At AstraZeneca every one of our employees makes a difference to patient lives every day. Each and every one of us believes that science has the ability to change lives and that to deliver this takes many people with many skill sets. When we deliver a life-changing medicine, that success comes from the combined efforts of all of our people.

The Drug Safety and Metabolism (DSM) department supports the discovery and non-clinical development of safe medicines.  We are committed to be an industry leader and have an excellent track record in improving the quality of our medicines to benefit patients’ lives. This is an opportunity for a highly motivated scientist to work in a vibrant group at the leading edge of their field to support drug safety assessment, a critical component of the drug discovery and development process.

Our Safety and Mechanistic Pharmacology team within DSM evaluates unwanted pharmacological effects of new medicines and characterises mechanisms of toxicity to design better medicines and ensure the safety of subjects in clinical trials. We are now searching for a Mechanistic Pharmacology Lead to help us develop our investigative approaches to the next level, leading a team of in vitro and in vivo pharmacologists to support projects across AstraZeneca’s Therapy Areas. You’ll complement your solid understanding of the principles of pharmacology with expertise in a range of cutting edge broad profiling technologies (e.g. proteomics, metabolomics) and the advanced bioinformatics required to analyse ‘omics data. To fulfil your role, you’ll work collaboratively across DSM and our drug-hunting units, utilising the best available internal and external expertise.

As Mechanistic Pharmacology Lead, your main responsibilities will include:

• Strategic leadership and line management of a small team of in vitro and in vivo pharmacologists, including overall direction as well as personal and career development for team members
• Definition and implementation of cutting edge strategies that apply multi-omics to enable broad pharmacological profiling for a range of therapeutic modalities, across AstraZeneca’s therapy areas
• Overall interpretation of in vitro off-target profiling data, to enable robust decision-making in drug project teams
• Design and delivery of bespoke mechanistic work-plans integrating in vitro and in vivo approaches to address project specific drug safety/toxicity questions
• Build Drug Safety and Metabolism’s reputation as an industry-leading nonclinical safety assessment function through high impact publications and collaborations that demonstrate strong innovation in mechanistic pharmacology

Essential Requirements:

• Outstanding scientist, with a PhD-level education (or equivalent experience) in pharmacology, toxicology, pathology or a related Natural Science discipline
• Extensive experience in drug discovery and development, preferably in the pharmaceutical industry
• Demonstrable expertise in defining and implementing novel technologies and strategies across organisations
• A strong publication track record and extensive external network relevant to the role
• Ability to manage a portfolio of projects, and prioritise team workload across activities in a matrix environment
• A social personality that contributes to an open, positive, collaborative working climate, and a strong desire to drive personal development.

Desired Requirements:

• Line management experience
• Leadership experience in drug project teams, either as project leader or discipline lead with the team
• Understanding of the external factors that shape the scientific and regulatory landscapes relevant to drug safety assessment

Location: Cambridge, UK

Salary: Competitive + excellent benefits

Closing date: 10th March 2019

If you are interested, apply now.

AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer. AstraZeneca will consider all qualified applicants for employment without discrimination on grounds of disability, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave status, race or national or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, gender identity or re-assignment, marital or civil partnership status or any other characteristic protected by law. AstraZeneca only employs individuals with the right to work in the country/ies where the role is advertised.