Johnson & Johnson Posted August 25, 2026

Director, Neuroscience External Innovation (APAC)

Shanghai, China Full time
BD&L & Strategic Planning Neuroscience Director
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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:

Project/Program Management Group

Job Sub Function:

R&D Project Management

Job Category:

Professional

All Job Posting Locations:

Shanghai, China

Job Description:

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is recruiting for a Director to join our External Innovation Group, part of Neuroscience Discovery group based in Shanghai, China.  The role will require the candidate to work across time zones as we are a global organization.

In your role, you will identify external licensing and collaboration opportunities to augment and enable our internal discovery activities. You will work closely with your colleagues within Neuroscience as well as those in External Scientific Innovation (ESI), Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC), and Business Development (BD). You will be instrumental in our mission of building a transformational Neuroscience portfolio to develop novel treatments for Neurodegenerative and Neuropsychiatric Diseases as well as treatments for Ophthalmology Diseases. This will require excellent communication and teamwork skills, an appetite for innovation, as well as keen attention to detail and organization. You should have considerable drug discovery experience, a sense of purpose and drive, and a passion to address the considerable unmet medical need in Neuroscience.

Your Key Responsibilities:

Acts as an experienced drug hunter who can identify external opportunities that are aligned with our Disease Area Strongholds in Neuroscience. Specifically, Neurodegeneration, Neuropsychiatry and Ophthalmology

Work cross-functionally to identify, source, prioritize, and lead scientific assessment of external opportunities that could be leveraged for licensing, joint development, investment opportunities (i.e. JJDC), and strategic alliances

Ability to shape our External Innovation Strategy and deliver innovative ideas that use internal (e.g. ESI or BD) and external connections (e.g. biotech, pharma, and academia) to demonstrate your ability to anticipate the evolution of the marketplace and competition

Ensure an available pool of assets across all early phases through business model creation, innovation acquisition and collaborations as well as lead initiatives to shape external opportunities e.g. activations such as quick fire challenges

Scientific credibility to lead interactions with senior leaders at governance meetings, venture, academic research centers, and other external parties

Lead scientific engagement in the external ecosystem in the form of scientific symposium to strengthen collaborations and showcase thought leadership

Manage documentation and database of all in-bound enquiries and opportunities

Effective oral and written communication to ensure alignment across functions and within the neuroscience department

Education and Experience Requirements:

Required:

A PhD degree with a minimum of 10 years of experience in Neuroscience research or 7 years of demonstrable experience in Pharmaceutical R&D

Demonstrated track record in drug discovery

Demonstrated expertise in Neurodegeneration, Neuropsychiatry, and/or Ophthalmology

Ability to develop and maintain strong internal and external networks

Proactively creates a purpose driven environment by aligning Johnson & Johnson’s Credo and Leadership Imperatives with the strategies and goals of the team and enterprise

Must be able to work independently with minimum supervision to meet tight deadlines, and maintain a positive attitude

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

Agility Jumps, Business Alignment, Continuous Improvement, Mentorship, Performance Measurement, Process Control, Program Management, Project Management Methodology (PMM), Project Management Office (PMO), Project Reporting, Project Schedule, Quality Control (QC), Research and Development, Risk Management, Tactical Planning, Technical Credibility

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
BD&L & Strategic Planning
Therapeutic area
Neuroscience
Location
Shanghai, China
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active BD&L & Strategic Planning role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 118 comparable Director BD&L & Strategic Planning roles across 53 biopharma companies.

118Comparable roles tracked
102Currently active
53Companies hiring similar roles
17Countries represented

Salary context

41 of 118 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
Lowest disclosed · Principal Scientist II, Translational Biomarker Strategy Lead · Novartis $114,100/yr – $211,900/yr
Highest disclosed · Sr Director, Corporate Strategy & Projects · Gilead Sciences, Inc. $261,375/yr – $338,250/yr
Peer group range $163,000 – $299,813 (median $235,450)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 118 comparable roles

United States71
China16
Japan5
United Kingdom4
Switzerland3
Germany3

+ 11 more countries

Seniority mix

118 of 118 peers have a known seniority level

Director84
Senior Director27
Principal7

Therapeutic area mix

22 of 118 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology7
Immunology7
Neuroscience4
Dermatology & Aesthetics2
Respiratory1
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

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
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
85%similar
Lilly Portland, Oregon, United States of America Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same seniority
75%similar
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. Remote, United States Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority
75%similar
AstraZeneca Wilmington, Delaware, United States of America Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority
60%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Shanghai, China Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Shanghai, Shanghai Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

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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%
Director, U.S. Therapeutic Area Strategies, Neuroscience
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
75%
Senior Director, Global Medical Strategy, Rare Neurology
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. · Remote, United States · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
60%
Investment Director, Venture Fund (Shanghai, China)
Boehringer Ingelheim · Shanghai, China · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Assoc. Dir/Director, Ventures Asia Pacific
AbbVie · Shanghai, Shanghai · Director
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.