Senior Director, R&d Data Science & Digital Health – Ophthalmology

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson · Pharma · Cambridge, MA +5

Senior Director to lead data science and digital health strategy for ophthalmology, leveraging multiomics, digital health, AI/ML, and RWE to accelerate drug discovery and development. The role involves defining strategy, driving application of multiomics and integrative analytics, leading development of digital tools and endpoints, championing AI/ML for patient stratification and disease modeling, integrating RWE, building collaborations, and managing a team.

What you'd actually do

  1. Define and execute the data science and digital health strategy for ophthalmology, integrating computational biology, AI/ML, digital health, and clinical/RWE insights.
  2. Drive the application of multiomics (genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, etc.) and integrative analytics to uncover disease mechanisms, biomarkers, and novel targets.
  3. Lead the development, validation, and regulatory engagement of digital tools and novel endpoints to enhance clinical trial design, patient monitoring, and care pathways.
  4. Champion the use of machine learning, deep learning, generative and agentic AI to accelerate patient stratification, disease modeling, and translational discovery.
  5. Partner with clinical development and medical affairs to integrate RWE into evidence generation, supporting trial optimization, regulatory submissions, and real-world impact assessment.

Skills

Required

  • PhD, MD or equivalent in neuroscience / quantitative sciences
  • 10+ years of relevant industry or academic experience
  • 7+ years of experience as a people manager
  • Proficiency in multiomics integration and advanced statistical/causal inference methods
  • Expertise in applying digital health technologies in clinical research
  • Experience with large-scale clinical datasets, EHR, and real-world data
  • Expertise in advanced modeling, longitudinal analysis, and patient stratification
  • Scientific contributions (presentations and publications)
  • Familiarity with data standards, privacy regulations, and regulatory qualification pathways

Nice to have

  • Experience in clinical development with demonstrated expertise in ophthalmology
  • Knowledge of data infrastructures, development of data analysis pipelines and their implementation at scale, and state-of-the-art AI methodologies
  • Competence with programming

What the JD emphasized

  • proven leadership in applying data-driven methods to drug discovery and development is required
  • Experience in clinical development with demonstrated expertise in ophthalmology preferred
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex data-driven insights into clear strategies for senior stakeholders and external partners is required
  • Technical Expertise in as least two of the three following areas is required
  • Track record of scientific contributions (presentations and publications) in this field is required
  • Familiarity with data standards, privacy regulations, and regulatory qualification pathways is required

Other signals

  • AI/ML for drug discovery
  • digital health strategy
  • multiomics integration
  • clinical trial optimization
  • patient stratification