Senior Principal Scientist - Cell Pharmacology

4,000 professionals, 0 days wasted, 1 incredible purpose. Together, we are beating cancer.

Senior Principal Scientist - Cell Pharmacology

Salary: Starting from £67,200 - £76,000 per annum depending on experience (negotiable)

Reports to: Associate Director Mechanistic Pharmacology

Department: Research and Innovation

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week (flexible working requests considered if they meet business needs)

Location: Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge

Closing date: Thursday 8th February 2024 at 23.59. This vacancy may close earlier if a high number of applications are received or once a suitable candidate is found, so please do not delay submitting your application to avoid any disappointment.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That's why we're looking for someone talented, someone determined, someone like you.

We currently have an opportunity within our Drug Discovery team for an experienced and passionate Senior Principal Scientist to lead and drive our Cell Pharmacology strategy, based at our Babraham Research Campus facilities in Cambridge. This is an exciting opportunity and time to join us as we start to implement our new 5-year plan.

About CRUK Drug Discovery

As the world's biggest medical research charity, we've helped bring eleven new cancer drugs to market. However, there is still an urgent need to bring more effective treatments to patients faster.

We have recently developed a new approach to driving therapeutic innovation through the creation of Cancer Research Horizons (CRH). We have brought together Cancer Research UK's established drug discovery teams under one organisation and leadership team, combining our unique pipeline of world class biology, cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise to 1) bring new treatments to patients faster and 2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success.

What will I be doing?

Our new strategy sets out to bring deeper mechanistic understanding at the molecular and cellular level to all stages of projects, from Idea to pre-clinical candidate. You will set the vision and lead our Cell Pharmacology strategy, helping to identify the right drugs with the right mechanisms for the right patients, faster. You will also play a leadership role in the wider Molecular Sciences department, contributing to the strategic direction within CRH.

As our Senior Principal Scientist (SPS) Cell Pharmacology, you will be an inspirational scientist with an exceptional record of bringing your deep knowledge of quantitative cell biology and drug-target kinetics to impact on projects. You will be an experienced and passionate scientific leader, able to represent the department across a broad range of therapeutic projects and cross-site initiatives, and externally. You will contribute to, and lead, specific areas of scientific and technical innovation (including in novel modalities aligned to our strategic direction), incorporating external collaboration and partnership along with internal science builds. You will also lead drug discovery projects. Whilst this role will not manage any direct line-reports, a significant element will involve matrix leadership; you will also play a pivotal role in training and developing colleagues, including through your practical contributions from the bench.

What skills will I need?

We are seeking an accomplished scientific leader who can articulate a vision for our mission and set direction and inspire commitment for preclinical Discovery. The SPS should have the following skills and experience:

• PhD in Biological Science, or equivalent experience
• Significant experience and deep expertise in Cell Pharmacology in a drug discovery environment
• Proven track record of innovative scientific delivery through driving impactful Cell Pharmacology insight in drug discovery programmes, including detailed characterisation of targets and their modulation by small molecules through quantitative cell biology and drug mechanism-of-action
• Significant experience in translating drug-target kinetics through to mechanistic PKPD modelling for therapeutic dose prediction
• Proven track record of portfolio impact across a range of challenging target classes, through intellectual and laboratory-based contributions, and project leadership
• Strong external reputation in Cell Pharmacology and drug discovery, evidenced through wide personal network, external presentation and publication in high-impact journals, and influential roles on relevant external committees
• Significant experience in inspiring and developing a diverse world-class group, whilst working in a highly matrixed discovery project environment
• Significant experience of establishing and leading external academic and industrial collaborations, and technology change projects
• Track record of delivering results across a diverse project portfolio by driving strategic and scientific initiatives

What will I gain?

Every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that's impressive.

In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies, and processes to enable you to do your job well.

Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.

We don't forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.

Our work - from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy - will change the world. It's exciting to be part of our team.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.