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Job Function:
Project/Program Management Group
Job Sub Function:
R&D Project Management
Job Category:
Professional
All Job Posting Locations:
Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium
Job Description:
About Innovative Medicine:
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
We are searching for the best talent for an Associate Director, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety (PSTS) Integration & Transition Management based in Beerse, Belgium.
Please note that this role is also available across multiple countries and may be posted under different requisition numbers to comply with local requirements. While you are welcome to apply to any or all of the postings, we recommend focusing on the specific country(s) that align with your preferred location(s):
Spring House, PA or La Jolla, CA - Requisition Number: R-101345
Beerse, Belgium - Requisition Number: R-098578
Remember, whether you apply to one or all of these requisition numbers, your applications will be considered as a single submission.
Purpose:
The Associate Director, Preclinical Sciences and Translational Safety (PSTS) Integration & Transition Management is responsible for leading and coordinating preclinical and translational science integration activities associated with acquisitions, licensing transactions, collaborations, strategic investments, options, divestitures, and other business development outcomes across PSTS.
This role serves as the central PSTS integration coordinator, ensuring diligence findings are translated into comprehensive integration plans, risks are proactively managed, dependencies are identified, and commitments are executed across functions. The incumbent will partner closely with Corporate and R&D Due Diligence and Integration partners, including PSTS functional leaders, Scientific & In Vivo Strategies, Safety, Compliance, Data Governance, Facilities, Finance, Regulatory, EHS, and external partners to enable successful transition of assets, capabilities, facilities, data, systems, and operational processes.
The Associate Director will coordinate information coming from Due Diligence activities to ensure PSTS Integration Day 1 readiness and subsequently will track progress against integration milestones, coordinate issue resolution, and provide leadership visibility into integration readiness, execution status, risks, decisions, and resource requirements.
You will be responsible for:
Integration Leadership & Program Management
- Lead PSTS integration planning and execution coordination for acquisitions, licenses, collaborations, strategic investments, options, and divestitures.
- Serve as the primary PSTS integration coordinator and central point of contact for post-transaction activities.
- Translate diligence findings and deal commitments into actionable workstreams with clear owners, timelines, dependencies, decision points, and deliverables.
- Refine fit-for-purpose framework, including workstream teams, decision forums, escalation pathways, and leadership reporting.
- Develop and maintain cross-functional integration project plans; facilitate cross-functional meetings; drive decisions and accountability to sustain execution.
- Support Day 1, Day 100, transition, and long-term integration planning, tailored to the deal structure and asset stage.
Diligence Handoff & Integration Readiness
- Coordinate the structured handoff of PSTS diligence findings, open questions, risks, assumptions, and commitments into the integration phase.
- Assess readiness across scientific operations, quality and compliance, safety, data, facilities, vivarium operations, CRO relationships, budget, and resourcing.
- Identify operational gaps, business continuity risks, required assessments, and time-critical actions; establish mitigation and contingency plans.
- Maintain traceability from diligence findings through action closure and confirm that required stakeholders are engaged.
Data, Records, Samples & Systems Transition
- Coordinate the transfer, access, and disposition of preclinical study records, reports, electronic data, SEND packages, samples, materials, and archives in accordance with transaction rights and obligations.
- Ensure ownership, authorization, access, and change-of-ownership requirements are addressed with acquired companies, CROs, vendors, and archiving partners.
- Partner with Compliance, Regulatory, Information Management, RIMdocs, and functional subject matter experts to define migration scope, prerequisites, quality controls, and timelines.
- Coordinate study inventories, compound identifiers, archive locations, responsible leads, and data-transfer milestones to support submissions, inspections, and ongoing development.
- Track transfer costs, vendor dependencies, retention requirements, and risks to timely access or regulatory use.
Quality, Compliance, Safety & Animal Welfare
- Partner with Quality, Compliance, EHS, Safety, and Animal Welfare leaders to convert diligence findings into clear assessments, mitigation actions, owners, and closure plans.
- Coordinate assessments related to GLP and non-GLP studies, regulatory expectations, training needs, new platforms or modalities, occupational exposure limits, and J&J process requirements.
- Ensure appropriate evaluation of animal welfare practices, sensitive or challenging models, prior external attention, AAALAC accreditation, NHP work, and use of non-accredited facilities, as applicable.
- Track gaps against regulatory and J&J requirements, required audits or assessments, corrective actions, and escalation of significant risks.
Laboratory Strategies & Planning
- Coordinate integration planning for laboratories, vivaria, externalized research, CROs, infrastructure, business continuity, and site operations.
- Facilitate assessment of facility capabilities, infrastructure condition, HVAC and monitoring systems, preventive maintenance, contingency plans, lifecycle needs, and associated capital requirements.
- Partner with Engineering & Property Servies, EHS, Animal Welfare, Finance, and operating teams to evaluate continuation, consolidation, transition, or closure scenarios and their impact on science, compliance, cost, and business continuity.
- Coordinate review of CRO and vendor relationships, including vendor qualification, contract transition, study continuity, archiving, and data access.
Financial Planning & Resource Coordination
- Partner with PSTS Finance and workstream leaders to estimate integration costs, resource needs, bridging studies, vendor expenses, facility requirements, data-transfer costs, and contingency funding.
- Clarify integration funding sources, cost-center availability, funding duration, and costs expected to be absorbed within PSTS budgets.
- Monitor budget, forecast, resource constraints, and financial risks; elevate decisions early enough to enable proactive planning and prioritization.
- Provide recommendations on sequencing, tradeoffs, and resource allocation across integration workstreams.
Stakeholder Management, Reporting & Continuous Improvement
- Build effective partnerships across PSTS, R&D functions, Corporate Finance, Legal, Regulatory, Quality, EHS, IT, Procurement, Engineering & Property Servies and external organizations.
- Develop concise executive dashboards and status updates covering milestones, decisions, risks, issues, budget, dependencies, and action closure.
- Present integration status and recommendations to senior leadership and facilitate timely escalation and resolution of cross-functional issues.
- Capture lessons learned and maintain scalable playbooks, checklists, templates, and frameworks for future transactions.
Qualifications / Requirements:
Education:
- Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in a scientific, technical, operational, business, or related discipline is required.
- Advanced degree (MS, PhD, DVM, PharmD, MBA, or equivalent) is preferred.
Required:
- Minimum of 8 years of relevant experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, research, or life sciences environment.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex cross-functional programs, integration workstreams, strategic initiatives, or large-scale transitions in a matrixed organization.
- Working knowledge of preclinical research operations, quality and compliance expectations, regulatory documentation, CRO/vendor oversight, and data/records transfer.
- Experience developing governance, risk frameworks, integrated plans, executive communications, and actionable recommendations.
- Strong program management and project leadership with the ability to integrate multiple workstreams into a coherent plan.
- Ability to influence without direct authority and establish accountability across senior, scientific, technical, and operational stakeholders.
- Strong risk identification, issue resolution, decision facilitation, and escalation capabilities.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, including executive-level synthesis and presentation skills.
- Sound business and financial acumen, with the ability to assess resource needs, costs, tradeoffs, and operational implications.
- Ability to operate effectively amid ambiguity, changing priorities, compressed timelines, and incomplete information.
Preferred:
- Experience supporting mergers and acquisitions, licensing, collaborations, business development transactions, or organizational transformation.
#LI-Hybrid
Required Skills:
Preferred Skills:
The anticipated base pay range for this position is:
€96,000.00 - €165,025.00
Benefits:
In addition to base pay, we offer the following benefits*: an annual bonus with set target (% of pay) depending on pay grade / location, where the actual amount is based on the employees’ and companies’ performance of the previous calendar year, or sales commissions. Moreover, we offer vacation days, parental leave for a minimum of 12 weeks, bereavement leave, caregiver leave, volunteer leave, well-being reimbursement, programs for financial, physical and mental health. We also offer service anniversary and recognition awards, and subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees - and in some location’s eligible dependents - can participate in several insurance plans. For more information, visit Employee benefits | Supporting well-being & career growth | Johnson & Johnson Careers.
*This is for informative purposes only. Amounts and actual benefits may vary by location and are subject to change.
