Scientist – Animal Sciences & Technologies – 12 months assignment Full-time

Scientist Role at AstraZeneca

At AstraZeneca, we turn ideas into life-changing medicines. Working here means being entrepreneurial, thinking big, and collaborating to make the impossible a reality—driven by the power of science to meet unmet patient needs worldwide.

AstraZeneca's vision is to push the boundaries of science to deliver life-changing medicines, aiming to transform patient outcomes, particularly in oncology and chronic diseases. The company focuses on unlocking the power of science to create sustainable, positive impacts for people, society, and the planet.

Join our vibrant Cambridge site and shape the next generation of oncology treatments. You'll find tremendous opportunities to grow your expertise, advance your career, and see your impact on real patient outcomes.

Within our Animal Sciences & Technologies (AST) Department, you will apply your scientific and in vivo animal technical expertise to design and deliver high-quality oncology efficacy studies that are central to our pipeline. Partnering closely with disease-area teams, you will run robust preclinical tumor models and combination studies, generate decision-enabling efficacy data, and help progress candidate medicines from discovery through development. Alongside oncology, AST also evaluates the safety and pharmacokinetics of new drugs to ensure a comprehensive understanding of candidate performance.

This is a vivarium-based role for an experienced in vivo professional who thrives in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment and is motivated by advancing oncology therapies for patients.

What You'll Do

As a Scientist, you will be responsible for carrying out daily animal husbandry tasks for rodent species, identifying and reporting any abnormal findings, and maintaining the highest standards of animal care and welfare, working in the spirit of the 3R's. Key duties include undertaking technical procedures such as animal identification, collecting biological samples, administering test articles, tumor measurements, and condition reporting. You'll generate clear and complete data sets, including highly accurate documentation of raw data in computerized data capturing systems and on handwritten records.

Able to work autonomously, managing your own work, you'll meet agreed targets and quality standards in a timely manner, communicating progress appropriately. Passionate about self-development, you will maintain current knowledge in Laboratory animal sciences, e.g., through Continued Professional Development (CPD), collaboration with peer scientists or contact with other internal groups. Highly diligent, you'll ensure that tasks are performed in accordance with appropriate Safety, Health & Environment (SHE), quality, and compliance standards, e.g., Good Laboratory Standards (GLS).

Working Patterns

Based at the Anne McLaren Laboratory on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, our In Vivo Scientists are required to work flexibly across different therapy areas and participate in the provision of weekend (1 in 5), Bank Holiday, and out of hours support, compensated by a shift disturbance allowance.

Qualification, Skills & Experience

Essential Requirements

• A Levels, HNC, HND in a related field (or equivalent) or relevant experience
• Experimental in vivo skills in rodents with current or previous Home Office personal license holder (modules A-B or 1-2/1-3) or equivalent qualification
• Fully conversant with all aspects of the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, Directive 2010/63/EU, associated Home Office guidelines and their implications.
• Ability to work independently in cross-functional teams
• Fluent in verbal and written English language

Desirable Requirements

• BSc/MSc degree (or equivalent) in a related specialism, or relevant experience
• Experience as a trainer or assessor of in vivo skills under ASPA
• Experience as Named People, for example NACWO
• Familiarity with specific techniques such as imaging or surgery (PIL module C).

Next Steps

If your passion is science and you want to be part of a successful team that makes a bigger impact on patients' lives, then there's no better place to be!