Director Medical Affairs KSA

Role Overview

Director Medical Affairs KSA at Johnson & Johnson, based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Company Overview

Johnson & Johnson is a healthcare innovation company with strength in Innovative Medicine and MedTech. Through our expertise, we build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured, where treatments are smarter and less invasive, and solutions are personal. We operate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions globally. Our Credo guides our responsibility to employees worldwide, providing an inclusive work environment that respects the diversity and dignity of all individuals and recognizes their merit.

Role Purpose

The Medical Director will lead the strategic development and execution of Medical Affairs plans aligned with regional and global frameworks to enhance product lifecycles, improve patient outcomes, and drive market growth. This role requires establishing impactful relationships with regulatory agencies, developing talent pipelines, and fostering cross-functional collaboration to support strategic business objectives in a dynamic matrix-driven environment.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Market Development

• Grow market share through strategic insight and powerful execution.
• Develop a strategy and execution plan that ensures local Medical Affairs functions are performed aligned to regional strategy and global mentorship.
• Improve the value and lifecycles of products and contribute to the well-being of patients.
• Balance delivery of short-term results in the region without jeopardizing long-term strategic choices and results.
• Use insight to help shape the regional agenda.
• Demonstrate ability to understand and appreciate the uniqueness of the market and act as the voice of the market to regional leaders.

Program Design & Operations

• Manage the design and implementation plans of the Medical Affairs program, including identification of critical paths.
• Develop budgets and track all projects.
• Continually assess systems and processes to identify opportunities to harmonize, simplify, and drive efficiencies.
• Make decisions based on limited and less real-time data.

Medical Affairs Activities & Delivery

• Hold overall responsibility for Medical Affairs strategic plans including a spectrum of activities such as publication of generated data.
• Develop trustful and science-based interactions with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs).
• Provide medical support to relevant marketing pre-launch, launch, and post-launch activities.
• Deliver cross-departmental support to other functions such as Market Access & Government Affairs and Communications.

External Relationships & Regulatory Affairs

• Externally represent Johnson & Johnson in the medical affairs domain.
• Form effective relationships with regulatory agencies, businesses, media, and customers.
• Advance Johnson & Johnson culture throughout the cluster, including regular visits to different Johnson & Johnson sites.
• Drive successful execution of key regulatory events, such as compliance audits and implementation of new or changed requirements.
• Build new relationships with governmental and regulatory agencies.
• Engage with governments and create joint partnerships to support clinical trials and data generation projects.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Establish strong, highly collaborative relationships with other Johnson & Johnson leaders, especially other functions to leverage capabilities to support business needs.
• Lead in a highly matrix environment; collaborate and influence peers to find win-win solutions.
• Remain steady and positive in leading through VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity).
• Lead with ability to manage greater ambiguity in Emerging Markets.

Talent Development

• Lead a high-performance team and sustain an impactful culture.
• Hold talent accountable for short-term delivery while preparing and building the organization for the future.
• Acquire and develop talent to strengthen the future talent pipeline across all leadership levels to support market growth and business needs.
• Cascade Medical Affairs function strategy for the future that supports enterprise strategic direction.
• Engage and motivate the team to support a plan to achieve the business vision by driving ownership and accountability down through the organization.
• Translate global Medical Affairs function strategy into local execution.
• Build a culture that is not satisfied with the status quo by pursuing innovation and new market opportunities while ensuring alignment with enterprise.

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience working within multinational companies, especially in Emerging Markets, with adherence to high levels of compliance.
• Professional experience in the pharmaceutical business environment at the regional level.
• Strong leadership skills with ability to structure and develop a team of people, retain motivation, and infuse spirit relevant to company culture, vision, and business strategy.

Skills & Competencies

• Analytical Reasoning.
• Clinical Research and Regulations.
• Clinical Trials Operations.
• Communication (oral, business writing, presenting, and listening).
• Consulting.
• Developing Others.
• Healthcare Trends.
• Inclusive Leadership.
• Leadership.
• Medical Affairs.
• Medical Communications.
• Medical Compliance.
• Product Strategies.
• Representing.
• Research Proposals.
• Stakeholder Management.
• Strategic Thinking.
• Pragmatism, diplomacy, listening, and relationship skills with strong analytical, communication, decision-making, and project management capabilities.
• Positive attitude to change and ability to challenge status quo.
• Ability to navigate and produce results in a global matrix organization with strong cross-departmental support and interdisciplinary approach.
• Proficient English knowledge of both spoken and written; native local speaker is a plus.

Additional Information

This is a People Leader role within the Medical Affairs Group, Medical Affairs – MD sub-function.