Senior Scientist, Scientific Workflows & Agentic Cheminformatics

Johnson Johnson; Beerse; On-site; EUR 73,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson seeks a Senior Scientist, Scientific Workflows & Agentic Cheminformatics in Belgium. This role is part of the In Silico Discovery department within Therapeutics Discovery.

You will design, prototype, and validate agent-enabled workflows, develop reusable approaches, and collaborate with data science, platform engineering, and medicinal chemistry teams. Domestic and international travel up to 10% is expected; strong collaboration and independent work in an emerging field are

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent substantial experience in cheminformatics or related field.
• Strong Python and automated workflow development experience.
• Experience with AI-assisted development for scientific software.
• Ability to travel up to 10% domestically and internationally.
• Independent, cross-functional collaboration across science and data teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and prototype agent-enabled workflows for high-value discovery.
• Lead scientific design, prototyping, and validation with ISD and platform teams.
• Translate scientific questions into defined workflows and reusable approaches.
• Evaluate agent behavior for scientific validity and reproducibility.
• Capture insights to guide further development and broader adoption.
• Partner with chemists, biologists, data scientists to identify opportunities.

Skills

Python

Cheminformatics

Data Science

AI-assisted development

Independent work

Travel up to 10%

Education

PhD or equivalent

Tools

Python

Job description

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: Data Analytics & Computational Sciences

Job Sub Function: Data Science

Job Category: Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations: Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, La Jolla, California, United States of America, Madrid, Spain, Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Toledo, Spain

Job Description:

Senior Scientist, Scientific Workflows & Agentic Cheminformatics

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.

We seeking for a talented computational Senior Scientist in Cheminformatics development, joining our cutting-edge In Silico Discovery department within Therapeutics Discovery at J&J.

A discovery scientist who applies cheminformatics and emerging agentic approaches to important scientific questions, develops and validates new workflows, and helps make useful capabilities accessible to scientists through familiar discovery environments.

The primary location for this role is Belgium.

Spain and the East & West coast of America will be considered also.

Mission

Design, prototype, and validate agent-enabled workflows for defined high-value discovery questions or use cases. Generate the scientific evidence, user feedback, and implementation requirements needed to advance successful concepts toward broader use in partnership with project, data science, and platform teams.

Core responsibilities

• Build trusted partnerships with medicinal chemists, In Silico Discovery (ISD) / CADD scientists, biologists, DMPK scientists, and data scientists to understand decision workflows and identify valuable opportunities within projects or defined discovery areas.
• Translate complex scientific questions into well-defined workflows that make evidence, assumptions, decisions, and points requiring expert judgment explicit, and contribute reusable approaches where appropriate.
• Design scientifically meaningful use cases, reference datasets, and success criteria that enable rigorous evaluation.
• Evaluate agent behavior and outputs for scientific validity, reproducibility, uncertainty, appropriate tool use, robustness across scenarios, and relevance to discovery decisions.
• Capture the scientific insights gained from early applications and use them to define which approaches merit further development and broader adoption.
• Develop and test agentic prototypes in realistic discovery settings, combining scientific expertise with relevant data, predictive models, computational or laboratory methods, and tools that agents can select and coordinate to address a scientific objective.
• Take scientific and technical ownership of defined agentic prototypes or workstreams, set fit-for-purpose success measures, make informed trade-offs, and ensure that the work addresses meaningful discovery needs and delivers measurable value.
• Support adoption of agentic capabilities by integrating them into familiar scientific environments and working directly with users through project partnerships, training, and feedback.
• Lead the scientific design, prototyping, and validation of assigned agent-enabled discovery workflows, and collaborate with data science and platform engineering teams from an early stage by contributing scientific requirements, evidence, and user feedback for production implementation, security, and sustained operation. Help translate successful project solutions into reusable capabilities aligned with shared architectures.

Required skills

• PhD or equivalent substantial experience in cheminformatics, computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, or a related discipline, with strong scientific expertise relevant to drug discovery.
• Strong understanding of compound design and predictive models with the ability to connect scientific needs across disciplines within project or capability teams.
• Strong Python programming skills and experience developing automated workflows, pipelines, or scientific applications to explore scientific questions and create practical proof-of-concept solutions.
• Hands-on experience using AI-assisted development approaches to build reliable scientific software or automated workflows
• Demonstrated ability to work independently in an emerging area, translate scientific needs into practical solutions, and collaborate effectively across scientific, data science, and technology teams.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 10% of the time.

Preferred skills:

• Experience designing and evaluating end-to-end agent-enabled scientific workflows or multi-agent solutions is preferred.
• Familiarity with workflow orchestration and sound software development practices, including version control, testing, and continuous integration and delivery.
• Strong knowledge of and hands-on experience with public and commercial bioactivity and chemogenomics databases

Required Skills: Advanced Analytics, Business Intelligence (BI), Coaching, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Data Analysis, Database Management, Data Privacy Standards, Data Reporting, Data Savvy, Data Science, Data Visualization, Econometric Models, Process Improvements, Technical Credibility, Technologically Savvy, Workflow Analysis

Preferred Skills: Advanced Analytics, Business Intelligence (BI), Coaching, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Data Analysis, Database Management, Data Privacy Standards, Data Reporting, Data Savvy, Data Science, Data Visualization, Econometric Models, Process Improvements, Technical Credibility, Technologically Savvy, Workflow Analysis

The anticipated base pay range for this position is: €72,500.00 - €115,230.00

Benefits: In addition to base pay, we offer the following benefits*: an annual bonus with set target (% of pay) depending on pay grade / location, where the actual amount is based on the employees' and companies' performance of the previous calendar year, or sales commissions. Moreover, we offer vacation days, parental leave for a minimum of 12 weeks, bereavement leave, caregiver leave, volunteer leave, well-being reimbursement, programs for financial, physical and mental health. We also offer service anniversary and recognition awards, and subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees - and in some location's eligible dependents - can participate in several insurance plans. For more information, visit Employee benefits | Supporting well-being & career growth | Johnson & Johnson Careers.

*This is for informative purposes only. Amounts and actual benefits may vary by location and are subject to change.