Senior Director, Head of Mechanistic Pharmacology - Johnson and Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is recruiting for a Senior Director, Head of Mechanistic Pharmacology, located in Spring House, PA.

Our Discovery Technology and Molecular Pharmacology (DTMP) organization is looking for a Senior Director, Head of Mechanistic Pharmacology. This Senior Scientific Director will report into our Vice President DTMP and lead a core function located at our two research sites including Spring House, PA and Lo Jolla, CA. The incumbent will lead a state-of-the-art cellular screening capability with a special emphasis on the development and application of high throughput screening assays to support all TAs from portfolio entries to NME transition. This includes resource allocation and priority alignment. In addition, their team will be responsible for mechanistic pharmacology assay development and platform execution to drive high throughput in-vitro mechanistic pharmacology data generation and address IVIVC needs using high throughput translational assay platform and scalable complex cellular models. Receptor pharmacology and translational pharmacology will be the core expertise for this team.

The incumbent will work closely with the DTMP senior leadership team to set the strategic direction for this core function, establish robust end-to-end processes and build high throughput cellular pharmacology assays across Discovery pipeline using technology innovation across multimodalities including small molecules, cell therapy, biologics, and RNA therapeutics. The incumbent will collaborate with the preclinical science and translational safety team to develop the translational pharmacology strategy and execute early safety risk assessment assays through technology innovation and lab automation to enhance therapeutic quality and incorporate the execution plans into our therapeutic transition packages. In addition, the incumbent will regularly interact with the leaders across Therapeutic Discovery to provide appropriate insights and expert diligence on promising opportunities in the external innovation environment. The incumbent will lead the team to launch phenotypic screening strategy, drive our cellular technology/Biosignature platforms and deliver transition data to enable AIML model development and execution.

Major Duties & Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
• Coordinate project needs and timeline and deliverables and resource distribution across portfolio and across sites

• Address PPI and complex target capability and cellular target engagement

• Drive important initiatives together with TD Modality leaders, TA leaders and DTMP leaders

• Lead Innovation, drive functional efficiency to impact drug design, target ID, target engagement and tool molecule ID/hypothesis validation

• Develop and execute partnerships with leaders across Janssen• Masters in science is required.

• Leadership experience with at least 15 years in both biochemical and cellular pharmacology industry with a strong record of individual and team-level contributions to the discovery and development of multiple novel small molecule clinical compounds and/or approved drugs.

• Be an establish leader of leaders who is versed in managing Director level direct reports.

• Scientific expert with an outstanding record of high impact publications, oral presentations, and review articles.

• Broad experience building high throughput cellular and pathway assay suites, and familiar with high content imaging technology with strong experiences in assessing cellular mode of action of molecules, and delivering comprehensive cellular pharmacology data packages from hit ID to drug candidate nomination

• An unparalleled ability with proven track record to interact collegially with biology/chemistry leaders and their discovery teams to enable early discovery programs to critical decision points through difficult target classes, complex cellular and translational screening models.

• Experience in overseeing and directing scientific activities within multiple core functional capabilities.

• Demonstrated ability to manage budgets, prioritize competing portfolio demands and lead multidisciplinary teams.

• Practiced in leading external partnerships with multiple, diverse types of research organizations, including academic institutions and contract research organizations.

• Experience with cellular screening model design, understanding deep/machine learning based analyses of cellular images and automating imaging assays for scale and throughput.

• Broad knowledge in advancing translatable cellular screening assays for use in preclinical drug discovery research such as 2D co-cultures, spheroids, organoids or complex screening models and understand high throughput tissue imaging applications will be a plus

• An established track record of the implantation and development of automated cellular bioassay platforms in support of target validation, mechanistic differentiation, parallel SAR and SLR lead optimization and in-vitro and in vivo assay connectivity.

• Outstanding written and oral communication skills.

• Experiences on HCI applications and portfolio impacts

Preferred competencies include:

• Substantial drug discovery experience in Oncology, Inflammation, and Neuroscience.

• Strong networking skills with a desire to seek out novel opportunities and options for bioassay platforms and technology alliances.

• Experience leading novel modality discovery, beyond Small Molecules, such as Protein Degradation, peptide and ADC and RNA modulators.

• Experience in managing 'virtual' and/or remote scientific team(s) across different geographic locations.

• Knowledge of building disease relevant cell-based assay platforms and in-depth cellular pharmacology and receptor pharmacology.

Travel up to 25% which includes both domestic and international.

Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies are equal opportunity employers, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The anticipated base pay range for this position is 187000 to 322000.

The Company maintains highly competitive, performance-based compensation programs. Under current guidelines, this position is eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan. The annual performance bonus is a cash bonus intended to provide an incentive to achieve annual targeted results by rewarding for individual and the corporation's performance over a calendar/performance year. Bonuses are awarded at the Company's discretion on an individual basis. • Please use the following language:

• Employees and/or eligible dependents may be eligible to participate in the following Company sponsored employee benefit programs: medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, business accident insurance, and group legal insurance.
• Employees may be eligible to participate in the Company's consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).
• This position is eligible to participate in the Company's long-term incentive program.
• Employees are eligible for the following time off benefits:
  • Vacation
  • Sick time
  • Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays
• Additional information can be found through the link below. https://www.careers.jnj.com/employee-benefits

The compensation and benefits information set forth in this posting applies to candidates hired in the United States. Candidates hired outside the United States will be eligible for compensation and benefits in accordance with their local market.