Johnson & Johnson Posted September 3, 2026

Preclinical Research Associate Director

Irvine, United States Full time
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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:

Medical Affairs Group

Job Sub Function:

Medical Affairs

Job Category:

People Leader

All Job Posting Locations:

Irvine, California, United States of America

Job Description:

Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Electrophysiology, is recruiting a Preclinical Evidence & External Partnerships Associate Director. This position is located in Irvine, CA and will be following a hybrid model.

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.

Fueled by innovation at the intersection of biology and technology, we’re developing the next generation of smarter, less invasive, more personalized treatments.  Are you passionate about improving and expanding the possibilities of Cardiovascular? Ready to join a team that’s reimagining how we heal? Our Cardiovascular team develops leading solutions for heart recovery, electrophysiology, and stroke. You will join a proud heritage of continually elevating standards of care for stroke, heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AFib) patients. Your unique talents will help patients on their journey to wellness. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/medtech

Purpose: The Preclinical Evidence & External Partnerships Associate Director will drive pre-market evidence generation strategies (EGS) and physician collaborations. In collaboration with cross-functional teams and external research investigators, this role will generate clinically relevant evidence for the company's innovative pipeline that impact patient lives.

You will be responsible for:

Ideates preclinical evidence strategies to support first-in-human use for all portfolio programs

Manages the preclinical external research program and physician partnerships in coordination with cross-functional clinical science partners

Responsible for new study proposal review, ensures timely decision making and execution of approved studies including while working with external stakeholders

Utilizes program data and metrics to conduct regular reviews of the program and provides updates to team leadership

Supports evidence generation and dissemination strategy through external research program, including alignment of publication plan and identifies gaps

Drives publication development with investigators and internally cross functionally with scientific affairs partners.

Provides critical scientific input to publications

Contributes to preclinical protocol development for all portfolio products

Provides input to external physician partners on proposed preclinical research plans

Qualifications / Requirements:

Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Science or a related discipline is required; Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) is strongly preferred.

At least 8+ years of related scientific and technical experience, including leadership or management role within Medical Affairs or a similar role is required.

A minimum of 2 years of people management-related experience is required.

Experience working in Cadiovascular, Electrophysiology, or Structural Heart is strongly preferred.

Expertise in preclinical science and processes along with a broad and extensive understanding of product development processes, team dynamics, related healthcare market environment, clinical trends, and clinical trial regulations is required.

Experience in support of global regulatory submissions for medical devices, biologics, or drugs (including IDE/510(k)/De Novo/PMA and/or their global counterparts) is highly desired.

Ability to lead a team of preclinical scientists to provide strategic and scientific research input across NPD projects is required.

Proven track record of contributing to medical programs on time, within budget and in compliance to SOPs and regulations is required.

Up to 25% domestic and international travel may be required.

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.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

Analytical Reasoning, Clinical Research and Regulations, Clinical Trials Operations, Communication, Content Evaluation, Developing Others, Digital Culture, Digital Literacy, Healthcare Trends, Inclusive Leadership, Leadership, Medical Affairs, Medical Communications, Medical Compliance, Prioritization, Product Strategies, Scientific Research, Strategic Thinking, Team Management

The anticipated base pay range for this position is :

$137,000.00 - $235,750.00

Additional Description for Pay Transparency:

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

Job details

Seniority
Associate Director
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Irvine, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 536 comparable Associate Director Medical Affairs roles across 92 biopharma companies.

536Comparable roles tracked
500Currently active
92Companies hiring similar roles
40Countries represented

Salary context

157 of 536 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 $137,000/yr – $235,750/yr
Lowest disclosed · Associate Director Medical Science Liaison - East · IQVIA $230/yr – $280/yr
Peer group range $255 – $258,000 (median $182,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 536 comparable roles

United States244
China89
Japan40
Germany27
India25
United Kingdom11

+ 34 more countries

Seniority mix

536 of 536 peers have a known seniority level

Senior242
Manager210
Associate Director84

Therapeutic area mix

173 of 536 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology78
Immunology25
Neuroscience24
Dermatology & Aesthetics18
Rare Disease9
Cardiovascular / CVRM7
Vaccines & Infectious Disease6
Ophthalmology2
Gastroenterology2
Respiratory2

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.

60%similar
Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Remote, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Sleepy Hollow, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
AbbVie Austin, TX Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. Remote, United States Associate Director
Same function Same seniority Same country

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.

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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.

60%
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Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, HEOR Strategy, Neuroscience
AbbVie · Austin, TX · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Medical Publications (CNS)
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. · Remote, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
60%
Associate Director, Field Medical Affairs-Hematology (CO, MO, KS, OK and NM)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) · Remote, United States · Associate 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.