Director, Research & Development

Acclarent Inc. part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies is currently recruiting for a Director of R&D located in Irvine, CA.

Chronic sinusitis affects 3 million Americans each year and five per cent of the U.S. adult population suffers from a phenomenon referred to as Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (blocked ears / ear pain). Acclarent, Inc. is dedicated to supporting otolaryngologists with minimally-invasive ENT technologies that relieve this suffering as effectively and painlessly as possible. For more than a decade Acclarent, Inc. has pioneered innovative technologies, including the balloon dilation system that’s been used to treat more than one million patients.

The Director of R&D is directly responsible for establishing company policies and defining objectives for R&D and represents the R&D function at the executive level.  This individual reports directly to the leader of R&D for CSS and interacts with other executive level management to set and implement business strategies.  This position works closely with Regulatory and Quality Assurance to assure that all internal operations of the company comply with applicable regulatory requirements, interacts regularly with Operations to develop and transfer new products and technologies into production, and integrates the activities of R&D with the Training, Sales, and Marketing functions to grow Acclarent’s commercial business. 

Key Duties:

• Responsible for working with Strategic Marketing, Clinical Affairs and Medical Affairs in key customer interactions, understanding the unmet needs of the ENT space and setting the right strategy and vision for Acclarent
• Creates long-range plans for the group, including R&D capabilities development
• Responsible for overseeing and driving the seamless execution of current projects to timeline and budget targets as well as future projects
• In coordination with the Head of R&D, determines organizational structure and allocation of responsibilities and resources that aligns with company mission, needs and strategy
• Chairs the project Approval Committee along with other functional area leads, including quality, regulatory and clinical, operations, finance and commercial
• Recruits, retains and develops employees capable of executing on the key R&D activities of the organization
• Creates, develops and communicates a unified strategic vision for the department through facilitation of ongoing management staff meetings and department communications meetings.  Influences individual, group and organizational goals, rewards and systems
• Makes recommendations regarding problems that cross multiple organizational areas and provides creative solutions to key problems facing the organization
• Provides direction and coaching to employees throughout Acclarent, particularly exempt level and management employees within the R&D group
• Monitors company-wide indicators, such as market share and profitability as well as external environment including economic trends, market conditions and international business
• Anticipates changing demands from the sales force and initiates action to position the company appropriately
• Other responsibilities as required maybe assigned by manager