Sr Director/Scientific Fellow, AI Safety, R&D Data Science and Digital Health

Job Description

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (IM) is recruiting for a Scientific Fellow, AI Safety, R&D Data Science and Digital Health. This position can be located in New Brunswick, NJ; Titusville, NJ; Springhouse, PA; La Jolla, CA; Cambridge, MA; Beerse, Belgium; or Zug, Switzerland. The role requires up to 25% travel.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly technical leader in AI safety for our Research & Development Data Science & Digital Health (DSDH) organization. Reporting directly to the Vice President of AI/ML & Digital Health, this role is responsible for embedding AI safety, robustness and observability into the design, evaluation and deployment of advanced AI systems across the DSDH portfolio and R&D use cases. The scientific fellow will work closely with AI scientists, engineers, AI Quality & Optimization, Global Regulatory Affairs, Quantitative Scientists and Johnson & Johnson Technology (JJT) to ensure AI systems deployed in R&D workflows are safe, trustworthy and fit‑for‑purpose as AI capability and autonomy scale.

Responsibilities

• Shape DSDH and IM R&D strategy for safe and trustworthy AI by defining multi‑year research priorities, capability roadmaps and investment recommendations for AI safety across discovery, development, clinical and regulatory workflows. Represent AI safety as a senior scientific voice in function‑ and enterprise‑level councils and working groups; set standards and priorities for safe scaling of GenAI and agentic systems and provide technical leadership on safety principles and implementation for agentic and autonomous systems.
• Embed and implement AI safety‑by‑design principles into the development of foundation models, AI and generative AI applications and agentic systems across R&D use cases. During all design phases partner directly with AI and quantitative scientists across IM R&D and with technical leads in JJT to identify potential failure modes, risks, appropriate levels of autonomy and human oversight, define safety‑relevant observability signals, acceptable failure envelopes and mitigation strategies tailored to different R&D contexts (research, clinical, regulatory). Ensure monitoring captures unsafe behaviours, not only performance drift; design and execute safety‑focused models and evaluations, including but not limited to stress testing for hallucinations, edge cases and failure propagation in multi‑step reasoning and agent workflows.
• Provide technical leadership for AI safety in regulated environments, covering use cases such as regulatory documentation for AI‑enabled R&D processes and submissions, autonomous agents in GxP environments and more. Influence internal policy and external best practices by contributing to guidance documents and points‑to‑consider for safe GenAI and agentic systems in pharma R&D, including participation in expert working groups and advisory panels. Track emerging risks, research and best practices in AI safety and translate them into practical guidance for internal teams.
• Develop business cases to secure investment for AI safety capabilities and lead execution of funded initiatives.
• Drive J&J innovation in the field, leading to high‑visibility publications in top‑tier AI conferences and journals, patents around AI safety in generative AI, reasoning and multi‑agent systems, etc. Serve as an external ambassador for J&J IM R&D AI safety: invited talks and keynotes, conference leadership roles (area chair, workshop organiser) and participation in cross‑industry consortia and standards bodies. Establish and lead strategic external collaborations with academic, industry and governmental partners focused on AI safety in high‑stakes biomedical and regulatory contexts.
• Establish a sustained mentorship programme for AI safety across IM R&D, including coaching on technical approaches and trends, publication strategy and cross‑functional influence. Actively contribute to IM R&D Fellow Community by showcasing technical excellence in various internal and external events, being the AI safety voice in the community and contributing to activities sponsored by the IM R&D Science & Technology Council.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent advanced degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science or a related field.
• Minimum of 10 years of post‑academic, industry experience.
• Proven track record and strong hands‑on experience with modern AI systems, including foundation models, multimodal generative AI, large reasoning models or agentic systems.
• Extensive experience with AI safety, robustness, reliability or evaluation in high‑impact or high‑stakes domains.
• Demonstrated ability to reason about system‑level behaviour, failure modes and risk, beyond model accuracy and robustness alone.
• Excellent coding and software development capabilities.
• Experience working in highly interdisciplinary and matrixed environments spanning AI, data science, engineering and life science.
• Strong communication skills and ability to influence AI model and systems design without formal authority.
• Experience in the life sciences, healthcare, pharmaceutical or medical technology sector is preferred.

Required Skills

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Cognitive Computing
• Compliance Management
• Curious Mindset
• Data Structures
• Developing Others
• Disruptive Innovations
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Human-Computer Relationships
• Inclusive Leadership
• Leadership
• Machine Learning (ML)
• Process Improvements
• Relationship Building
• Research and Development
• SAP Product Lifecycle Management
• Scripting Languages
• Tactical Planning

Preferred Skills

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Cognitive Computing
• Compliance Management
• Curious Mindset
• Data Structures
• Developing Others
• Disruptive Innovations
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
• Human-Computer Relationships
• Inclusive Leadership
• Leadership
• Machine Learning (ML)
• Process Improvements
• Relationship Building
• Research and Development
• SAP Product Lifecycle Management
• Scripting Languages
• Tactical Planning

Benefits and Compensation

Anticipated base pay range: $196,000.00 – $342,700.00.

Subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees are eligible to participate in the Company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)). This position is eligible to participate in the Company’s long‑term incentive program.

Eligible time‑off benefits include:

• Vacation – 120 hours per calendar year
• Sick time – 40 hours per calendar year (or 48 hours for employees who reside in Colorado, 56 hours for employees who reside in Washington)
• 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 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 period
• Volunteer Leave – 32 hours per calendar year
• Military Spouse Time‑Off – 80 hours per calendar year

Equal Employment Opportunity

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 internal employees contact AskGS to be directed to your accommodation resource.