data.
  • Collaborating with other members of the data team to build and maintain data products and services.
  • Staying up-to-date with new technologies and best practices in the field of data engineering

Essential Requirements

  • Computer Science, Engineering, or Bioinformatics background (Master level) with 5 years of relevant experience 
  • Deep knowledge of Python and vast experience with Python data and scientific libraries like pandas, numpy/scipy, polars, etc
  • An ability to interact with various data sources, both structured and unstructured (e.g. HDFS, SQL, noSQL)
  • Experience working across multiple scientific compute environments to create data workflows and pipelines (e.g. HPC, cloud, Unix/Linux systems)
  • Understanding of the FAIR data principles and how they apply to the delivery of integrated X-Omics solutions
  • Deep understanding of typical data quality issues, cleaning and masking techniques

Desirable Skills

  • Experience working with metadata models, controlled vocabularies and ontologies
  • Experience with deploying data pipelines using orchestration services: Airflow/Prefect/AWS Glue/Dagster/etc.
  • Experience using AWS services: S3/EBS, EC2, CloudWatch, SNS and Lambda.
  • Understanding of software development, testing and quality processes, experience with testing frameworks and documentation
  • Expertise with biological/health data, especially NGS and other ‘omic technologies.
  • Ability to understand, map, integrate, and document complex data relationship and business rules.

#EAI

Date Posted

23-oct-2026

Closing Date

29-oct-2026

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.

Reasons to Join

Thomas Mathisen

There are many things I enjoy when working at AstraZeneca, mainly the Speak up culture, the great colleagues that are in my teams, the great products that AstraZeneca provides to our patients and the challenging conversations I have around our medicines.

Sales Representative Oslo, Norway

There are many things I enjoy when working at AstraZeneca, mainly the Speak up culture, the great colleagues that are in my teams, the great products that AstraZeneca provides to our patients and the challenging conversations I have around our medicines.

Christine Recchio

Working at AstraZeneca has impacted my life in such a positive way. I now have an improved work-life balance through creating my own schedule and time management, I feel a balance that I didn’t have before.

Sales Representative California, United States

Working at AstraZeneca has impacted my life in such a positive way. I now have an improved work-life balance through creating my own schedule and time management, I feel a balance that I didn’t have before.

Stephanie Ling

There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy working in AstraZeneca, my colleagues being one of them. My team members and the managers have provided a great deal of guidance in helping me to be more confident in my daily work.

Sales Representative Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy working in AstraZeneca, my colleagues being one of them. My team members and the managers have provided a great deal of guidance in helping me to be more confident in my daily work.

What we offer

We're driven by our shared values of serving people, society and the planet. Our people make this possible, which is why we prioritise diversity, inclusivity, balance and sustainability. Discover what a career at AstraZeneca could mean for you.

An award-winning company

We're passionate about being a great place to work, and 84% of our employees would recommend us as an employer. We've been recognised as a Top Employer in Spain, an EFR Family Responsible Business, and we achieved third place in Forbes Spain's Top 50 Best Places to Work list.

Inclusive environment

Diversity and inclusion are embedded in everything we do, and our different views, experiences and strengths enrich our culture. There's no salary gap at AstraZeneca, and the number of female employees has increased by four per cent over the last three years. We've also made all positions fully accessible.

Work-life balance

Your wellbeing means a lot to us, and we're here to support you through all of life's ups and downs. That's why we offer an unpaid leave policy, annual leave, reduced-hours timetables and a host of benefits, including a retirement plan, long service award, and health and travel insurance.

Sustainability initiatives

We're committed to harnessing the power of science to become a more sustainable business. We've reduced our carbon footprint by over 9,000 kg of CO2 over the last two years, and we lead the European GoGreen Project, which aims to introduce environmentally friendly options in our fleet of corporate vehicles.

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Great culture, great work assignments, supportive management. Rotation opportunity within the company. They value our people.