Senior Scientist, Retina Discovery

Johnson & Johnson is recruiting for a Senior Scientist, Retinal Discovery located in Cambridge MA to support drug discovery of novel therapeutics for retinal disease.

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 https://www.jnj.com/.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented lab-based Senior Scientist to join our Retinal Diseases Discovery team located in Cambridge, MA (USA). The successful candidate will join a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team of exploratory scientists and play a key role in the evaluation of new drug concepts using relevant model systems. He/she will use emerging developments in these fields to generate novel target ideas and provide technical and strategic input with the goal of progressing novel drug candidates into translational development. The qualified candidate will work in cross-functional teams, including translational medicine, discovery, biomarker teams, program project teams and disease-specific working groups, to shape a discovery and development strategy for novel drug candidates and will bring forward novel translational animal models and innovative technologies to support the discovery pipeline.

This role is laboratory-based and requires an established background in retinal cell biology, neuroscience, or immunology. Responsibilities include the execution of discovery projects to develop new retinal disease therapies and expand the retina portfolio. The selected candidate will contribute to research programs through validation of new targets and design and execution of team-based research to help drive project advancements.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design and conduct experiments to support new target validation, analysis and interpretation of results, with focus on in vitro and retinal in vivo assays/models to support discovery and translational drug development programs.
• Establish robust discovery and/or translational data packages to support the translational progression of our differentiated assets and present progress to discovery, translational, governance and leadership teams.
• Establish and execute against timelines to enable project progression while working in a fast-paced and highly matrixed environment.
• Support collaborations with academic investigators, including advising on experimentation and analysis of results, and conducting complementary experiments.
• Contribute to the preparation and submission of technical reports, patent applications, and manuscripts as appropriate.
• Ensure compliance with all company training, documentation, and ensure safe laboratory working practices.

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. degree in the biological sciences (or equivalent) with at least 2 years of post-doctoral experience in the pharmaceutical industry or academic environment or M.S. degree in the biological sciences with a minimum of 8 years of experience in relevant pharmaceutical industry setting.

• Demonstrated experience in vivo studies, especially creation and characterization of animal models of retinal disease
• Expertise in performing pharmacological and mechanistic studies in models of eye/ocular disease is highly desired.
• Established background in cellular and molecular biology and competency with in vitro techniques is preferred.
• A background in ophthalmic drug discovery and translational models of ocular disease is preferred.
• Experience with validation of new target concepts is required, with keen knowledge of experimental design, underlying scientific and biological principles, and data analysis and interpretation (i.e., from hypothesis through planning and execution of experiments in support of retinal disease-related programs).
• Established record of scientific accomplishments directed toward the discovery and development of therapeutic agents, including strong publication record in journals, oral presentations within and outside industry, and participation in professional societies is required.
• Must be highly motivated, with excellent organizational skills, and capable of working collaboratively in a fast-paced and highly matrixed environment.
• Ability to forge and foster collaborations (internal and external), deliver scientific content to diverse audiences, and agility and adaptability working across multiple projects is highly desirable.

The base pay range for this position is $104,000 to $166,750.

The Company maintains highly competitive, performance-based compensation programs. Under current guidelines, this position is eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan. The annual performance bonus is a cash bonus intended to provide an incentive to achieve annual targeted results by rewarding for individual and the corporation’s performance over a calendar/ performance year. Bonuses are awarded at the Company’s discretion on an individual basis.

Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs such as health insurance, savings plan, pension plan, disability plan, vacation pay, sick time, holiday pay, and work, personal and family time off in accordance with the terms of the applicable plans. Additional information can be found through the link below.

Eligible for benefits to include medical, dental, vision and time off as well as any others as provided for in the applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement.

For additional general information on company benefits, please go to: - https://www.careers.jnj.com/employee-benefits

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.