Director, In Silico Discovery, CADD – San Diego, CA

This job is with Johnson & Johnson, an inclusive employer and a member of my Gwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community. Please do not contact the recruiter directly.

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 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. Learn

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Job Function:
Data Analytics & Computational Sciences

Job Sub     Function:
Data Science

Job Category:
People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:
San Diego, California, United States of America

Job Description:

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
Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine is currently seeking a  Director, In Silico Discovery, Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD)  to join our In Silico Drug Discovery team in San Diego, CA.

We are seeking a  creative, strategic and self‑motivated leader  to elevate our portfolio‑facing CADD team. In the Director role, you will drive programs toward NMEs by strengthening partnerships across portfolio and global discovery chemistry teams and expanding the impact of cutting‑edge computational design in small‑molecule discovery. In this role, you will guide the La Jolla CADD team in applying both commercial and internally developed software solutions across the Johnson & Johnson portfolio.

The ideal candidate is a highly collaborative and strategic leader passionate about advancing small‑molecule design through computational innovation. This position offers the opportunity to join a diverse, global community of  in silico  scientists dedicated to delivering transformative medicines to patients.

As a  Director  in our global CADD organization, you will lead a high‑performing team of portfolio‑facing CADD scientists to drive the strategic application of computational design across our small‑molecule portfolio. With a vision of predict first, you will partner closely with portfolio teams and the broader In Silico Discovery organization to ensure the most effective computational, AI/ML, and predictive methodologies are deployed to accelerate programs toward NMEs.

You will play a pivotal role in shaping our discovery strategies, leading cross‑functional collaboration, championing change, and representing our work externally. Reporting to the Senior Director of In Silico Discovery, Global CADD, you will help advance innovation across a wide range of modalities while developing and empowering a strong, cohesive team.
If you excel in building high‑performing teams, thrive in a fast‑moving and innovative environment, and are passionate about the impact computational approaches can have on drug discovery, we invite you to join us in bringing transformative therapies to patients worldwide.
Primary Responsibilities
Key contributor in developing a comprehensive strategy to stay in the forefront of innovation in computational design for small molecule modalities to include but not limited to traditional small molecules, degraders, RIPTACS, GLUEs, peptides, and siRNA.
Implement and apply computational chemistry design and optimization strategies across our diverse portfolio.
Partner closely with  In Silico  Discovery and Global Discovery Chemistry teams to apply commercial and custom computationally driven predictive and AI/ML tools for small molecule design and optimization across portfolio projects to build a predict first capability and mindset.
Mentor junior scientists, fostering their development as expert CADD scientists, drug hunters, and drug discovery leaders.
En…