Director, Early Portfolio Alliance Management & Operations

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.

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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.

Our Oncology team is focused on the elimination of cancer by discovering new pathways and modalities to finding treatments and cures. We lead where medicine is going and need innovators with an unwavering commitment to results.

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

Johnson & Johnson is recruiting for a Director, Early Portfolio Alliance Management & Operations. Remote work options may be considered on a case-by-case basis and if approved by the Company.

Role Overview

In this leadership role, the individual is responsible for the strategic and operational management of a portfolio of discovery-to-early-clinical strategic alliances and external collaborations, while also providing leadership and oversight to a team of Alliance Managers. In addition to managing and developing the Alliance Management function, the role maintains direct accountability for select high-priority alliances, serving as the primary alliance lead and strategic partner to internal and external stakeholders. The position drives cross-functional integration across scientific, clinical, legal, external innovation, and finance teams to ensure successful execution of partnership objectives. As the senior escalation point for complex programmatic, resourcing, contractual, and governance issues, the individual works closely with senior leadership to resolve challenges, guide decision-making, and align alliance execution with business priorities.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of alliance professionals:

  • Directly supervise Alliance Managers (anticipated: 2-3 direct reports), including hiring, performance management, development, and workload distribution.

  • Build team capability and best practices for alliance management across discovery, preclinical, and early clinical stages.

• Portfolio leadership and oversight:

  • Own a portfolio of complex partnerships across discovery to early clinical stages; ensure strategic alignment with senior leadership.

  • Prioritize resources across multiple alliances and balance competing demands across portfolios.

• Strategic integration and governance:

  • Design and drive alliance governance structures (e.g., JSC, JDC, JRC), chair or co-chair high‑level governance forums as needed and ensure consistent escalation to senior leadership.

  • Integrate external programs into internal governance and decision-making forums and ensure contractual obligations are operationalized.

• Operational execution:

  • Oversee development, review, and iterative refinement of joint research and development plans; ensure milestones, deliverables, and success criteria are clear and monitored.

  • Maintain and communicate integrated timelines, milestone trackers, and cross‑program dependency maps; anticipate integration points and drive outcomes.

• Risk, resourcing, and financial oversight:

  • Identify program risks, technical or operational gaps, and lead scenario planning and mitigation strategies with internal and external teams.

  • Lead alliance budget and resource planning in partnership with Finance and Legal; provide recommendations on budget allocation and tradeoffs.

• Stakeholder engagement and communication:

  • Act as a senior partner to TA/Project Leadership, Discovery, Clinical, Legal, Innovation, and Finance; present alliance status and recommendations to senior/executive leadership.

  • Ensure transparent, timely communication of progress, risks, and decisions across internal and external stakeholders.

  • Build and maintain strong partnerships with the External Innovation team, providing alliance management input during deal evaluation and contract negotiations, ensuring seamless communication and updates following deal execution, and maintaining visibility into the business development pipeline to anticipate and prepare for upcoming alliances and collaborations.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus at least 12 years of relevant pharmaceutical/biotech industry experience OR Master’s/Ph.D. with at least 10 years of relevant experience.

• Demonstrated, hands-on knowledge of drug development and early-stage R&D processes.

• Proven experience in alliance management or partner-facing leadership roles

• Strong track record of leading complex, multi-stakeholder collaborations and delivering across scientific and operational objectives.

• Outstanding interpersonal, facilitation, and written/oral communication skills; able to engage effectively with senior scientific and executive stakeholders.

• Excellent organizational skills, with ability to manage multiple programs and priorities concurrently.

• Demonstrated ability to identify program risks and lead development and implementation of mitigation strategies.

Preferred qualifications

• Prior experience managing teams or functional leaders responsible for Discovery/Preclinical/Phase 1 alliances, ideally in oncology or related Therapeutic Area.

• Experience working across geographies and with industrial, academic, or non-profit partners.

• Proficiency with portfolio and project management tools and alliance-management metrics.

• Track record of influencing senior stakeholders and shaping strategy through data-driven recommendations.

Other details

• Travel: Moderate travel may be required to meet with partners or internal teams.

• Remote work options may be considered on a case-by-case basis and if approved by the Company; primary affiliation with Spring House, PA.

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