Sr Director - R&D DDSAI - Discovery Biologics

Johnson & Johnson•Spring House, PA

13d•Onsite

About The Position

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is seeking an accomplished scientific and organizational leader to oversee all Data & AI activities supporting Discovery Biologics. Your mission will be to help our scientists discover the best possible molecules with speed to double our rate of clinical candidates in our already industry leading organization. You will set the organization’s data and AI strategy for Discovery Biologics, build outstanding multidisciplinary capabilities, and translate advances in Tech, Data, & AI into productive scientific practice. Working closely with Discovery Biologics scientists and IT, you will connect molecular design, experimentation, data generation, and analytical insight into a new AI-Native Biologics engine that learns from every experiment.

Requirements

Ph.D. or equivalent experience in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Protein Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, AI/ML, Applied Mathematics, or a related discipline.
12+ years of relevant experience applying data science, computational methods, or AI in drug discovery or related scientific environments, including 7+ years building and leading scientific or technical teams.
Substantial experience in biologics discovery, with the scientific depth to partner credibly with antibody and protein engineering scientists.
Demonstrated success translating ML/AI and data capabilities into experimentally grounded discovery decisions and adopted scientific workflows.
Strong technical judgment across ML/AI, scientific computing, data engineering, and model lifecycle management.
Experience setting strategy, prioritizing investments, and delivering complex programs through multidisciplinary teams and matrix partnerships.
Expertise in building reusable, interoperable data foundations with high standards for quality, governance, and reproducibility.
Exceptional executive communication and stakeholder leadership, with the ability to connect technical opportunities to scientific and organizational priorities.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AI-enabled experimentation, laboratory automation, or closed-loop optimization.
Familiarity with knowledge graphs, ontologies, semantic search, and scientific data integration.
Experience connecting discovery data and insights with developability and downstream development needs.
A record of scientific publications, intellectual property, or impactful academic and industry collaborations.

Responsibilities

Define and execute an integrated strategy spanning data, advanced analytics, machine learning, and AI across Discovery Biologics.
Translate scientific and portfolio priorities into a focused, multiyear roadmap, balancing immediate discovery needs with differentiated long-term capabilities.
Oversee the Data & AI project portfolio, aligning investments, resources, partnerships, and delivery priorities with scientific impact.
Serve as a senior strategic partner to the Discovery Biologics leadership team, communicating opportunities, progress, risks, and investment tradeoffs clearly.
Lead the development, evaluation, and deployment of AI approaches that support antibody engineering, lab data analytics, profiling, and candidate optimization.
Partner with experimental scientists & IT to define the questions that matter, design meaningful evaluations, and translate process opportunities into project investments with clear measurable impacts.
Advance predictive, generative, and multimodal approaches where they offer demonstrable value in collaboration with our Discovery modeling and IT teams.
Ensure promising methods become reliable, scalable capabilities embedded in discovery workflows rather than isolated proofs of concept.
Partner with scientific and automation teams to connect molecular design, experimental execution, data capture, analysis, and subsequent design decisions.
Ensure experimental data continuously strengthens models and scientific understanding.
Enable scientists at the center of AI-enabled discovery through the use of AI tools and lab automation.
Combining computational recommendations with experimental evidence and scientific reasoning.
Oversee the data strategy and engineering capabilities needed to capture, integrate, curate, and reuse Discovery Biologics data.
Establish durable data products connecting sequence, assay results, profiling, biophysical measurements, automation outputs, and external partner datasets.
Champion FAIR principles, semantic alignment, metadata quality, shared ontologies, and provenance.
Partner with downstream development colleagues to maintain continuity of molecular knowledge and developability evidence across the Discovery-to-CMC interface.
Partner with technology, platform, and enterprise AI teams to align scientific requirements with scalable architecture and infrastructure.
Oversee the full lifecycle of analytical and AI solutions, including development, testing, deployment, monitoring, maintenance, and improvement.
Promote reusable capabilities and standards that strengthen collaboration across R&D.
Attract exceptional talent and develop leaders who can bridge experimental science and computational innovation.
Foster a culture of scientific rigor, curiosity, collaboration, and accountability for usable outcomes.
Strengthen scientists’ data and AI Literacy through partnership, coaching, and practical demonstrations of value.
Build strategic collaborations with academic groups, biotechnology companies, technology partners, and scientific consortia.
Evaluate emerging methods and external capabilities against Discovery Biologics priorities.
Represent the organization in scientific and industry forums and support publications and intellectual property where appropriate.

Benefits

Inclusive work environment
Respect for diversity and dignity
Recognition of merit
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
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