Johnson & Johnson Posted September 1, 2026

Sr. Distinguished Scientist - PSTS Neuroscience Disease Area Lead

Spring House, United States Full time
Sales Neuroscience Senior
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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:

Nonclinical Safety

Job Category:

Scientific/Technology

All Job Posting Locations:

Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium, San Diego, California, United States of America, Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Job Description:

Sr. Distinguished Scientist - PSTS Neuroscience Disease Area Lead

Job Description

Johnson & Johnson is recruiting for a Sr. Distinguished Scientist - PSTS Neuroscience Disease Area Lead. Location options: Spring House, Pennsylvania, United States of America; Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium; San Diego, California, United States of America.

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 the Role

PSTS Disease Area Lead (Sr. Distinguished Scientist) Job Description

The PSTS Disease Area Lead (DAL) (TA arena: Neuroscience) is a scientific leader assigned specifically to a disease area and has responsibility for bringing disease area strategic pipeline knowledge back to PSTS and PSTS teams, end-to-end (discovery through registration). The PSTS DAL along with the PSTS Modality Lead are the primary interfaces between the PSTS organization and leaders in the therapeutic areas (TA) as well as other TA-facing partners in other organizations (e.g. Regulatory affairs, Global Medical Safety, Clinical Pharmacology). The DAL’s primary accountability is for disease-specific scientific strategy and risk stewardship across the portfolio, assuring discovery ROPs and competitive development ADPs that incorporate disease area specific considerations and requirements through a PSTS lens.

They will own and evolve strategic project planning frameworks (class risks, translational signals, and platform learnings) and assure PSTS programs are planned consistently across the disease area. This will require ongoing learning with an adaptive/evolving mindset to cover current and future cutting-edge learnings within the disease areas. The DAL has significant scientific expertise in drug development, regulatory sciences, and has specialized knowledge and passion for the disease area that they bring to PSTS teams. The DAL will interact with TA leadership in appropriate TA and governance forums and as needed to stand in, as delegate for PSTS GLT on projects & strategy discussions in TA area.

With the PSTS modality lead(s), the DAL is accountable for recommendations for diligence in TA disease area spaces and for strategic planning in partnership with specific PSTS laboratory functional leaders and external CRO partners as relevant to TA space. The DAL will serve as a coach and mentor for PSTS team leaders working in their portfolio including providing expert advice and review of PSTS plans and regulatory submissions at assigned stages and PSTS functional reviews with the purpose of assuring scientific and regulatory questions are proactively addressed. The DAL is expected to maintain scientific depth and expert working knowledge of competitive intelligence and regulatory landscape in TA arena and to tracks milestones, issues, and attrition and should highlight strategic gaps in PSTS for action for TA area.

The DAL may also serve as the PSTS team lead as needed. The DAL sits as a member of the extended PSTS portfolio leadership team (with GLT, other DALs, modality leads, and DPC members) and will lead or participate in special strategic projects as needed. Drives strategic planning for PSTS preparedness to operate in the designated therapeutic disease area space, including PSTS discovery project plans and development ADPs. DALS will provide executive level updates to management, fostering cross-functional cohesion (within PSTS and between PSTS and other relevant functions), cross-industry activities and forums with regulators and external experts.

Required

Education: Ph.D. in scientific discipline with 10+ years of experience or equivalent industry expertise.

Knowledge of pharmaceutical science and drug development strategies in modality space.

Experience developing and implementing scientific and effective PSTS and project team plans per modality strategies, including target areas, TPPs, and ADPs.

Knowledge of regulatory requirements and expectations for first-in-human approval or registration of therapeutics in modality space.

Strong verbal and written communication skills appropriate for executive and highly visible external venues.

Experience in effective coaching.

Strong organizational skills and team leadership. Ability to effectively deliver impact through matrix leadership and network well with cross-functional peers.

Maintain strong external visibility to ensure strong external reputation for PSTS.

Deep scientific understanding of neuro discovery and development.

Preferred

Education: Ph.D. plus dual advanced degree such as MD, DVM, or equivalent advanced training.

Relevant board certifications such as DABT, DACVP, or equivalent.

Experience with discovery and development of molecules via regulatory path for modality arena.

Experience in dealing with FDA or other regulatory interactions and practice in working with clinicians.

Experience in diligence space.

Experience supporting neuro governance decisions, regulatory interactions, and/or external diligence for relevant therapeutic programs.

Other

Expected travel: 20% domestic and international.

Compensation and Benefits

The Company maintains highly competitive, performance-based compensation programs. Under current guidelines, this position is eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan. The annual performance bonus is a cash bonus intended to provide an incentive to achieve annual targeted results by rewarding for individual and the corporation’s performance over a calendar/performance year. Bonuses are awarded at the Company’s discretion on an individual basis.

The anticipated base pay range for this position is $173,000 to $299,000.

Employees and/or eligible dependents may be eligible to participate in the following Company sponsored employee benefit programs: medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, business accident insurance, and group legal insurance.

Employees may be eligible to participate in the Company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).

Employees are eligible for the following time off benefits:

Vacation – up to 120 hours per calendar year

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

Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays – up to 13 days per calendar year of Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year

Additional information can be found through the link below. 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 and 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, please email the Employee Health Support Center (ra-employeehealthsup@its.jnj.com) or contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.

Required Skills:

Preferred Skills:

Design Mindset, Drug Discovery Development, EHS Compliance, Emergency Planning, Interpersonal Influence, Performance Measurement, Process Hazard Analysis (PHA), Process Optimization, Program Management, Risk Management, Safety Audits, Safety Investigations, Safety-Oriented, Scientific Research, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategic Thinking, Technical Writing

Job details

Seniority
Senior
Function
Sales
Therapeutic area
Neuroscience
Location
Spring House, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

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

We currently track 475 comparable Senior Sales roles across 55 biopharma companies.

475Comparable roles tracked
438Currently active
55Companies hiring similar roles
29Countries represented

Salary context

198 of 475 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 $173,000/yr – $299,000/yr
Lowest disclosed · Senior Analyst, Sales Operations · Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. $55,000/yr – $105,000/yr
Highest disclosed · Senior Global Client Partner · IQVIA $168,600/yr – $469,900/yr
Peer group range $80,000 – $319,250 (median $125,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 475 comparable roles

United States347
China43
Taiwan12
Vietnam10
Hong Kong8
Germany5

+ 23 more countries

Seniority mix

475 of 475 peers have a known seniority level

Senior459
Associate Director16

Therapeutic area mix

178 of 475 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology70
Cardiovascular / CVRM36
Neuroscience20
Dermatology & Aesthetics16
Respiratory15
Rare Disease10
Immunology8
Gastroenterology2
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

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Notify me about similar jobs

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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.

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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.