Manager, External Innovation - MedTech Surgery

About Surgery

Fueled by innovation at the intersection of biology and technology, we’re developing the next generation of smarter, less invasive, more personalized treatments.

Are you passionate about improving and expanding the possibilities of surgery? Ready to join a team that’s reimagining how we heal? Our Surgery team will give you the chance to deliver surgical technologies and solutions to surgeons and healthcare professionals around the world. Your contributions will help effectively treat some of the world’s most prevalent conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Patients are waiting.

Our business offers a broad range of products and technologies, including surgical staplers, clip appliers, trocars and sealing devices—that are used in a wide variety of minimally invasive and open surgical procedures.

Your unique talents will help patients on their journey to wellness. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/medtech

Johnson & Johnson MedTech is currently recruiting for a Manager, External Innovation - MedTech. The position is located in **Raritan, NJ** & will work a hybrid schedule with 3 days per week onsite.

Purpose:

In this role, you will drive our external innovation strategy by scouting and evaluating new technologies and partnerships and leading technical due diligence for collaborations and investments. You will build and manage relationships with external partners, develop strategic roadmaps, and create evaluation frameworks that enable confident early-stage technology decisions.

You will be responsible for:

• Develop and execute an external innovation strategy to identify high-potential technologies, startups, academic laboratories, and service providers aligned to commercial and technology targets.
• Evaluate external opportunities through an integrated technical and market lens (e.g., scientific validity, technology readiness, risk, timelines, and product market fit)
• Evaluate external opportunities using a combined technical and market view evaluating scientific validity, technology readiness, risks, timelines, product-market fit, etc.
• Lead technical due diligence for licensing, collaboration, and investment opportunities, partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to prepare concise assessments for senior leadership.
• Design, coordinate, and execute evaluation frameworks (e.g., preclinical assays, in vitro methods, or equivalent) to de-risk early-stage technologies and inform go/no-go decisions.
• Manage external partnerships and vendors (e.g., CROs, contract developers, academic collaborators), including scopes of work, budgets, milestones, and governance.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams (e.g., R&D, Medical, Clinical, Regulatory, Commercial, BD, Legal) to support external innovation initiatives.
• Track and report portfolio metrics and outcomes for external collaborations and projects; identify and escalate risks, highlight opportunities, and monitor timelines and go/no-go decisions.
• Map and maintain the external ecosystem; track market trends and competitor activity related to target areas and the portfolio.

Qualifications and Requirements:

• PhD in a scientific or technical discipline (e.g., biology, chemistry, materials science, engineering, or related field) is required.
• Minimum 6+ years of experience in medical device industry with end-to-end product development.
• Demonstrated experience in external innovation (scouting, partnerships, licensing, collaborations) for early- to mid-stage technologies is required.
• Proven ability to work at the interface of market and technology strategy, translating market needs into technical requirements and vice versa is required.
• Strong scientific judgment, with experience assessing technology fit, feasibility, and commercialization potential is required.
• Experience managing external vendors and collaborators, including defining scopes of work and overseeing execution is required.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to produce clear technical and commercial materials for senior leadership.
• Ability to influence and lead cross-functional teams without formal authority in a matrixed environment.
• Basic understanding of preclinical, clinical, and regulatory requirements to support 510(k) and PMA product submissions and approvals is required.
• Experience developing due diligence materials to support external opportunity evaluation is preferred.
• Experience leading a team through development and approval of a PMA medical device is preferred.
• Demonstrated track record of designing testing strategies and endpoints to evaluate early-stage technology efficacy and safety is preferred.
• Experience building scientific communication packages that summarize results and support decision-making is preferred.
• Demonstrated success influencing cross-functional resource allocation and securing funding for priority initiatives is preferred.
• Will require up to 10% travel both international and domestic.