Scientific Director, Discovery Pharmaceutics

Johnson & Johnson; Spring House (PA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson & Johnson is seeking a Scientific Director, Discovery Pharmaceutics, located in Spring House, PA. You will lead a multidisciplinary team to enable informed molecule design, developability decisions, and CMC deliverables across discovery programs.

You will collaborate with chemistry, biology, PK/PD, and preclinical safety teams, guiding strategy and people development to accelerate progress while ensuring high scientific standards.

Qualifications

• PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences or related field with 12+ years of experience.
• Leadership and talent development experience required.
• Strong understanding of discovery and pharmaceutical development.
• Proven developability assessment experience for synthetic modalities.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead a multidisciplinary scientific team and foster collaboration.
• Develop screening tools and formulations to enable early discovery.
• Collaborate with academia and industry experts.
• Enhance data analytics and computational approaches for decision making.
• Oversee PK, PK/PD, and translational pharmacology studies.
• Influence compound design to fit delivery platforms and technologies.
• Drive portfolio delivery and transition from discovery to development.
• Manage risk and mitigation within programs.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Collaboration

Problem solving

Education

PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Chemistry

Chemical Engineering

Master's degree + 18+ years experience

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

Pharmaceutical Product R&D

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 a Scientific Director, Discovery Pharmaceutics to be located in Spring House, PA. Purpose: Global Discovery Pharmaceutics is part of the Pharmaceutical Development & Supply (PPDS) organization within the Discovery, Product Development and Supply (DPDS) division of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (JJIM). The group supports drug discovery programs from hit-to-lead through candidate selection, with a focus on the Synthetics Modalities portfolio — including small molecules, degraders, peptides, oligonucleotides, and conjugates. As the Scientific Director, you and your team will provide expert scientific leadership to enable informed molecule design and developability decisions. You will collaborate in close partnership with chemistry, biology, pharmacokinetics and pre-clinical safety. As head of the team, you will provide scientific, strategic, and people leadership while driving the CMC deliverables for discovery programs. Your responsibilities include physical characterization, biopharmaceutical evaluation, and preclinical formulation support across diverse routes of administration - including oral, parenteral and intra-organ - and may include other advanced drug delivery strategies as required.

Responsibilities

• Leading and developing a multidisciplinary scientific team, building technical depth, mentoring talent, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.
• Developing innovative screening tools and formulation approaches, with the capability of meeting rapid cycle times and miniaturization, to influence and enable early discovery.
• Collaborating with academia and industry experts.
• Enhancing digital tools, data analytics and computational approaches to support developability assessments and improve the quality and speed of decision making in discovery programs.
• Enabling and overcoming exposure challenges for critical tool compounds or non-optimized leads with enabling formulations in support of PK, PK/PD, translational pharmacology and tolerability studies.
• Influencing compound design early to ensure lead candidates have the desired properties for specific drug delivery platforms and technologies to ensure patient convenience and compliance.
• Portfolio delivery and accelerating the transition from discovery to development through collaboration with key development functions to support the GLP toxicology studies, formulation strategy and dosage form design for clinical studies.
• Influencing risk management and mitigation.

Qualifications / Requirements

• Education: A PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering or a related field with 12+ years of relevant experience OR a Master's degree with 18+ years of relevant experience is required.
• Experience and Skills: Demonstrated people leadership and talent development, including technical and non-technical coaching and mentoring is required.
• Ability to drive and get results through leading others is required.
• Strong understanding of Discovery and Pharmaceutical Development including ADME, Preclinical Safety evaluation and Drug Development is required.
• Proven experience in developability assessments for synthetic modalities in the area of molecular design, interpretation of pharmaceutical properties in relation to exposure and toxicology data, setting formulation strategies is required.
• Track record of scientific contributions is required.
• Excellent communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills are required.
• Strong collaboration and networking capabilities are required.
• Willingness to take informed risks or leave appropriate knowledge gaps, as needed to maintain speed and program progression.

Preferred Skills

• Preferred Skills: Budget Management, Business Savvy, Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC), Clinical Trial Protocols, Cross-Functional Collaboration, Data Governance, Developing Others, Drug Discovery Development, Inclusive Leadership, Industry Analysis, Interdisciplinary Work, Leadership, Market Research, Process Improvements, Product Development, Product Strategies, Risk Management Framework, Scientific Research

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 by 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.