Senior Scientist (New Modalities) – Analytical Science & Technology, Global Product Development, PT&D Full-time

Senior Scientist (New Modalities) – Analytical Science & Technology, Global Product Development, PT&D

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led, patient-centred biopharmaceutical company focusing on discovering, developing, and commercialising prescription medicines for some of the world's most serious diseases. But we're more than a global leading pharma company. At AstraZeneca, we're dedicated to being a Great Place to Work and empowering employees to push the boundaries of science and fuel their entrepreneurial spirit.

In Pharmaceutical Technology and Development (PT&D) we are the bridge between brilliant science and innovative medicines that help millions of people. We work across the entire value chain, designing and delivering active ingredients, formulations and devices required to support new medicines – from supplies for use in early toxicology studies and clinical trials to developing the technology to ensure drugs can be scaled up for commercial manufacture.

We are looking for a hardworking and motivated Senior Scientist (New Modalities) to join our Analytical Science & Technology (AS&T) team in Macclesfield (UK). In this role, you will get the opportunity to strengthen our capabilities in material science applied to our next generation therapeutics. Your project-based scientific experience in soft-matter material science, combined with a strong digital mindset and a drive to apply physical chemistry and biophysics to transform new modalities pharmaceutical development, makes you a perfect candidate.

You will join a distributed team of material scientists who develop innovative new-modalities drug products. These products include peptides, oligonucleotides, siRNA-conjugates, biologics, and other complex modalities. They work across parenteral, inhaled, and oral platforms. Your role will be pivotal at the interface of raw materials, drug product processes, and in-vivo performance, supporting drug projects from clinical through commercial phases. You will partner closely with formulators, process engineers, analysts, and external collaborators to advance projects from late‑stage development through to commercialisation. You will operate at the interfaces and strengthen our understanding of how critical material attributes influence process robustness and product performance. You'll combine theory, hands-on lab-based experimentation with modelling/simulation to uncover and control mechanisms of aggregation, interfacial/surface properties, self-assembly, and soft matter/colloidal behaviour to turn insight into robust, scalable designs.

Typical accountabilities:

• Lead and deliver material science activities and support drug product projects to ensure delivery to agreed milestones.
• Define and drive the identification and understanding of critical material attributes (e.g. drug substances, excipients, intermediate drug products) and their impacts on product performance and/or manufacture process robustness, including impact of material variability, drug substance-excipient interactions and stability.
• Design and conduct lab-based experimental activities to assess materials risks, probe substance–excipient interactions, deliver robust material science plans and define materials controls strategies to support projects.
• Drive digital-first strategies and apply in silico approaches (e.g. molecular modelling, generative models or simulations) to accelerate new modalities formulation decisions and predict critical parameters and their impact on product performance.
• Represent material science on new modalities projects and collaborate with analysts, formulators, and process engineers at the drug substance–drug product interface to integrate risk-based materials strategies into product design to drive innovation, robustness and regulatory readiness.
• Engage with external partners to extend capability, oversee outsourced work, and support material characterisation and/or method transfer as needed.
• Author and review technical documentation, including development reports and contributions to regulatory documents.
• Lead or contribute to the development of AI-tools supporting material characterisation methods and/or studies (e.g. enhance stability, reduce aggregation etc.).

Required skills & knowledge:

• PhD and/or BSc/MSc with significant industrial experience in a subject area relevant to Soft-Matter Colloidal Physics, Material Science, Physical Chemistry, Biophysics or related field.
• Demonstrated experience of techniques used to investigate material behaviours for large molecules (e.g oligonucleotides, peptides, biologics or polymers) specifically key physical properties including tunable viscosity, droplets fusion, aggregations, size, interface/surface science and soft matter & colloid characterisation.
• Demonstrated depth of knowledge in some characterisation techniques such as SEC-MALS, DLS, AF4, DSC-thermal calorimetry, sub-visible particle characterisation, surface tension, fluorescence and rheology.
• Understanding of how to develop relationships between material attributes, product processing and product performance.
• Proven ability to lead scientific activities in multi-disciplinary teams, prioritise effectively, and deliver to timelines and to a high-quality standard.
• Ability to tackle complex scientific problems and solving collaboratively with a positive outlook.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex datasets and challenges clearly to diverse stakeholders.

Desirable skills & knowledge:

• Experience of solution and/or lyophilised new modalities drug products and familiarity with their manufacturing processes (e.g. freeze drying, spray drying, materials/device compatibility etc.)
• Experience of molecular dynamics modelling applied to study primary structure effects on higher-order structure to control binding, self-assembly, and stability. Familiarity with e.g. PEP-FOLD3 and homology modelling for 3D conformation prediction will be an advantage.
• Familiarity with complementary techniques such as NMR, Raman, fluorescence, SAXS, circular dichroism or nano-DSC.
• Experience with structure-informatics for prediction of aggregations.
• Experience working with outsourced partners (CMOs/CROs), including study oversight, and tech transfer support.
• Experience contributing to CMC regulatory authoring (e.g. module/sections, responses to questions) and/or supporting regulatory interactions.
• Evidence of scientific excellence through publications and/or conference presentations.
• Experience operating under GLP/GMP standards within a pharmaceutical industry or highly regulated environment.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace, and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility.

Ready to make a difference? Join us on this exciting journey!

Our mission is to build an inclusive and equitable environment. We want people to feel they belong at AstraZeneca and Alexion, starting with our recruitment process. We welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of characteristics. We offer reasonable adjustments/accommodations to help all candidates to perform at their best. If you have a need for any adjustments/accommodations, please complete the section in the application form.