Senior Scientist, In Silico Discovery (Computational Drug Discovery)

Location: Beerse, Antwerp, Belgium is the primary location; La Jolla, California and Spring House, Pennsylvania will also be considered. The role requires domestic and international travel of up to 10%.

Base pay: €75,500–€117,300 annually, depending on pay grade and location.

Company

Johnson & Johnson MedTech develops healthcare and therapeutic solutions across Innovative Medicine and MedTech.

What you will do

• Develop automated structure-based modeling components for ligand preparation, protein preparation, docking, docking selection, and free energy calculations.
• Advance computational workflows from prototype stage to deployable solutions across the drug discovery portfolio.
• Expand automation coverage for existing and new structure-based tools, including co-folding workflows.
• Collaborate with platform, automation, IT, ISD Cheminformatics, and scientific teams to implement reusable workflow services and enterprise-standard architectures.
• Shape workflow platform and automated DMTA environment requirements through user feedback and future workflow needs.
• Use agentic AI to support programming, accelerate development, and expand AI-enabled workflows.

Requirements

• PhD in computational science, computational chemistry, or a related field.
• Knowledge of structure-based computational drug discovery and computational chemistry tools.
• Strong programming skills, preferably in Python, with experience developing automated workflows, pipelines, or scientific applications.
• Familiarity with workflow orchestration frameworks and software engineering practices including version control, testing, and CI/CD.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to develop creative solutions for project objectives.
• Ability to work primarily in Beerse, Belgium, or be considered for the California or Pennsylvania locations; willingness to travel up to 10% is required.

Nice to have

• Experience with open-source computational chemistry resources, libraries, or toolkits such as RDKit.
• Experience with modern AI/ML libraries and platforms or agentic AI for programming and software development.
• Experience with free energy methods, virtual screening, co-folding, or computational drug discovery in industry or postdoctoral research.

Culture & Benefits

• Annual bonus with a target based on pay grade and location.
• Vacation, parental leave of at least 12 weeks, bereavement leave, caregiver leave, and volunteer leave.
• Well-being reimbursement and financial, physical, and mental health programs.
• Service anniversary and recognition awards.
• Eligibility for insurance plans is subject to the applicable location and plan terms.