Description

Johnson & Johnson Innovation is currently recruiting a Vice President, Early Innovation Partnering – Asia Pacific
This position is located in Shanghai.
At J&J we believe good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. That’s why for more than 130 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Today, as the world’s largest and most broadly-based healthcare company, we are committed to using our reach and size for good. The mission of Johnson & Johnson Innovation is to identify and nurture the world’s most promising external science and transformational healthcare innovations. We aim to expand and accelerate innovative healthcare solutions that address the toughest healthcare challenges and improve the lives of patients and consumers around the world. Through our global Johnson & Johnson Innovation network, our Early Innovation Partnering teams located in each of our four Innovation Centers in Boston, London, San Francisco and Shanghai, bring together deep scientific and business expertise with an “on-the-ground” regional presence to facilitate partnerships and collaborations, financing and venture capital investment and incubation solutions across the academic, entrepreneurial, biotech and health technology start-up ecosystem.
A key senior leadership position based at the Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai. It is an externally-focused, highly entrepreneurial leadership role aimed at leading and enabling teams to identify and on-board potentially transformational innovation into Johnson & Johnson.
Leads a team of Early Innovation Partnering leaders to identify and assess highly innovative external innovative opportunities and establish value-creating partnerships across various therapeutic areas, platforms and franchises. Provides coaching and mentoring to team on business strategy, sourcing and partnering activities and governance and stakeholder management. The Early Innovation Partnering team has full access to a spectrum of deal-making solutions, ranging from research collaborations, licensing and options through to working with colleagues on venture investment, new company formation, incubation and spin-outs. As well as leading a team of deal-making professionals, the candidate will also be expected to source, lead and close their own transactions where required.
Principal Responsibilities:
Leading a team responsible for identifying highly innovative product opportunities and building compelling business cases for bringing them into J&J. Ensures that business cases produced by team members are rigorous and based on sound scientific, clinical, regulatory and commercial rationales, with key assumptions and risks clearly articulated.
Setting clear goals and objectives for team members that are closely aligned to overall J&J Innovation goals and objectives, and routinely monitoring progress with team members.
Ensuring team builds close relationships with relevant J&J therapeutic area/business teams, including the respective therapeutic area lead deployed to Innovation Center. This is to enable both the
understanding and contributing to existing strategy and to influence, shape and champion new opportunities potentially “off strategy” but where a compelling business case can be made.
Accountable for ensuring that the business cases for selected opportunities progress through appropriate review processes, that key risks are identified, communicated appropriately, and debated sufficiently, and mitigation strategies are accounted for in deal structures, development plans and cost projections. Ensuring that team members prepare high quality internal review and briefing documents, including substantial quantitative and qualitative analysis of opportunities.
Ensuring each team member develops a deep understanding of innovation and scientific landscape in relevant therapeutic area and deploys methods to systematically identify innovative opportunities and to maximize chances of serendipitous discovery of opportunities. Promotes sharing of knowledge and best practice across team.
Ensuring team members provide suitable leadership and management of cross-functional due diligence teams.
Helping team members devise and propose appropriate collaboration models, transaction structures and terms that are commercially and scientifically sensible. Provides critical challenge and feedback to team during deal structuring and negotiation planning.
Negotiation and closing of transactions as required.
Encouraging and supporting team members to build and maintain close relationships with key stakeholders across the external innovation ecosystem including entrepreneurs, academics, key opinion leaders, biotech companies, venture capitalists, non profit organizations etc.
External representation of J&J to prospective partners and regular attendance at industry partnering conferences and scientific meetings.
Contributing to environmental scanning and competitive intelligence activities and to maintenance of professional knowledge management/CRM practices and routine operational reporting.
Ensuring that all interactions and engagements are carried out by the team with the highest ethical and professional standards and that all work is accomplished with quality and in accordance with J&J Credo.
Identifying and articulating development opportunities for team members and ensuring on-going training needs are met.
Principal Relationships:
Accountable to the Regional Head of Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Asia Pacific.
Internal – key stakeholders within senior J&J management, within respective J&J therapeutic areas or businesses, wider J&J functional representatives, regional J&J management and J&J Innovation team members across the other regions.
External – Engagement with key members of healthcare innovation community including biotechnology company senior executives, scientists, academics, venture capitalists

Qualifications

Life sciences PhD from world-leading institution. MDs with strong scientific mind-set and credentials may also be suitable. Evidence of successful scientific endeavour and track record. Exceptional candidates without formal science qualifications but with relevant and successful career experience in science-driven businesses may be suitable. MBA is desirable.
Required Experience:
A minimum of 8 years of experience leading business development and strategy teams in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and/or medical device sectors. And a minimum of 5 years relevant experience in the Asia Pacific region
Prior leadership experience in an investment bank, private equity/venture capital firm or a top tier strategy management consultancy may also be relevant.
Must be able to demonstrate significant leadership, (coaching/ mentoring & management) of sourcing, partnerships and collaborations in the life sciences sectors..
Must be able to demonstrate significant previous deal-sourcing and transaction success (deals sourced/identified that were subsequently successfully executed) including evidence of substantial involvement in driving/leading the opportunity evaluation and negotiation through to a successful outcome in a cross-functional environment and the ability to help build understanding and consensus in support of a transaction at all levels.
A high degree of dynamism, ambition and risk tolerance is required with ability to demonstrate evidence of being a highly proactive self-starter, for example, through prior entrepreneurial business activities.
A strong inclination and aptitude for working in multi-disciplinary teams and managing and influencing others without formal authority.
Understand the eco system dynamics in Asia Pacific region, especially for the leading markets such as China and Japan
Chinese speaking is nice to have
Other Skills and Attributes:
Demonstrated ability to lead according to the J&J Credo and the J&J Leadership Imperatives
Strong desire and inclination to develop others and help them achieve their full potential.
Scientifically and commercially curious and able to “go beyond the obvious”, connecting the dots in order to find innovative opportunities that others would miss, or would not at first glance fit with strategy.
Excellent quantitative and qualitative skills including the ability to apply broad scientific knowledge to business problems. Maintains up to date and broad scientific knowledge from a variety of sources.
Highly credible both scientifically and from a business standpoint. Commercially-aware with great business acumen.
Ability to anticipate challenges and recommend courses of action to avoid or minimize challenges or to accelerate the paths forward.
Strong team player, able to share successes and disappointments, to put others first and to work collaboratively to make things happen.
Must be able to negotiate and close transactions.
Highly articulate with ability to communicate verbally with clarity and gravitas across executive-level scientific and commercial audiences. Ability to write high quality succinct business documents for Board level audiences.
Must be able to understand and communicate complex scientific, commercial, financial, regulatory, medical and legal problems, reducing to the key issues, framing the key questions and able to lead in their resolution.
Ability to chart a course and determine what needs to be done, ability to maintain momentum and enthusiasm despite the inevitable set-backs and high opportunity attrition rate typical of the sector.
High emotional intelligence. Humble and self-aware, with the ability to “know what you don’t know”. Relationship builder as evidenced by a talent in managing internal and external relationships and working effectively across functions and geographies.
Strategic thinker as indicated by experience of contributing to the development of corporate or business unit strategy and translating this into appropriate business development goals that are then successfully executed.
Willingness and ability to travel frequently within U.S. Some international travel will also be required.
Position is located in Shanghai, China
Johnson & Johnson is an Affirmative Action and 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, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.