Principal Scientist - Biologics Engineering

Principal Scientist -Biologics Engineering

Location: Cambridge, UK

Salary: Competitive with excellent benefits

Make a more meaningful impact to patients’ lives around the globe

Do you have expertise in, and passion for computational biology? Would you like to play a pivotal role that impacts the delivery of novel biologics drugs for oncology, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases in a company that follows the science and turns ideas into life-changing medicines? Then AstraZeneca might be for you!

The Biologics Engineering team is responsible for the discovery and optimisation of biological candidate drugs to support all therapy area drug discovery pipelines and for the development of in-house biologics discovery platforms and novel drug modalities to support future drug discovery efforts. Central to this effort is the Augmented Biologics Discovery and Design team, which is building on existing technologies to advance learning from the large and complex data sets we generate. Excitingly, the team is growing to meet this challenge. This role provides the opportunity for a dedicated and motivated machine learning scientist with computational structural biology skills.

What you’ll do

Join our innovative team and help develop a brand new biologics discovery and design platform.

You will work collaboratively with data and drug discovery scientists to establish structural analytics workflows for biologics discovery and drive innovative structural and machine learning methods for the analysis and design of therapeutic proteins.

Lead partnerships with academic and commercial organisations, while testing and validating in silico tools with collaborators from AZ.

Finally, you will demonstrate effective communication to translate sophisticated concepts to non-experts in internal and external scientific meetings

Essential Skills/Experience

• PhD or equivalent experience in relevant field (e.g. Protein Engineering, Structural Biology, Structural Informatics)

• Knowledge of computational biology and demonstrated application of data analysis methods

• Experience with Python and analysis of structural, sequence, and experimental data

• Experience with structural modelling platforms (e.g., Schrodinger, Rosetta, etc.)

• Knowledge of Generative AI, machine learning, and deep learning for protein design and optimization

• Capability of successfully managing multiple simultaneous projects

• Strong, professional communication skills and excellent attention to detail, capable of developing good working relationships with diverse individuals

• Experience working within a team environment

• Acts with integrity and does the right thing

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Familiarity with antibody discovery & optimisation, protein structures

• Experienced in use of biologics databases (e.g., Genedata Biologics)

• Awareness of data requirements for machine learning to model biological data

Why AstraZeneca?

Make a more meaningful impact to patients’ lives around the globe

At AstraZeneca, we thrive in an environment where the brightest minds come together in an inclusive culture. Here, every voice is heard, and we are constantly growing our horizons by working side-by-side with academia and innovating with biotech. By sharing our knowledge, we empower ourselves to be the best we can be and accelerate progress. We are committed to making a difference by fusing data and technology with scientific innovations to achieve breakthroughs that can treat, prevent, modify, or even cure some of the world's most sophisticated diseases.

So, what’s next?

Are you already imagining yourself joining our team? Good, because we can’t wait to hear from you!

To be considered for this great opportunity, please complete the full application at your earliest convenience – it is the only way that our Recruiter and Hiring Manager can know that you feel well qualified for this opportunity.

Welcome with your application no later than 21st November 2024

Where can I find out more?

• Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/

• On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/

• Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorisation and employment eligibility verification requirements.