Postdoctoral research assistant (PDRA), Ternary amorphous solid dispersion screening – Early Product Development and Manufacturing - 24 month fixed term contract

Postdoctoral research assistant (PDRA), Ternary amorphous solid dispersion screening – Early Product Development and Manufacturing - 24 month fixed term contract

Location: Macclesfield, UK

Competitive salary and benefits

Are you excited to push formulation science into new territory and see your work directly influence how we develop medicines for patients with unmet need? In this postdoctoral role, you will build and validate screening protocols for ternary amorphous solid dispersions that help us choose the right formulation, faster, for poorly soluble drugs.

You will join a highly collaborative team that blends lab science with automation and digital capabilities to turn sophisticated data into clear decisions. From day one, you will shape workflows that our project teams can trust at pace. Can you envision your experiments, code and data models becoming the standard way we progress molecules through early development?

Accountabilities:

• Ternary ASD Screening Strategy: Build, implement and refine a broad compositional screening strategy for ternary amorphous solid dispersions, translating scientific hypotheses into practical, scale-aware experiments.

• Workflow Design and Validation: Build robust, repeatable workflows that enable rapid selection of optimal formulations for poorly soluble drugs, with clear decision criteria and acceptance thresholds.

• Data Architecture and Knowledge Management: Partner with digital colleagues to structure data capture, metadata standards and searchable records that make insights reusable across programs.

• Automation Enablement: Implement and optimize automation to increase efficiency, reproducibility and safety; reduce manual steps and cycle time across screening and characterization.

• Digitisation and Analytics: Deliver digitisation solutions and analytical pipelines that increase productivity, including dashboards, statistical models and decision-support tools.

• External Landscape Scouting: Track relevant advances in materials, analytical techniques, automation and data science; evaluate and integrate the most impactful elements into internal practice.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Work closely with formulation, solid-state, process and analytical partners to ensure methods are practical, scalable and aligned to project needs; communicate results and recommendations with transparency.

• Impact Expansion: Move from establishing core capability to demonstrating project impact, enabling adoption across portfolios and advising platform investment decisions.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Accountable for driving project to develop screening protocols on a broad compositional space of ternary amorphous solid dispersions with the aim to develop robust work-flows to select optimal formulation design for poorly soluble drugs in active projects.

• Work within the department and with the digitization team to implement improvements in knowledge management and structured data storage related to the project.

• Keep up to date with external landscape, identify relevant external developments, evaluate and implement within AZ.

• Deliver automation solutions to improve efficiency and reduce manual tasks.

• Deliver digitisation solutions to increase productivity and efficiency within solid-state/formulation.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Advanced training in pharmaceutical sciences, materials science, chemical engineering or a related field with a research focus on solid-state or formulation science

• Hands-on experience with amorphous solid dispersions, including polymer selection, miscibility assessment and physical stability risk management

• Practical expertise with enabling technologies such as hot-melt extrusion, spray drying and high-throughput screening

• Proficiency in solid-state and formulation analytics (e.g., XRPD, DSC, TGA, Raman/IR, DVS) and data interpretation for decision-making

• Ability to design and analyze multifactor experiments (DoE), build mechanistic or empirical models and communicate uncertainty

• Coding competency in Python or R for data processing, visualization and automation; familiarity with ELNs, LIMS and structured data standards

• Experience integrating or operating lab automation and robotics to increase throughput and reproducibility

• Strong collaboration and communication skills with a track record of influencing cross-functional teams and delivering clear written reports or publications

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

Here you will be empowered to follow the science with the tools of a modern R&D engine—high-throughput automation, advanced analytics and digital platforms—while working shoulder to shoulder with chemists, engineers and data experts who learn fast and share openly. We bring diverse minds together in the same room to spark bold ideas, turn data into insight and move promising medicines forward with pace. Your contribution will shape how we predict success earlier in development, accelerating therapies to patients and growing your capabilities in a culture that values kindness alongside ambition.

If you are ready to turn cutting-edge formulation science into decisions that speed medicines to patients, step into this role and make your impact today.

#Earlytalent

Date Posted

13-Jan-2026

Closing Date

12-Jan-2026

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.

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.