Sr Director, Head of Data Science & Digital Health – Preclinical Sciences & Translational Safety (PSTS)

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.

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Job Function:

Data Analytics & Computational Sciences

Job Sub Function:

Data Science

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description:

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is recruiting for a Sr Director, Head of Data Science & Digital Health – Preclinical Sciences & Translational Safety (PSTS).  This position has a primary location of Spring House, PA.

Travel: Up to ~25% domestic/international

Reports to: VP, R&D Data Science – DPDS

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

Role Overview

We are seeking a visionary leader to drive the data science strategy for our Preclinical Sciences & Translational Safety (PSTS) organization. This role will partner closely with PSTS leadership, PSTS teams, and IT partners to advance translational safety, deliver robust data products, and scale advanced analytics and AI capabilities across the portfolio. You will shape how safety and translational data are captured, integrated, and leveraged to accelerate our understanding of human disease and patient treatment-response. This position requires a strategic leader who can align PSTS’s scientific objectives with data science investments that help achieve those objectives. While ensuring interoperability with other R&D departments such as Therapeutics Discovery (TD), Therapeutics Development & Supply (TDS), and all our Therapeutic Areas.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive data strategy for PSTS, focusing on advanced automation, data integration, and FAIR data practices, and the use of ML/AI in close alignment with PSTS and IT.
• Lead the design and implementation of scalable data pipelines, ML/AI models, and analytics to support translational safety and preclinical workflows.
• Partner with PSTS leaders to build strong external partnerships with industry consortia and academic partners pertaining to Data Science needs for PSTS.
• Champion data governance, analytics, model lifecycle management (MLOps), and Responsible AI standards into reusable capabilities that can be shared elsewhere in the organization.
• Lead a core team of data scientists and engineers to support PSTS in reaching its strategic goals.
• Collaborate with PSTS teams, IT, R&D Data Science, and external partners to jointly introduce emerging technologies such as generative and agentic AI, multimodal analytics, and advanced automation tools that benefit PSTS’s business objectives.
• Work with peers across Discovery, Product Development, & Supply (DPDS) and our Therapeutic Areas to generate and analyze our data in the best way possible for opportunities in translational safety and preclinical sciences (for example: experiment design, safety risk prediction, lab process automation, etc.).

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent experience in Computational Biology, Toxicology, Pharmacology, AI/ML, Applied Math/Statistics or related field.
• 7+ years in data science for translational safety, drug discovery, or related domains, with experience leading teams in a matrix setting.
• Proven expertise in creating high impact R&D innovations through data science, data engineering, and automation within scientific domains.
• Strong experience leading the application/creation of ML/AI methods while demonstrating a deep understanding of translational safety and preclinical workflows.
• Demonstrated success in delivering interoperable data products and scalable analytics platforms.
• Excellent communication and matrix leadership across scientific, technical, and business stakeholders in a global organization.

Leadership Attributes

• Strategic Vision: Ability to anticipate future trends in data science and translational safety and translate them into actionable strategies.
• Collaborative Influence: Skilled at building consensus and driving alignment across diverse scientific and technical teams.
• Innovation Mindset: Passion for leveraging emerging technologies to solve complex scientific challenges.
• Talent Development: Commitment to mentoring and growing a high-performing team of data scientists and engineers.
• Communication Excellence: Ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and executive leadership.

Ready to make an impact? Join us in shaping the future of Preclinical Sciences & Translational Safety at Johnson & Johnson.

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 and 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, please email the Employee Health Support Center (ra-employeehealthsup@its.jnj.com) or contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.

#JRDDS #JNJDataScience #JNJIMRND-DS

 

 

Required Skills:

 

 

Preferred Skills:

Advanced Analytics, Budget Management, Business Alignment, Compliance Management, Consulting, Critical Thinking, Data Analysis, Data Privacy Standards, Data Quality, Data Reporting, Data Savvy, Data Science, Data Visualization, Developing Others, Digital Fluency, Inclusive Leadership, Leadership, Strategic Thinking