Senior Director, Knowledge Management & Retrieval Strategy

Overview We are seeking a senior leader to define and scale R&D knowledge and retrieval capabilities that power GenAI experiences across R&D, reporting to the VP, Data Strategy and Products . This role will lead the Knowledge Management team, spanning Knowledge Graph design and engineering, Ontology design and engineering, and semantic layer definition to enable governed, reusable, and AI‑ready enterprise knowledge. Key Responsibilities Lead and grow a multidisciplinary Knowledge Management organization, including Knowledge Graph engineers, Ontology engineers/designers, and semantic layer practitioners; set vision, priorities, and ways of working. Own the roadmap for R&D knowledge representation (knowledge graph modeling patterns, ontology strategy, semantic layer standards) aligned to GenAI and R&D outcomes. Establish the language, identity, and semantic consistency of enterprise assets and processes so systems, people, analytics, and AI can operate from shared truth. Educate and promote use of standard taxonomies and identifiers across the organization. Establish operating mechanisms for quality, reuse, and stewardship of semantic assets (definitions, taxonomies/ontologies, entity models, metadata) across domains. Partner with platform, governance, and product teams to ensure semantic assets are discoverable, versioned, and governed and can be consumed through retrieval pipelines and APIs. Shape AI‑ready data through integration, semantics, and reusable data products—grounded in real R&D use cases and outcomes. Define retrieval strategies supporting agentic AI systems and user‑facing GenAI applications. Design approaches for semantic retrieval, knowledge grounding, and contextual data integration across diverse R&D datasets. Guide the development of retrieval pipelines that enable reliable question answering, reasoning, and scientific insight generation. Establish best practices for RAG (Retrieval‑Augmented Generation) architectures in regulated scientific environments. In close partnership with JJT, harmonize and unify access to enterprise data assets. Partner with DS&P Data Products & Governance team on defining standards for data interfaces and retrieval APIs that support GenAI applications. Ensure alignment between GenAI product requirements and enterprise data infrastructure strategy. Act as a bridge between R&D data users, GenAI product teams, and platform owners. Partner with DSH & JJT on identifying and curating high‑value knowledge sources across discovery, development, clinical, and regulatory domains. Partner with DS&P Data Products & Governance team & JJT to define data strategies for integrating structured data, documents, knowledge graphs, and scientific literature. Establish principles for data provenance, traceability, and governance in AI‑assisted scientific workflows. Work closely with GenAI product teams, R&D Data Science groups, JJT platform and architecture teams, scientific domain experts, and partners in R&D TAs and functions. Translate data needs of complex scientific workflows into data access and retrieval architectures. Ensure that retrieval systems meet standards for reproducibility, traceability, auditability, and responsible AI use in regulated environments. Qualifications Required Formal training and experience in life sciences, biomedical research, or pharmaceutical R&D. Proven experience leading and developing high‑performing technical teams, including hiring, coaching, and setting performance expectations. Demonstrated success driving cross‑functional programs that align product, platform, and governance stakeholders around shared roadmaps and measurable outcomes. Advanced degree in computer science, data science, computational biology, bioinformatics, or a related field. Deep experience designing data architectures or knowledge systems supporting AI/ML applications. Strong understanding of information retrieval, semantic search, and RAG architectures. Experience working with large‑scale enterprise data platforms. Demonstrated ability to collaborate across technical, scientific, and platform teams. Preferred Familiarity with scientific data modalities (omics, clinical data, literature, regulatory documents). Experience building knowledge graphs or R&D knowledge systems. Exposure to GenAI platforms, agentic systems, and Model Context Protocols (MCPs). Hands‑on familiarity with ontology engineering, semantic modeling practices, and knowledge graph development lifecycles in enterprise settings. Experience defining or operationalizing a semantic layer (common business/scientific definitions, metrics, and governed concepts) to improve consistency across data products and AI use cases. Impact This role will define how Generative AI systems access and reason over R&D knowledge across R&D. By establishing robust retrieval architectures and aligning with enterprise data platforms, this leader will help enable scalable AI capabilities that accelerate scientific discovery and development. Pay Range: $196,000 – $342,700 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. #J-18808-Ljbffr Johnson & Johnson