Associate Director, Expression Sciences

Biopharma Careers; North Carolina; On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson’s Innovative Medicine unit in Spring House, PA seeks an Associate Director, Expression Sciences to drive high‑throughput recombinant protein expression across bacterial, insect, and mammalian systems. You will lead a team of scientists, design screening strategies, and partner with Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology to accelerate target-to-lead timelines.

You will implement automation, manage external CROs, ensure EHS/ELN compliance, and translate program needs into

Qualifications

• Education as stated: Ph.D. or MS/BS with extensive industry experience.
• Hands-on recombinant protein expression across multiple systems (E. coli, insect, mammalian, or cell-free).
• Proven HT expression screening design with automation and liquid-handling platforms.
• Previous people-management experience with scientific staff.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with Structural Biology, Protein Chemistry, Biophysics and Therapeutic Areas.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team responsible for high-throughput expression screening across multiple hosts.
• Define the strategic vision for the HT expression screening platform and align with priorities.
• Design and implement screening strategies to identify optimal expression conditions.
• Advance automation of workflows to increase throughput, reproducibility, and data quality.
• Partner with discovery teams to translate program needs into screening plans and timelines.
• Evaluate new technologies and platforms to improve throughput and success rates.
• Oversee data analysis and communicate data-driven recommendations to teams.
• Manage vendor/CRO relationships, including tech transfer and quality oversight.

Skills

High-throughput expression screening

Automation/liquid handling

People management

Cross-functional collaboration

Excellent communication

Vendor/CRO management

AI/ML-guided protein screening

Education

Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Structural Biology, Chemical Engineering or related field

MS/BS with commensurate experience

Tools

Tecan/automation platforms

Hamilton

LIMS

Job description

Job Function

Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development

Job Sub Function

Biological Research

Job Category

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations

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 Associate Director, Expression Sciences in Spring House, PA.

Purpose: The Associate Director, will integrate target biology insights with state of the art recombinant expression screening and analytics to streamline and accelerate protein production for assay development, high-throughput screening (HTS), pharmacological profiling, biophysics and structural biology (X-ray crystallography, Cryo-EM, HDX-MS and NMR) to advance discovery portfolio. As a key member of the Structural and Protein Sciences group, this position will play a critical role in partnering with the Protein Chemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology teams to contribute towards protein design & engineering, streamlining recombinant protein expression and production of novel protein targets and applying innovative tools to express the most complex targets including membrane proteins to accelerate target-to-lead timelines

We are seeking a scientifically thorough and collaborative leader who can work across discovery teams to drive impact across a diverse portfolio of. Success will require the ability to operate effectively within a highly matrixed, fast-paced environment, while contributing both strategically and hands‑on to program advancement.

You will be responsible to

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of scientists and associate scientists responsible for high‑throughput expression screening across bacterial, insect, and mammalian expression systems, including performance management and career development conversations.
• Define and execute the strategic vision for the HT expression screening platform, aligning capacity, automation investment, and technology roadmap with departmental and portfolio priorities.
• Design and implement high‑throughput construct and expression screening strategies to rapidly identify optimal expression conditions for challenging soluble and membrane protein targets.
• Drive automation of expression screening workflows using liquid‑handling robotics and laboratory information management systems to increase throughput, reproducibility, and data quality.
• Partner with Therapeutic Area discovery teams, Protein Chemistry, and Structural Biology leads to translate program needs into feasible expression screening plans, timelines, and risk‑mitigation strategies.
• Evaluate, pilot, and implement new technologies and platforms (e.g., novel expression hosts, cell‑free systems, AI/ML‑guided protein screening) to continuously improve screening throughput and success rates.
• Oversee data analysis, interpretation, and reporting of expression screening results, ensuring timely, data‑driven recommendations are communicated to project teams and management.
• Manage vendor and CRO relationships for externalized expression screening activities, including technology transfer, scope definition, and quality oversight.
• Ensure compliance with Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN), and other regulatory/documentation standards.
• Represent the expression screening platform in cross‑functional forums and contribute to departmental goals, budget planning, and resource allocation.
• Integrate Johnson & Johnson's Credo and Leadership Imperatives into team goals, decision‑making, and day‑to‑day interactions.

Qualifications

• Education: Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Structural Biology, Chemical Engineering, or a related field, with a minimum of 10+ years of relevant industry experience (or M.S./B.S. with commensurately greater years of experience) is required.
• Skills/Experience:
  • Required:
    • Demonstrated hands‑on expertise in recombinant protein expression across multiple heterologous systems (E. coli, insect cells, mammalian cell lines, and/or cell‑free systems).
    • Proven experience designing and executing high‑throughput expression screening campaigns, including automation/liquid‑handling platforms (e.g., Tecan, Hamilton, or similar).
    • Prior people‑management experience, including direct supervision, mentoring, and performance management of scientific staff.
    • Strong track record of cross‑functional collaboration with Structural Biology, Protein Chemistry, Biophysics, and Therapeutic Area discovery teams in a drug discovery setting.
    • Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to present complex technical data to both scientific and management audiences.
    • Experience managing external vendor/CRO relationships for recombinant protein production is strongly preferred.
  • Preferred:
    • Experience with membrane protein expression and purification strategies.
    • Familiarity with AI/ML‑driven construct design or protein engineering tools and rapid screening strategies enable AI/ML driven workflows.
    • Experience contributing to LIMS/database implementation for expression screening data management.
    • Established record of scientific publications, conference presentations, or patents in protein science.

Johnson & Johnson is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected under federal, state or local law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Johnson & Johnson is committed to providing an interview process that is inclusive of our applicants’ needs. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request an accommodation, external applicants please contact us via https://www.jnj.com/contact-us/careers , internal employees contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.

If you are under 18 years of age you (the candidate) may need to obtain the necessary working papers or other documentation required by state law to start the assignment, as well as get a parent’s consent for the background check.