Formulation Senior Research Scientist, 6-month contract

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Type of Role: Contract position, Inside IR35

Contract length: 6 months

Location: On-site, 5 days a week (Milton Park R&D, Abingdon Oxon)

Department: Formulation

Looking for opportunities with purpose, impact, and possibilities? Our client, Vertex, is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation. As they grow their pipeline at pace, they are strengthening their reputation for creating transformative medicines for people with serious diseases.

General Summary

The Formulation Senior Research Scientist will work with other scientists dedicated to preclinical formulation – advancing drug candidates from exploratory development through first in human studies using lab-based and computational tools to design and select dosage forms and manufacturing processes. This role designs and executes elaborate experiments for pharmaceutical sciences projects and demonstrates resourcefulness in running multiple activities concurrently, all related to achievement of goals/objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop dosage forms for preclinical and early clinical use – conduct preformulation activities to enable all nonclinical in vivo studies (pharmacology, pharmacokinetic, and safety).
• Develop stable and bioavailable formulations for different stages of development (e.g. solution/suspension-based formulations, amorphous pharmaceutical systems into solid oral dosage forms, parenteral, etc.) for assessment in preclinical species.
• Design and perform technically challenging experiments in compliance with applicable regulations and SOPs.
• Interpret moderately complicated, multidimensional data and makes recommendations on new processes and development directions.
• Perform advanced experimental troubleshooting and methods development.
• "Multi-task" to effectively manage efforts on multiple activities and/or projects.
• Scour relevant scientific literature within the field and surveys broadly beyond the own discipline/field.
• May innovate technical methodologies to improve outcomes and achieve results.
• Contribute to patent and publication preparation.
• "Import" new principles/concepts from other fields to develop useful new experimental approaches.
• May be the practical manager of CRO contracts or external collaborative development.
• May supervise other staff (either in direct- or through matrix-management roles) and may be responsible for quality, timeliness, and accuracy of work done by others.