Job Function:
Data Analytics & Computational Sciences
Job Sub Function:
Data Science
Job Category:
Scientific/Technology
All Job Posting Locations:
San Diego, California, United States of America
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
We are reimagining drug discovery through the lens of agentic AI—turning scientific expertise into composable, intelligent workflows that accelerate every stage of the DMTA cycle. We are seeking a highly skilled and innovative Principal Scientist to help lead this transformation by developing agentic-AI capabilities and computational platforms for In Silico Discovery (ISD).
The successful candidate will design and help implement computational platforms that serve as the foundation for agentic workflows— bridging end-user scientists and platform engineering teams. They will help define how scientists interact with AI-driven tools, set best practices for agentic development, and upskill scientists across the department. This role collaborates closely with project and platform engineering teams to turn ISD's scientific tools into a trusted agentic AI discovery engine.
Key Responsibilities
Serve as a key agentic-AI enablement leader for ISD: define best practices and help shape the department's agentic strategy.
Expose computational science capabilities as agent-callable services and help build specialized domain agents, in partnership with platform engineering and portfolio teams.
Lead design and development of scientific platforms and workflows—including virtual screening, active-learning triage, and ADMET-ML scoring—as reusable, agent-ready components for hit identification and compound optimization.
Advance small molecule informatics across the DMTA cycle, guiding bench scientists in analysis and decision-making.
Upskill ISD scientists in agentic-AI tools, prompt engineering, and AI-augmented research practices.
Required Qualifications
PhD in Cheminformatics, Computational Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field.
Minimum of 3 years of industry experience with a proven track record of delivering end-to-end solutions from conceptualization to implementation.
Hands-on experience with LLM-based tools for scientific workflows (e.g., Claude Code), including skill/prompt engineering and MCP or RAG/knowledge-base integration.
Deep expertise in cheminformatics software (e.g., KNIME, OpenEye, RDKit) and programming languages (e.g., Python, R), including familiarity with scientific computing and ML libraries (e.g., pandas, scikit-learn, PyTorch).
Experience with SQL/Snowflake and modeling chemistry data (structures, assay and screening data). Comfort with cloud-native and containerized deployment environments.
Experience working in cross-functional teams and translating ideas from bench scientists to informatics solutions, with excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
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Required Skills:
Preferred Skills:
Advanced Analytics, Coaching, Critical Thinking, Data Analysis, Data Privacy Standards, Data Quality, Data Reporting, Data Savvy, Data Science, Data Visualization, Digital Fluency, Econometric Models, Organizing, Process Improvements, Strategic Thinking, Technical Credibility, Workflow Analysis
The anticipated base pay range for this position is :
$117,000.00 - $201,250.00
Additional Description for Pay Transparency:
Subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees are eligible to participate in the Company27s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).
This position is eligible to participate in the Company27s long-term incentive program.
Subject to the terms of their respective policies and date of hire, employees are eligible for the following time off benefits:
Vacation 60 hours per calendar year
Sick time - 40 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Colorado 36 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Washington 44 hours per calendar year
Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays 3 days per calendar year
Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year
Parental Leave 40 hours within one year of the birth/adoption/foster care of a child
Bereavement Leave 8 hours for an immediate family member: 40 hours for an extended family member per calendar year
Caregiver Leave 0 hours in a 52-week rolling period10 days
Volunteer Leave 6 hours per calendar year
Military Spouse Time-Off 0 hours per calendar year
For additional general information on Company benefits, please go to: - https://www.careers.jnj.com/employee-benefits
