Principal Scientist, Protein Design - Johnson and Johnson

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is currently seeking a Principal Scientist, Protein Design, to join our In Silico Proteins team within the Therapeutics Discovery organization, with a preference for this individual to be located at one of our sites in Spring House, PA or Cambridge, MA. Remote work options within the US may be considered on a case-by-case basis and if approved by the company.

At Johnson & Johnson,we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build aworld where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured,where treatments are smarter and less invasive, andsolutions 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 https://www.jnj.com/ .

For more than 130 years, diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) has been a part of our cultural fabric at Johnson & Johnson and woven into how we do business every day. Rooted in Our Credo, the values of DEI fuel our pursuit to create a healthier, more equitable world. Our diverse workforce and culture of belonging accelerate innovation to solve the world's most pressing healthcare challenges.

We know that the success of our business - and our ability to deliver meaningful solutions - depends on how well we understand and meet the diverse needs of the communities we serve. Which is why we foster a culture of inclusion and belonging where all perspectives, abilities and experiences are valued and our people can reach their potential.

At Johnson & Johnson, we all belong.

This role presents an exciting opportunity to spearhead our molecular design and simulation initiatives, supporting and accelerating our drug discovery and development pipeline of protein-based therapeutics while collaborating with a passionate team of scientists and engineers. Your work will be pivotal in building, evaluating, refining, and applying sophisticated computational approaches and infrastructures. Your efforts will drive the discovery of complex molecules and expedite the development of protein therapeutics across various modalities and indications.

Key Responsibilities:

You will work closely with colleagues across the organization to design, develop and deliver on differentiated, best in class therapeutic molecules for a range of clinical indications spanning all therapeutic areas. Qualified candidates will have a strong background in computational biology and a proven track record of seeing designs through experimental testing.

• Work directly with wet-lab scientists and therapeutic areas to design and optimize protein molecules for specific functions and properties.
• Collaborate with team members across Therapeutics Discovery on the planning, prioritization, and timely delivery of designs to support multiple concurrent programs
• Serve as an In Silico Discovery Lead on diverse project teams
• Work with ML colleagues to guide development, benchmarking, and application of pioneering generative and discriminative models.
• Model sophisticated biological systems using a variety of methods and tools to advise design methodology.
• Participate in internal and external presentations, peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference proceedings

• PhD n Computational Biology (or other related field), with at least 2 years of relevant experience is required.
• Experience interacting with protein engineers in an academic or industrial setting or equivalent experience is preferred.
• Extensive experience in computational protein modeling, design, structural biology, and biophysics is required.
• Experience leading projects in cross-functional teams to completion in a collaborative manner is required.
• Experience in de novo protein design and sophisticated protein design techniques is preferred. Examples may include; large scale backbone editing, fusion design, loop design (inpainting), deletions, and extensions.
• Experience with high performance computing (on-prem or cloud) is required.
• Knowledge of critical wet-lab techniques used in protein engineering such as yeast display, SPR, ITC, CD-spectroscopy is preferred.
• Solid understanding of current machine learning architectures is preferred.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and related data-science packages such as Pandas and Numpy is required.
• Excellent communication, reporting and team interaction skills, self-motivated, proactive, and independent.
• Experience using Schrodinger, FoldX, Rosetta, Discovery Studio, MOE, GROMACS, NAMD or other molecular dynamics simulation software is preferred
• Experience with powerful ML packages for protein modeling and design such as AlphaFold, RosettaFold, ESMFold, ProteinMPNN, RFDiffusion, Chroma, IgFold, DeepAb, Parapred, etc is preferred.
• Experience with retraining, fine-tuning, and building ML models such as LLMs to support advanced protein design and protein property prediction tools is preferred.
• Desire for continuous learning and the ability to identify, evaluate and deploy emerging algorithms, models, and protein design workflows is required
• Travel up to 10% may be required.

Johnson & Johnson is an Affirmative Action and 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, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. The anticipated base pay range for this position is $113,000 to $195,500. 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. 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.

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)).

Employees are eligible for the following time off benefits:

• Vacation - up to 120 hours per calendar year
• Sick time - up to 40 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Washington - up to 56 hours per calendar year
• Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays - up to 13 days per calendar year
• Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year

For additional general information on Company benefits, please go to: - https://www.careers.jnj.com/employee-benefits. 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.

This job posting is anticipated to close on 06/21/2024. The Company may however extend this time-period, in which case the posting will remain available on https://www.careers.jnj.com to accept additional applications.

https://www.careers.jnj.com/data-science

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