Associate Director, Expression Sciences

Johnson & Johnson Innovation; Spring House (PA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 290,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson's Innovative Medicine team in Spring House, PA is seeking an Associate Director, Expression Sciences to lead recombinant protein expression programs across bacterial, insect, and mammalian systems, including scale-up and HT screening for assay development.

You will shape strategy, mentor a team, partner with Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology, drive automation, AI/ML tools, and ensure data integrity while advancing the portfolio.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Structural Biology, Chemical Engineering, or related field with 10+ years industry experience.
• Hands-on recombinant protein expression across multiple heterologous systems (E. coli, insect, mammalian).
• Experience designing HT expression screening campaigns and automation platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of scientists in high-throughput expression screening.
• Define strategic HT expression platform vision and automation roadmap.
• Design screening strategies for soluble and membrane protein targets.
• Drive automation and data quality with LIMS and robotics.
• Collaborate with Protein Chemistry, Structural Biology, and Therapeutic Area teams.
• Manage external vendor/CRO relationships for expression production.
• Ensure EHS, ELN compliance and documentation standards.

Skills

Protein expression

HT screening

Automation/Lab robotics

People management

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical communication

Vendor management

Membrane protein expression

Education

Ph.D. in Biochemistry or related field

Tools

Automation platforms (Tecan, Hamilton)

LIMS

Cell-free systems

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

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 AL/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.