Senior Principal Scientist (Project Enablement)

Senior Principal Scientist (Project Enablement) under the leadership of Agnes Martin

£58,400 - £76,000 plus benefits (includes up to 12% pension contribution and income protection)

Reports to: Associate Director, Mechanistic Pharmacology

Directorate: Directorate

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week (4 day week would be considered)

Location: Cambridge, Babraham Research Campus (minimum 3 days on site)

Closing date: 25 January :55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. Please let us know if there is anything or as soon as possible.in particular if there are any changes or adjustments that would make it easier for you to apply. Please contact or as soon as possible.

Visa sponsorship: Cancer Research UK can consider visa sponsorship for this vacancy. If this applies to you, please ensure that this is clearly marked on your application.

Recruitment process: 1st stage Teams technical and competency based itnerview, 2nd stage in person interview including pre prepared presentation

Interview date: We will be booking in 1st stage interviews on an ongoing basis, 2nd stage in planned for 10/11 February

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are looking for a passionate and dedicated scientific professional with extensive experience in pre-clinical drug discovery in an industrial setting.

As the world's biggest medical research charity, we've helped bring eleven new cancer drugs to market. However, there is still an urgent need to bring more effective treatments to patients faster.

We have recently developed a new approach to driving therapeutic innovation through the creation of Cancer Research Horizons (CRH). We have brought together Cancer Research UK's established drug discovery teams under one organisation and leadership team, combining our unique pipeline of cancer biology expertise and access to CRUK's world-class academic network, cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise to 1) bring new treatments to patients faster and 2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success.

Based at sites in Cambridge, the CRUK Scotland Institute in Glasgow, and Newcastle University, Cancer Research Horizons employs 200 staff from both industrial and academic backgrounds

What will I be doing?

Our strategy sets out to bring deeper mechanistic understanding at the molecular and cellular level to all stages of projects, from Idea to pre-clinical candidate.

In this role, you will define the vision and strategy for CRH early project enablement, establishing robust processes to select and advance promising targets into the drug discovery portfolio. You will lead and develop a matrixed team, guiding them to deliver clear go/nogo decisions through deep expertise in target feasibility and druggability.

You will work closely with the Portfolio Generation team to build a sustainable pipeline, evaluating risks, shaping mitigation strategies, and ensuring projects progress efficiently toward clinical development. In addition, you will provide leadership within the broader CRH TI organisation, shaping strategic direction and driving scientific and technical innovation, including championing new modalities.

Key accountabilities include:

• Provide deep expertise in assessing target feasibility, including, but not limited to, reagent generation, mechanistic characterisation, ligandability, druggability.
• Work at the intersection between portfolio generation, molecular sciences, chemistry and biosciences to define and prosecute strategies that deliver clear, early go / no-go decisions across a range of challenging target classes.
• Provide Scientific and Strategic leadership for the assessment of novel targets and mechanisms, to drive innovation and portfolio success.
• Communicate effectively, to influence multiple stakeholders and collaborate across projects and sites.
• Promote scientific excellence, through external publication, presentations, and membership of conference committees and Scientific Advisory Boards

This role uniquely combines cutting-edge screening expertise with deep mechanistic insight to transform early-stage target prosecution. By leveraging a range of hit identification methods (e.g. HTS, DEL, AS-MS) and rigorous mechanistic understanding, it ensures only the most viable targets progress into drug discovery, reducing attrition and accelerating timelines. Beyond shaping the science, the successful candidate will have a real opportunity to influence and improve our ways of working, embedding best practices and innovative approaches across teams. This smarter, risk-aware strategy will ultimately delivers higher-quality medicines faster, improving outcomes and bringing life-changing therapies to patients who need them most.

Furthermore, we actively encourage our colleagues to celebrate our science, by attending conferences, presenting posters, giving talks at events and publishing papers. You will form an integral part of the Cancer Research Horizon Drug Discovery team, fostering productive internal collaborations, as well as external academic and industrial partnerships, to progress novel cancer targets towards patient benefit.

What are we looking for?

In addition to the key strategic leadership elements of this role, the successful candidate will play a pivotal role in training and developing colleagues, including through practical contributions from the bench. You will therefore bring a genuine enthusiasm for working in the lab and guiding those around you.

You will also bring:

• A PhD in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Chemistry or equivalent experience, with extensive pre-clinical drug discovery experience in industry.
• Deep intellectual and practical knowledge of methods to assess target feasibility and druggability (eg computational modelling, protein characterisation, assay development, affinity-based methods such as DEL, ASMS).
• Proven track record of innovative scientific delivery through driving impactful insight into target characterisation across a range of challenging target classes, through intellectual and laboratory-based contributions
• Demonstrated scientific and project leadership in highly matrixed environments, with extensive experience inspiring, developing, and guiding a diverse world class team through effective matrix management.
• Significant experience of establishing and leading external academic and industrial collaborations, and technology change projects, to advance organisational capability
• Track record of delivering results across a diverse project portfolio by leading driving strategic and scientific initiatives
• Strong external reputation in drug discovery, evidenced through wide personal network, external presentation and publication in high-impact journals, and influential roles on relevant external committees
• Strategic, credible, and future thinking leader with strong prioritisation, sound decision making under uncertainty, integrity, openness, and a commitment to EDI.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We're looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you're interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we'd still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you fairly and objectively.

For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us.

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