Northreach
Principal Scientist
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Principal Scientist – Antibody Characterisation
Northreach supports innovative biotechnology companies with specialist scientific and operational hiring. We are currently partnering with a growing UK biotech company seeking a Principal Scientist to lead antibody characterisation and candidate-selection activities across its preclinical discovery programmes.
This is a broad, hands-on scientific leadership role for someone who can combine deep antibody biophysics with programme ownership. You will help define how large panels of antibody candidates are assessed, understand how they bind and behave, and use those data to determine which molecules should progress through optimisation and towards preclinical development.
The role will suit someone who is comfortable moving between the laboratory, data review, project leadership and external scientific oversight. You will work closely with discovery scientists, computational teams, external partners and senior stakeholders to ensure the strongest antibody candidates are identified and progressed efficiently.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead antibody characterisation and optimisation activities across early-stage discovery and preclinical programmes
- Define experimental strategies and progression criteria to support antibody screening, optimisation and candidate selection
- Design and apply biophysical and biochemical characterisation approaches including SPR/Biacore, BLI, ELISA and complementary binding methods
- Evaluate antibody affinity, binding kinetics, specificity, epitope behaviour, stability and broader developability characteristics
- Integrate biophysical, functional, structural and computational datasets to support clear candidate-selection decisions
- Own or contribute to go/no-go decisions, identifying scientific liabilities and recommending appropriate follow-up experiments
- Work closely with computational and discovery teams to translate modelling and structural insights into experimental plans
- Review complex datasets and ensure scientific conclusions are supported by robust analysis and appropriate statistical interpretation
- Coordinate internal scientific resources and ensure experimental activity is aligned to programme priorities and timelines
- Manage external CROs, consultants and technology partners delivering characterisation, assay development and preclinical study packages
- Review external study plans, protocols, timelines, data packages and final reports, providing scientific challenge where appropriate
- Lead and supervise scientists, providing technical guidance, mentoring and day-to-day scientific direction
- Support laboratory planning and ensure internal teams are focused on the highest-priority programme questions
- Communicate scientific strategy, data, risks and recommendations clearly to cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders
- Contribute to regulatory documentation, IP activities, publications and external scientific presentations where required
- Maintain high-quality scientific documentation and ensure internal and outsourced work is delivered to appropriate standards
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About You
- PhD, or equivalent industry experience, in biochemistry, biophysics, protein science, molecular biology or a related discipline
- Strong industry experience in therapeutic antibody or biologics discovery and development
- Deep hands-on expertise in antibody characterisation, particularly SPR and/or BLI
- Strong understanding of antibody binding, affinity, kinetics, specificity and structure-function relationships
- Experience using characterisation data to support lead optimisation and candidate-selection decisions
- Practical knowledge of complementary protein-characterisation and developability techniques
- Experience designing experiments independently and critically interpreting complex scientific datasets
- Strong awareness of data quality, assay performance and statistical interpretation
- Experience leading scientific projects or workstreams across multidisciplinary teams
- Comfortable coordinating internal resources and driving programmes towards defined scientific decision points
- Experience working with CROs, consultants or external scientific partners
- Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills
- Experience mentoring, supervising or line managing scientists
- A hands-on, pragmatic and collaborative approach suited to a growing biotechnology environment
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Desirable Experience
- Experience with antibody engineering, multispecific antibodies, antibody conjugates or other next-generation formats
- Experience with high-throughput antibody screening and characterisation workflows
- Experience integrating computational or structural biology outputs into experimental decision-making
- Knowledge of antibody developability, stability, aggregation and molecular liabilities
- Experience supporting progression from discovery into preclinical development
- Experience contributing to regulatory filings, patent applications or scientific publications
- Previous experience working within a small or growing biotechnology company
- Experience overseeing externally delivered preclinical studies
The Opportunity
This is an opportunity to take ownership of a critical part of the antibody-development process within a growing biotech environment.
You will play a central role in answering some of the most important questions in the discovery pipeline: how do these antibodies bind, which candidates have the strongest overall profile, what needs to be optimised, and which molecules should ultimately progress?
The successful candidate will combine deep technical expertise with scientific judgement, project leadership and the confidence to challenge data and make clear recommendations.
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