Director, External Innovation, DPDS (Biology Technologies) – 2 openings

At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, we are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more at jnj.com

As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world. We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual. At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit.

Job Function:

Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development

Job Sub Function:

Multi-Family Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development – Pharm

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, La Jolla, California, United States of America, South San Francisco, California, United States of America, Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description:

About Innovative Medicine:

Our expertise in Innovative Medicine is informed and inspired by patients, whose insights fuel our science-based advancements. Visionaries like you work on teams that save lives by developing the medicines of tomorrow.

Join us in developing treatments, finding cures, and pioneering the path from lab to life while championing patients every step of the way.

Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/innovative-medicine

We are searching for the best talent for a Director, External Innovation, DPDS (Biology Technologies) based in South San Francisco, CA; La Jolla, CA; Cambridge, MA; or Spring House, PA.

Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position. Relocation support may be provided for qualified candidates in accordance with company policy.

Purpose:

As the molecular invention and product development engine of Research & Development for J&J Innovative Medicine, Discovery, Product Development and Supply (DPDS) aims to unlock the potential of the most promising disease targets and drug candidates, regardless of source, stage, or modality, to discover, develop and deliver transformational medicines for patients.

Within DPDS, the External Innovation team is now looking for an extraordinary Director level leader who is passionate about taking an important role to identify, shape, onboard, and nurture external partnerships that support the DPDS innovation strategy.

The person who takes this key role will have a particular emphasis and deep expertise in next-generation human-relevant experimental platforms that accelerate pharmacology, translational sciences, and safety assessment. Areas of focus include complex in vitro models, 2D and 3D cellular systems, organoids, microphysiological systems (MPS), organ-on-a-chip and lab-on-a-chip technologies, laboratory automation, genetic and chemical perturbation platforms, and virtual cell and AI-ready biology platforms.

The expectation is that this leader will also take a proactive role to work with the other members of the DPDS External Innovation team to optimize the DPDS / TA interface in order to deliver against our current and future portfolio of therapeutics. You will also support global External Innovation Team DPDS with scouting, landscaping and transactional support in collaboration with sourcing and activation functions.

Your will be responsible for:

• Lead the identification, evaluation, and partnership development with emerging companies, academic groups, and technology innovators advancing human-relevant models for pharmacology, toxicology, and translational sciences, including:

• Advanced 2D and 3D cellular systems, organoids, and assembloids
• Microphysiological systems, organ-on-a-chip and lab-on-a-chip technologies
• Humanized and multicellular human disease models
• High-content and high-throughput phenotypic screening platforms
• CRISPR, gene editing, and other genetic perturbation systems
• Chemical biology and chemical perturbation-based discovery platforms
• Laboratory automation, robotic experimentation, and self-driving lab concepts
• In collaboration with the AI/ML focused team in DPDS External Innovation also support the identification and evaluation of computational biology technologies and systems including:
• Virtual cells, digital biology, and computational cell models
• Multi-agentic AI platforms for hypothesis generation, risk assessment and closed loop AI drug discovery

• Identify technologies capable of generating high-quality, scalable, multimodal, AI-ready datasets suitable for machine learning applications across discovery, translational medicine, and safety sciences

…