Director of AI Optimization and Productization - R&D Data Science & Digital Health
About the Role:
We are looking for an experienced technical, hands-on, leader in AI optimization and productization to join our Data Science & Digital Health (DSDH) team within Research & Development (R&D). This role reports directly to the Vice President of AI/ML & Digital Health. The team will support the training, optimization, and deployment of AI models and AI products across the R&D value chain. In close collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Technology (JJT), this leader will leverage enterprise MLOps and DevOps frameworks to implement good AI development practices and life cycle management across DSDH AI projects. A key focus will be optimizing AI models and code for large-scale training, inference performance, and product deployment, working alongside JJT and external partners. Additionally, the role will guide the development of AI applications in areas such as discovery, biomarkers, and clinical endpoints. This leader will engage across the enterprise, partnering with DSDH teams, JJT, and therapeutic areas within J&J Innovative Medicine R&D, while also interfacing with senior stakeholders throughout the organization.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with AI scientists in DSDH, R&D partners, and JJT to optimize AI models for large-scale training, inference performance, and their deployment in AI products.
- Guide and supervise the productization of AI models into applications deployed within R&D or clinical trials for discovery, biomarkers, and clinical endpoints.
- Oversee the use of enterprise MLOps frameworks within DSDH in close collaboration with JJT, following company best practices and frameworks and managing the life cycle of DSDH AI models.
- Actively modeling and planning for compute capacity across DSDH projects, in partnership with the DSDH Data Strategy & Platform team and JJT.
- Work closely with DSDH, JJT, therapeutic areas, functions, and senior stakeholders across the enterprise to promote cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder engagement.
- Attract, grow, and lead a high-performing technical team focused on AI optimization, productization, and life cycle management.
- Mentor junior team members and foster a culture of continuous learning.
Qualifications
- Advanced degree (PhD or Master's) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Biomedical Engineering, or a related field. Additional training or certification in MLOps, AI optimization, product life cycle is a plus.
- 8+ years of experience in AI model development, model optimization, and deployment, including managing product life cycle (design, development, testing, deployment, operations & maintenance, etc.).
- Excellent coding and software development capabilities, effectively leading a technical team and partners towards the creation of scalable AI solutions.
- Deep expertise in using MLOps frameworks, deployment pipelines, and monitoring tools, including familiarity with cloud platforms and containerization tools. Experience with AWS is preferred.
- Experience with Agile and DevOps methodologies.
- Experience with regulatory compliance and governance (e.g. GxP, SaMD, etc.).
- Strong experience in leading a technical team, and ability to work in a matrixed organization on complex, multi-stakeholder projects.
- Excellent communication skills and strategic thinking capabilities.
- Ability to align technical execution with strategic business goals and enterprise-wide initiatives and frameworks.
- Experience in Life Sciences, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical or Medical Tech sector is preferred.
This position can be located in Titusville, NJ; Spring House, PA; La Jolla, CA; Cambridge, MA or London, United Kingdom. This position will require up to 25% travel.
At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything.
Every day, our more than 138,000 employees globally are building a world where complex diseases are prevented and cured, treatments are smarter and less invasive—and solutions are personal. For 139 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life.
Johnson & Johnson is a focused healthcare company, with expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, uniquely positioned for breakthroughs that shape the future of health.
J&J Innovative Medicine leads where medicine is going, driving science-based innovation that changes and saves lives across oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and cardiopulmonary areas.
J&J MedTech innovates at the intersection of biology and technology, delivering smarter, less invasive, and personalized medical solutions addressing the most complex health challenges.
Committed to our values, we put the needs and well-being of the people we serve first, striving to build a healthier future for all.
January 21, 2026
5-7 business days
After submission
- •Explicit, repeated focus on MLOps, deployment pipelines, monitoring, and lifecycle management demonstrates strong workflow integration and tool proficiency.
- •Role requires optimizing models for large-scale training and inference and productizing them into AI applications — clear applied AI usage tied to business outcomes.
- •Mentions enterprise MLOps frameworks, cloud/containerization (AWS, containerization), and compute capacity planning — operational and tooling depth is explicit.
The role scores well on safety (company stability), esteem (senior leadership, measurable impact), and self-actualization (technical challenge, mentorship, enterprise-scale projects). However, foundational physiological signals (explicit compensation and benefits) are weak or missing from the posting. The position appears high-quality for a candidate seeking strategic technical leadership at scale, but candidates should clarify compensation, reporting/authority, team size, and resource commitments to assess real autonomy and workload.
- •No explicit compensation or benefits information provided for a senior Director role — leaves uncertainty around pay and total rewards (posting lacks salary/benefits quotes).
- •Role spans broad enterprise responsibilities in a matrixed organization ("work in a matrixed organization on complex, multi-stakeholder projects", "engage across the enterprise") without clear detail on decision authority or direct resources — risk of unclear ownership and potential role overload.
- •Established, large employer (139+ years; 138,000 employees) — signals corporate stability and likely formal benefits.
- •Clear senior-level ownership: Director title reporting to VP, responsibility for building and leading a high-performing technical team.
- •Strong signals of meaningful technical impact: optimizing large-scale training/inference, productizing models for discovery/biomarkers/clinical endpoints, enterprise MLOps integration.
- •Can you share the target compensation range and high-level benefits for this Director role (base, bonus/stock, and typical benefits package)?
- •What is the current size and structure of the AI Optimization & Productization team (direct reports, open headcount you expect to hire in the next 6–12 months), and to whom will this role directly report beyond the VP of AI/ML & Digital Health?
- •What are the top 3 success metrics for the first 6–12 months (e.g., production model throughput, latency targets, number of models productized, compute cost reductions), and what authority will I have to allocate compute and platform resources to meet them?
Location
Employment Type
Full-time
Experience Level
Senior
Posted
October 23, 2025 (1 week ago)
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