Senior Legal Counsel

johnson & johnson international (singapore) pte. ltd.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine in Singapore is seeking a Senior Legal Counsel, Innovative Medicines APAC to provide practical, risk-balanced legal support to the regional team and partners across commercial, medical, market access, and business development. You will help drive launches, governance, and regional initiatives.

A law degree and 7–10+ years of post-qualification experience in life sciences or regulated industries are required, with strong negotiation and drafting skills and

Qualifications

• Law degree (LLB, JD, or equivalent) from an accredited institution; admission to practice law required.
• Strong negotiation, drafting and contract interpretation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to provide clear, commercially grounded and pragmatic legal advice to senior business leaders and cross-functional teams.
• Experience supporting multinational life sciences, healthcare, pharmaceutical, or other highly regulated businesses.

Responsibilities

• Provide dedicated legal support to the Innovative Medicines APAC regional team, delivering practical, risk-balanced advice aligned with business objectives, legal requirements, and J&J compliance standards.
• Partner closely with regional stakeholders including commercial, medical, market access, business development, HCC, privacy, communications, supply chain, and procurement teams.
• Support regional initiatives including launches, lifecycle initiatives, medical and commercial initiatives, business development and alliance management activities, and regional governance processes.
• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts and related documentation coordinating with local counsel and subject-matter experts as needed.
• Enable APAC legal process optimisation by supporting templates, playbooks, trackers, approval matrices, knowledge resources, and other scalable ways of working.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate legal and compliance risks across regional initiatives, escalating strategic, high-risk matters through appropriate senior legal leaders.

Skills

Negotiation

Drafting

Contract interpretation

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory compliance

Education

Law degree (LLB/JD)

Job description

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is recruiting for a Senior Legal Counsel, Innovative Medicines Asia Pacific, located in Singapore.

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

Job Overview

The Senior Legal Counsel, Innovative Medicines APAC will provide practical, commercially relevant, and risk-balanced legal support to the Innovative Medicines APAC regional team. The role is designed to partner closely with key regional stakeholders including regional commercial, medical, market access, and business development teams, HCC, privacy, communications, supply chain, procurement and local market lawyers. The position is focused on agile counselling, stakeholder engagement, regional coordination, execution support, and escalation of complex or high-risk matters through established senior legal leadership pathways.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide dedicated legal support to the Innovative Medicines APAC regional team, delivering practical, risk-balanced advice aligned with business objectives, legal requirements, and J&J compliance standards.

• Partner closely with the Innovative Medicines APAC regional team and key local, regional stakeholders, including commercial, medical, market access, business development, HCC, privacy, communications, supply chain, and procurement teams.

• Support regional initiatives including launches, lifecycle initiatives, medical and commercial initiatives, business development and alliance management activities, and regional governance processes.

• Draft, review, and negotiate contracts and related documentation coordinating with local counsel and subject-matter experts as needed.

• Enable APAC legal process optimisation by supporting templates, playbooks, trackers, approval matrices, knowledge resources, and other scalable ways of working.

• Identify, assess, and help mitigate legal and compliance risks across regional initiatives, escalating strategic, high-risk, sensitive, or enterprise-level matters through appropriate senior legal leaders and governance pathways.

• Act as a regional connector across the Innovative Medicines APAC regional functions, and local markets to balance regional consistency with market-specific requirements, and connect with Global Innovative Medicine Legal team members and regional lawyers outside APAC.

Qualifications:

• Law degree (LLB, JD, or equivalent) from an accredited institution; admission to practice law required.

Experience and Skills:

Required:

• Minimum 7–10+ years of post-qualification legal experience, including relevant in-house or law firm experience supporting multinational life sciences, healthcare, pharmaceutical, or other highly regulated businesses.

• Strong understanding of healthcare, pharmaceutical, life sciences, compliance, privacy, and/or industry code requirements in a regional operating environment.

• Strong negotiation, drafting and contract interpretation skills.

• Demonstrated ability to provide clear, commercially grounded and pragmatic legal advice to senior business leaders and cross-functional teams.

• Demonstrated ability to coordinate across local market counsel, regional subject-matter experts, and senior legal leaders to support consistent, compliant, and market-sensitive outcomes.

• Strong stakeholder management, communication, judgement, and execution skills, with the ability to escalation complex, sensitive, or enterprise-level matters appropriately.

• A demonstrated willingness to engage with innovative solutions, technology, and new ways of working and ability to operate effectively in a complex global organization

Preferred:

• Experience within the pharmaceuticals, medical devices or life sciences industry.

• Prior experience supporting multi‑country or regional operations.

• Familiarity with competition law, data protection, AI and privacy laws

• Experience developing or using legal templates, playbooks, trackers, approval matrices, knowledge resources, or other process optimisation tools.

Others:

• Fluency in English required; additional APAC languages a plus.

• Singapore-based role, with regular engagement with the Innovative Medicines APAC regional team.

• Periodic travel within APAC may be required to support regional priorities and stakeholder engagement.

• Admission to practice law in an APAC jurisdiction.

For more information on how we support the whole health of our employees throughout their wellness, career and life journey, please visit www.careers.jnj.com.