Executive Director – Discovery, Oncology

Responsibilities

• Leads a global group of approximately 20-40 people (including regular FTEs, temporary contractors and postdoctoral fellows), guiding their science with an emphasis on scientific quality and rigor.
• In partnership with Oncology leadership, including TA head, clinical, strategic and functional leaders, defines the scientific strategy for the TA and develops a portfolio of assets for solid cancer indications.
• As a Disease Area Stronghold discovery leader executes on the strategy for the end-to-end Oncology portfolio.
• Creates an environment that values innovation, leadership, scientific excellence, urgency, and personal accountability.
• Manages resource allocations across programs, including shared resources across labs.
• Proactively influences across functional areas and external partners to align project activities with strategic goals.
• Establishes internal and external collaborations to facilitate execution of Discovery strategy.
• Partners with external collaborators and innovation centers to evaluate and discover new approaches, technologies, and targets in support of the Oncology portfolio.
• Partners with business development to evaluate external assets and bring new molecules into the pipeline.
• Runs collaborations with both academic and industry partners.
• Provides management oversight including personal talent development, training, coaching and guidance to discovery scientists.
• Ensures compliance with all J&J training, while ensuring safe laboratory working practices for self and reports.
• Ensures consistent experiments/data generation for target validation and progression through discovery stages.
• Oversee and influence the initiation and the progression of multiple small and large molecules as well as cell therapy discovery research programs that result in the identification of Clinical Candidates.
• Set and execute the scientific strategy for solid tumor indication(s).
• Act as an ambassador for the respective Discovery Portfolio with frequent interactions with senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrate excellent managerial skills to enable his/her global team to deliver on their objectives and to develop their careers.
• Provide input on hiring, promotions, resources and budget allocations within the department.
• Direct the proper use and implementation for new technology to establish long-term research plans.
• Identify novel scenarios and nascent scientific/technical opportunities in a specific scientific area.
• Communicate overall strategy of the projects to others including senior leadership.
• Build collaborative relationships with and influence key stakeholders; internally and externally.
• Create a high-performance work environment that values innovation, leadership, scientific excellence, urgency, and personal accountability.
• Attract and cultivate talent.

• PhD with deep content knowledge in Oncology.
• 15+ years of demonstrated leadership and drug discovery experience in the area of Oncology, preferably in solid malignancies.
• Solid background in drug discovery across modalities (small, large molecules, cell therapy), including immune therapies.
• Background in cellular, molecular and/or immune tumor biology with a good understanding of the therapeutic landscape in Oncology.
• Strong record of leading programs to the identification of Clinical Candidates.
• Strong track record of publications in the field.
• Broad scope of impact beyond individual projects, e.g. leading research platforms, target classes, etc.
• Strong external network and recognized as an expert in the field by peers.
• Demonstrated competence for team leadership and/or people skills to manage a team with members in different continents.
• Leading or being part of a significant organization change.
• Heavy influencing across organization boundaries and without direct authority.
• Enterprise thinking.
• Detail-oriented as well as being able to see the big picture.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; able to effectively present scientific data and concepts to international standards.
• Ability to attract and develop talent.