Senior Principal Data Scientist
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:
Data Analytics & Computational Sciences
Job Sub Function:
Data Science
Job Category:
Scientific/Technology
All Job Posting Locations:
Bangalore, Karnataka, India, Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium, Madrid - Lafinca, PENJERLA, Telangana, India
Job Description:
Job Summary
J&J Innovative Medicine – Data, Data Science, and AI - Global Development (DDSAI GD) is seeking a Senior Principal Data Scientist to set strategy and scale reusable analytical products across Global Development. This role leads cross-functional programs, platforms, governance, and adoption for ML, GenAI, optimization, and RWD capabilities that strengthen clinical operations, feasibility, patient access, quality, and portfolio performance.
Key Responsibilities
Set strategy and lead cross-functional programs that scale reusable ML, GenAI, optimization, and RWD products, platforms, and governance across Global Development.
Direct the design, deployment, and lifecycle management of reusable analytical platforms and products spanning clinical operations, feasibility, patient access, quality, and portfolio efficiency.
Define and scale RWD analytics capabilities using EHR, claims, registries, and clinical-trial data to generate decision-grade evidence for study and program design, patient populations, feasibility, and operational strategy.
Establish standards for solution architecture, validation, monitoring, governance, risk management, data quality, privacy, and responsible AI deployment.
Partner with senior leaders to prioritize high-value opportunities, shape roadmaps, manage strategic trade-offs, and drive scaled adoption across functions and therapeutic areas.
Measure and improve portfolio impact through product reuse, user adoption, cross-functional value, and performance against agreed outcomes.
Build organizational capability through reusable frameworks, productized solutions, shared practices, and mentorship of technical talent.
Serve as a senior technical advisor across clinical, operational, technology, and data functions.
Required Qualifications
Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, biostatistics, health economics, biomedical informatics, applied mathematics, or another quantitative discipline; PhD preferred.
At least 8 years of industry experience leading cross-functional programs and reusable data-science, AI, optimization, GenAI, or RWD capabilities.
Demonstrated experience setting technical direction and driving strategy, product scaling, governance, and adoption from opportunity identification through measurable impact.
Expertise in predictive modeling, optimization, simulation, GenAI, and RWD analytics in clinical development, clinical operations, healthcare, or a comparably complex regulated environment.
Experience overseeing production-ready analytical products or platforms with clear validation, performance-monitoring, and lifecycle-management standards.
Strong knowledge of model governance, MLOps, privacy, data quality, risk management, and responsible AI.
Proven executive influence and experience developing technical talent and cross-functional capability.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in pharmaceutical development, clinical research, clinical operations, real-world evidence, healthcare, or MedTech.
Experience establishing AI, analytics, or RWD strategy across multiple programs, therapeutic areas, or enterprise functions.
Experience leading analytics initiatives for feasibility, site and country selection, enrollment, patient access, protocol optimization, quality, or portfolio planning.
Required Skills:
Preferred Skills:
Advanced Analytics, Consulting, Critical Thinking, Data Analysis, Data Privacy Standards, Data Quality, Data Reporting, Data Savvy, Data Science, Data Visualization, Digital Fluency, Econometric Models, Mentorship, Strategic Thinking, Tactical Planning, Technical Credibility
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Biostatistics & Data Science role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 165 comparable Principal Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 33 biopharma companies.
Salary context
78 of 165 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 165 comparable roles
+ 13 more countries
Seniority mix
165 of 165 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
21 of 165 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
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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.
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.