Sr. Director, Data Science & AI, Orthopedics

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine•Warsaw, IN

1d•$196,000 - $342,700•Hybrid

About The Position

This role provides strategic and operational leadership for enterprise-wide data science and artificial intelligence capabilities supporting DePuy Synthes, a global leader in Orthopaedics. The Sr. Director will shape and lead the enterprise Data Science and AI organization, defining the strategy, standing up the AI Hub, setting technical standards, and building a team to deliver AI at scale across R&D, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Quality, Commercial, and Corporate functions. The successful candidate will be a hands-on technologist and strategist, capable of laying out a multi-year AI strategy for an executive audience, evaluating architecture and models, establishing governance and standards for safe and defensible AI in a regulated MedTech environment, and leading delivery through a global operating model. This role reports into the DePuy Synthes Technology organization, specifically to the Chief Data and AI Officer.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required in Data Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field.
12-14 years of relevant work experience, including senior leadership experience in data science, advanced analytics, or AI.
Deep current expertise in AI/ML Landscape; classic ML, Deep Learning, generative AI/LLMs and agentic architectures.
Demonstrated expertise in MLOps/LLMOps and production AI at enterprise scale.
Working fluency with the modern AI/data stack; e.g., Databricks/Snowflake/Sagemaker or comparable platforms, vector database orchestration frameworks and GenAI provider ecosystem (Anthropic, openAI, etc.).
Demonstrated ability to translate complex data insights into actionable business outcomes.
Experience partnering with senior executives and cross-functional stakeholders.
Executive level communication, able to set strategy with C-suite audiences, defend technical position and rigor and translate between business and deep technical stakeholders.
Strong people leadership, talent development, and change management capabilities.
English proficiency required.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or PhD preferred.
Experience in healthcare, medical technology, life sciences, or regulated industries.
Familiarity with enterprise data platforms, cloud-based analytics, and AI toolsets.
Experience establishing AI governance, ethics frameworks, and model risk management.
Global or matrixed organizational leadership experience.
Strong executive communication and storytelling skills using data and analytics.
Proven experience leading enterprise-scale data science and AI teams and initiatives.

Responsibilities

Define and lead the enterprise Data Science & AI strategy, roadmap and investment in alignment with business priorities and IT objectives, spanning machine learning, generative AI and agentic AI.
Build, lead, and develop high-performing Data Science and AI team. Hire top talent, define roles and career paths, and establish a culture of rigor, speed and accountability.
Serve as a senior Technical voice for AI across the enterprise, translating business problems into AI opportunities and setting realistic expectations grounded in what technology can and cannot do.
Stand up and operate the enterprise AI hub; Shared platform, reusable patterns, Model registry and delivery accelerators through which all AI use cases are built and deployed.
Establish standards and reference architectures for generative and agentic AI, orchestration frameworks, retrieval patterns, semantic layers/knowledge graphs, agent action boundaries, observability and Human in the loop controls.
Evaluate and manage the AI tech stack and vendor ecosystem (cloud ML platforms, GenAI Providers, data science tooling) including build vs buy decisions and commercial negotiations in partnership with procurement.
Partner with business and functional leaders to identify, prioritize, and deliver high-value analytics and AI use cases.
Design and operationalize the enterprise AI governance framework; Model risk management, validation standards, explainability, bias and fairness testing, drift monitoring and audit trails.
Partner with Quality, Regulatory, legal and privacy to ensure AI deployments meet GxP, 21 CFR Part 11, SOX and data privacy obligations.
Track and evaluate emerging AI capabilities (frontier models, Agentic frameworks, domain specific models) and bring the right ones into the enterprise.
Oversee the design, development, and deployment of scalable data science and AI solutions, including predictive and prescriptive analytics.
Establish governance, standards, and best practices for data science, AI model development, validation, and lifecycle management.
Collaborate with enterprise data, digital, and IT teams to enable modern data platforms and advanced analytics capabilities.
Track performance, value realization, and adoption of Data & AI initiatives, continuously driving improvement and innovation.

Benefits

Consolidated retirement plan (pension)
Savings plan (401(k))
Long-term incentive program
Vacation –120 hours per calendar year
Sick time - 40 hours per calendar year (varies by state)
Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays –13 days per calendar year
Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year
Parental Leave – 480 hours within one year of the birth/adoption/foster care of a child
Bereavement Leave – 240 hours for an immediate family member: 40 hours for an extended family member per calendar year
Caregiver Leave – 80 hours in a 52-week rolling period
Volunteer Leave – 32 hours per calendar year
Military Spouse Time-Off – 80 hours per calendar year