Johnson & Johnson Posted August 18, 2026

Executive Director, Discovery-Oncology

Beerse, Belgium Full time
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research Oncology Executive/VP

Johnson & Johnson is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

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 jnj.com .

As guided by Our Credo, Johnson & Johnson is responsible to our employees who work with us throughout the world. We provide an inclusive work environment where each person is considered as an individual. At Johnson & Johnson, we respect the diversity and dignity of our employees and recognize their merit.

Job Function:

Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development

Job Sub Function:

Biological Research

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description:

About Innovative Medicine

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 https://www.jnj.com/innovative-medicine

About Oncology

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.

Our Oncology team is focused on the elimination of cancer by discovering new pathways and modalities to finding treatments and cures. We lead where medicine is going and need innovators with an unwavering commitment to results.

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 https://www.jnj.com/innovative-medicine

We are searching for the best talent for an Executive Director, Discovery Oncology position. You will be responsible for leading and guiding the Oncology discovery research in selected cancer indications. The Executive Director, Discovery Oncology defines and executes on the strategy for Oncology Discovery. This individual will develop a portfolio of therapeutics addressing core pathways in Oncology from project concept through to entrance into clinical trials.

You will also be responsible for:

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, included 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.

 

You will be responsible for the following Leadership Priorities:

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.

 

Qualifications / Requirements:

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.

Experience: 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, eg 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.

Shaping and articulating a vision that inspires, engages, and brings others along a change journey.

Ability to attract and develop talent.

Subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees are eligible to participate in the Company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).

This position is eligible to participate in the Company’s long-term incentive program.

Subject to the terms of their respective policies and date of hire, employees are eligible for the following time off benefits:

Vacation –120 hours per calendar year

Sick time - 40 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Colorado –48 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Washington –56 hours per calendar year

Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays –13 days per calendar year

Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year

Parental Leave – 480 hours within one year of the birth/adoption/foster care of a child

Bereavement Leave – 240 hours for an immediate family member: 40 hours for an extended family member per calendar year

Caregiver Leave – 80 hours in a 52-week rolling period10 days

Volunteer Leave – 32 hours per calendar year

Military Spouse Time-Off – 80 hours per calendar year

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

Johnson & Johnson is an 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, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by federal, state or local law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Johnson & Johnson is committed to providing an interview process that is inclusive of our applicants’ needs. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request an accommodation, external applicants please contact us via https://www.jnj.com/contact-us/careers , internal employees contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.

#LI-Hybrid

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

Big Data Management, Data Reporting, Data Savvy, Developing Others, Drug Discovery Development, Inclusive Leadership, Leadership, Molecular Diagnostics, Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Product Knowledge, Project Reporting, Regulatory Affairs Management, Risk Management, Scientific Research, Stakeholder Engagement, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Strategic Thinking, Sustainability

The anticipated base pay range for this position is:

$196,000.00 - $342,700.00

Benefits:

In addition to base pay, we offer the following benefits*: an annual bonus with set target (% of pay) depending on pay grade / location, where the actual amount is based on the employees’ and companies’ performance of the previous calendar year, or sales commissions. Moreover, we offer vacation days, parental leave for a minimum of 12 weeks, bereavement leave, caregiver leave, volunteer leave, well-being reimbursement, programs for financial, physical and mental health. We also offer service anniversary and recognition awards, and subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees - and in some location’s eligible dependents - can participate in several insurance plans. For more information, visit Employee benefits | Supporting well-being & career growth | Johnson & Johnson Careers.

*This is for informative purposes only. Amounts and actual benefits may vary by location and are subject to change.

Job details

Seniority
Executive/VP
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Oncology
Location
Beerse, Belgium
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 22 comparable Executive/VP Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 9 biopharma companies.

22Comparable roles tracked
22Currently active
9Companies hiring similar roles
2Countries represented

Salary context

13 of 22 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Executive Director, Biotherapeutics DMPK · Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) $268,000/yr – $402,000/yr
Peer group range $202,950 – $335,000 (median $270,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 22 comparable roles

United States21
India1

Seniority mix

22 of 22 peers have a known seniority level

Senior Director12
Executive/VP10

Therapeutic area mix

3 of 22 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology3

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

85%similar
Amgen Inc. South San Francisco, United States Executive/VP
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
75%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority
75%similar
Merck Rahway, New Jersey, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority
45%similar
Lilly San Francisco, California, United States of America Executive/VP
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Executive/VP
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
Lilly San Francisco, California, United States of America Executive/VP
Same function Same seniority

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

85%
Executive Director, Research Oncology
Amgen Inc. · South San Francisco, United States · Executive/VP
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Director/Sr. Director/Exec. Director, Molecular Pharmacology (AMD)
Lilly · San Francisco, California, United States of America · Executive/VP
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
VP, NonClinical Safety and Pathobiology
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Executive/VP
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Executive Director, AI for Discovery
AstraZeneca · Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America · Executive/VP
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.