Associate Director – Oncology Therapeutic Area

Associate Director – Oncology Therapeutic Area, Janssen R&D

Location:Beerse, Belgium

Job Description:

Working closely with our functional teams in both Europe and the USA, this individual is expected to be a key leader of our world-class oncology research teams and highly innovative projects within Janssen R&D. He/she will be accountable for driving both large and small molecule discovery programmes within our Solid Tumor Targeted Therapeutics (ST3) Disease Area Stronghold (DAS), and will have responsibility for contributing to the wider ST3 strategy. The role will include all aspects of Discovery work from novel target ID/validation, assay development and screening, drug profiling, biomarker ID through to drug candidate selection. In addition to extensive internal networking, the candidate will also form working relationships with CRO companies, academic labs and hospitals to leverage external resources to advance projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership of multiple drug discovery programmes: accountability for driving milestone transitions through execution of preclinical research plans to deliver relevant data packages

• Development and ownership of project-level strategies: Proposes differentiated products (modalities, mechanisms, delivery etc) and champions innovative approaches to deliver novel successful drug candidates.

• Drive effective decision-making while considering impact to timeline, FTEs/budget, and risks.

• Lead, mentor, and train team members. Provide effective leadership including individual performance goal setting, managing the development of entire team and all individuals, recognize and reward employee contributions, planning and facilitating team activities, responsible for hiring and selecting new personnel and motivating members of the functional area

• Work closely with research CROs to coordinate and manage external studies

• Proactively mitigate potential conflicts and rapidly resolve communication problems with internal partners, cross-functional teams and third-party collaborators

• Communicate program progress and issues to senior management, to internal governance and approval committee as necessary, and at national and international conferences as appropriate

Qualifications

General Requirements

• Highly motivated self-starter, proactive and able to excel within a matrix organization.

• Excellent awareness of oncology literature and emerging trends and drugs in the oncology area.

• Critical thinker with excellent time management and delivery focus, able to independently strategize and design/execute and accurately interpret complex scientific experiments and data at a group level across multiple programmes.

• Proven leader with strong delivery record and aptitude in leveraging expertise and resources across boundaries. Conscientious motivator and dedicated people developer.

• Expertise in drug discovery involving multiple platforms (small molecule, biologics, oligonucleotide therapeutics, gene therapy) is preferred

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and collaborative skills are required

Education/Qualifications:

Ph.D. degree with 7 to 9 years of experience (including postdoctoral studies) in cancer-related research, or 3 to 10 years of experience performing progressively advanced duties at the Principal Scientist level. Oncology drug discovery experience highly preferred.

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.