R&D Oral Health Lead US

Haleon • Warren Township, NJ

9d • Onsite

About The Position

The R&D Oral Health Lead is Haleon US R&D’s accountable scientific authority for the Oral Health category, bringing deep technical expertise, rigorous evidence generation, and influential thought leadership to shape portfolio decisions. This newly created, Director‑level role owns the scientific strategy for the US Oral Health pipeline—from hypothesis to claims substantiation—ensuring robust study design, data integrity, regulatory/medical governance alignment, and consumer‑meaningful innovation across priority brands and indications. The role also serves as the single point of contact for US R&D for the US Oral Health Category Roundtable, led by the General Manager, with responsibility for framing scientific perspectives, enabling decision‑quality trade‑offs, and driving follow‑through. This role is part of Future North America OTC Team.

Requirements

• Advanced degree (PhD, DDS/DMD, MS) in a relevant scientific discipline.
• 10+ years’ experience in R&D within consumer health, oral care, or pharmaceutical fields.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated experience developing claims and evidence strategies for consumer healthcare/oral care products (including substantiation dossiers and challenge readiness).
• Exceptional scientific communication and stakeholder‑influence skills, including the ability to translate complex evidence into crisp recommendations for senior leaders and cross‑functional decision forums.
• Track record of scientific thought leadership (e.g., publications, conference presentations, standards/working groups, or KOL partnerships) in oral health or adjacent biomedical fields.

Responsibilities

• Serve as US R&D’s single accountable scientific owner for the Oral Health category, setting evidence standards, scientific direction, and decision criteria for the portfolio.
• Own and maintain the US Oral Health innovation and claims roadmap (problem statements, hypotheses, evidence plans, and timelines), ensuring clear milestones, risks, and accountability for delivery.
• Act as the US R&D single point of contact for the US Oral Health Category Roundtable (led by the GM): define scientific inputs, develop pre‑reads, document decisions, and drive action closure and impact tracking.
• Lead the end‑to‑end design and execution of clinical, laboratory, and claims‑supporting studies, including protocol development, statistical considerations, endpoint selection, vendor oversight, and quality controls to ensure data integrity and reproducibility.
• Serve as the recognized US oral care scientific thought leader—synthesizing internal/external evidence into clear scientific narratives, identifying emerging science, and translating insights into investable opportunities and defensible claims.
• Establish fit‑for‑purpose evidence governance (study dossiers, traceable substantiation files, and decision logs) to enable confident internal reviews, audits, and external scrutiny.
• Partner with Regulatory Affairs and Legal to set claim substantiation standards and manage risk, ensuring compliance with FDA/FTC/NAD expectations and readiness for challenge, inquiry, or competitive response.
• Drive aligned scientific decision‑making across Global Category R&D, Medical, Regulatory Affairs, Marketing, Insights, and Supply/Quality as needed—clarifying assumptions, trade‑offs, and go/no‑go recommendations grounded in evidence.
• Lead priority US R&D programs with end‑to‑end accountability for scientific integrity, timelines, and budget; proactively identify risks, resolve issues, and ensure measurable outcomes from study readouts through claim enablement and launch support.

Benefits

• Generous 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement
• Time off programs
• 6 months paid parental leave
• Healthcare programs where the company pays for the majority of your medical coverage for you and your family
• Discretionary bonus based on the achievement of key business performance
• Other incentive/recognition programs

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director