Johnson & Johnson Posted September 21, 2026

Senior Scientist – Discovery Process Research

Beerse, Belgium 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:

Discovery & Pre-Clinical/Clinical Development

Job Sub Function:

Chemical Research

Job Category:

Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations:

Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium

Job Description:

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

Caring for the world, one person at a time, inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. We embrace innovation, bringing ideas, products, and services to life to advance the health and well-being of people around the world. Our over 134,000 employees in 60 countries are united in a common mission: To help people everywhere live longer, healthier, happier lives.

The Johnson & Johnson campus in Beerse, close to Antwerp, (Belgium) has a unique ecosystem covering the complete drug discovery and development life cycle, with all capabilities from basic science to market access on one campus. The integrated environment of our campus gives our people the chance to experience many different aspects of drug discovery and development throughout their career. It has a successful track record of over sixty years delivering transformative medicines for patients and is one of the most important innovation engines of Johnson & Johnson worldwide.

We are looking for:

Senior Scientist (M/F) in Discovery Process Research (DPR)

Job description

Our Discovery Process Research team focuses on developing novel synthetic chemistry solutions that enable and accelerate the Discovery of innovative therapeutics to treat diseases with high unmet medical need. You will be responsible for conducting research towards identifying creative solutions for chemistry problems across a portfolio of projects in the discovery space, from lead identification through selection of development candidates. Our goal is to facilitate medicinal chemistry research by finding solutions to synthetic bottlenecks, enabling access to novel chemical space and translating chemistry innovations to the development of efficient routes for the synthesis of small molecules, oligonucleotides, peptides and other emerging modalities advancing into development.

Your work will require state of the art synthetic organic chemistry skills and understanding of analytical chemistry techniques. You are expected to remain conversant with the modern chemical literature and to maintain a strong laboratory presence. Residing at the interface of Discovery and Development, Discovery Process chemists thrive by collaborating across multiple Pharmaceutical R&D disciplines. Unique to this role, Senior Scientists in Discovery Process are expected to operate with a high degree of independence for scientific decision-making to contribute to the direction and execution of Discovery programs from very early in their careers.

  

Experience and skills

A PhD in Synthetic, Organic or Medicinal Chemistry is required. Postdoctoral experience or prior experience in a pharmaceutical R&D position for up to 3 years is considered a plus.

Experience in methodology development, catalysis, total synthesis or similar

Proven track record of scientific excellence supported by peer-reviewed publications

Hands on knowledge of high throughput experimentation set-ups is considered a plus

Ability to collaborate in a highly integrated environment and to work in a strong team with diverse backgrounds.

Strong problem-solving skills for developing creative, innovative solutions, and meeting project objectives

Highly motivated candidate with strong commitment to lab work

Excellent oral and written communication skills, fluent in English both verbal and in writing

Our offer

An exciting position in an international and dynamic environment with continuous learning and growth opportunities.

Working on a site that harbors all aspects of the drug discovery and development process, located close to the vibrant city of Antwerp.

We offer an attractive remuneration package complemented with an extensive employee benefits program.

An inclusive team environment where diversity and different opinions are respected and valued, and the importance of a good work-life balance is recognized.

Interested to apply for this position? Please upload your CV online.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

Chemistry, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Data Quality, Drug Discovery Development, Emerging Technologies, Execution Focus, Industry Analysis, Innovation, Interdisciplinary Work, Pharmaceutical Trends, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology, Product Development Methodology, Quantitative Research, Research Ethics, Scientific Research, Technologically Savvy

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Beerse, Belgium
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 485 comparable Senior Manufacturing & CMC roles across 78 biopharma companies.

485Comparable roles tracked
453Currently active
78Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

190 of 485 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 · Associate Director, Digital Scientific Workflows · Merck $0/hr – $0/hr (≈ $0–$0/yr)
Highest disclosed · Senior Principal Scientist, Upstream Process Development Group Lead · Merck $190,800/yr – $300,300/yr
Peer group range $0 – $245,550 (median $146,575)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 485 comparable roles

United States311
India38
Netherlands19
Ireland17
United Kingdom11
Singapore9

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

485 of 485 peers have a known seniority level

Senior322
Principal88
Associate Director75

Therapeutic area mix

2 of 485 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Oncology1

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
Merck KGaA Heverlee, Brabant, Belgium Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Johnson & Johnson Beerse, Belgium Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
60%similar
Johnson & Johnson Geel, Belgium Senior
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
Johnson & Johnson Geel, Belgium Principal
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
45%similar
Seagen Inc Washington – Bothell, United States Senior
Same function Same seniority
45%similar
AbbVie North Chicago, IL Senior
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.

60%
Senior Proces Operator
Merck KGaA · Heverlee, Brabant, Belgium · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
Principal Automation Project Engineer
Johnson & Johnson · Geel, Belgium · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
45%
Sr Scientist I, Automation Development
AbbVie · North Chicago, IL · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
45%
Senior Expert Science & Technology – Downstream Process Development
Novartis · Schaftenau, Austria · Senior
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.