Associate Director, Lab Automation & Orchestration

People Leader

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, and solutions are personal.

Through our expertise in Innovative Medicine and Med Tech, 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.

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Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development

Biological Research

Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America

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.

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Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is recruiting for an Associate Director, Lab Automation & Intelligent Orchestration. This position will be located on-site in Spring House, PA (Philadelphia area), and may require up to approximately 10% domestic and/or international travel.

We are seeking a strategic, hands-on leader to build the next generation of AI-native automation platforms within Discovery Technologies and Molecular Pharmacology that leverage intelligent orchestration, and advanced analytics to scale human-relevant biology and multimodal omics data generation. The Associate Director will establish lab-in-the-loop capabilities that generate high-quality biological data at scale, accelerate learning cycles, and enable predictive AI-driven drug discovery.

The successful candidate will bring expertise in laboratory automation, AI-driven orchestration, and systems integration, coupled with a strong understanding of drug discovery, complex cellular models, and omics technologies. They will drive strategic roadmaps, lead cross-functional initiatives, and deploy scalable experimental platforms that increase speed, enhance reproducibility, and unlock new opportunities for AI-enabled discovery.

• Drive strategic roadmaps and investment priorities for AI-native experimental platforms that enable scalable experimentation, multimodal data generation, and AI-driven discovery
• Lead the evaluation, adoption, and scaling of transformative technologies, including robotics, autonomous experimentation, agentic AI, and intelligent orchestration, to accelerate learning cycles and discovery outcomes.

• Design, deploy, and scale automated platforms supporting human-relevant models, multimodal data generation, and advanced omics workflows
• Build lab-in-the-loop capabilities integrating automation, AI/ML models, analytics, and intelligent orchestration to accelerate experimentation, learning cycles, and predictive modeling

• Lead cross-functional initiatives across biology, data science, AI/ML, informatics, engineering, and discovery organizations to align platform development with scientific priorities and accelerate AI-enabled discovery
• Build strategic partnerships with technology providers, automation vendors, academic collaborators, and contract research organizations (CROs) while serving as a thought leader driving adoption of next-generation capabilities across the organization

• Lead and develop a high-performing team of automation engineers, scientists, and technical specialists while fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Strengthen organizational capabilities in automation, AI, and experimental science through talent development, coaching, and a culture that promotes innovation, learning, and scientific excellence

• Ph.D., M.S., or equivalent experience in Engineering, Bioengineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, Biology, or a related…