Associate Scientist- Chemical Biology

Job Title: Associate Scientist – Chemical Biology

Location: Stevenage

Job Type: Permanent

Agencies: We will only work with recruitment partners on our preferred supplier list and will not engage with speculative CVs submitted.

Are you passionate about making life science life changing and delivering impact for patients? We want to hear from you.

About the role:

This is a lab-based role will initially be based at our research centre in Stevenage and transition to LifeArc’s new London Judd Street facilities around 2027/2028.

The Chemical Biology group at LifeArc focuses on building platforms and driving projects aligned with LifeArc’s ambitious Translational Challenges to benefit patients and to make life science life changing.

As a medicinal chemist within LifeArc’s Chemical Biology group, you will be responsible for delivering on small molecule drug discovery projects aligned to LifeArc’s strategy. In this role you will work within a cross-disciplinary team with a wealth of experience in the pre-clinical phase of drug discovery and development. You will:

• Conduct research and experiments as directed to support projects.
• Analyse & interpret the data and present results/conclusions to line manager/project leadership and the wider project team. Support the development and synthesis of compound series for hit and lead discovery and optimisation for LifeArc projects.
• Support the development and synthesis of compounds that are focused on exploring novel chemical modalities for projects across varied therapeutic areas.

The ideal candidate will also have interest in developing expertise in areas which can contribute across our platform teams and translational challenges, such as AMR, neurodegenerative diseases or targeted protein degradation.

Key responsibilities include:

• Conduct research in assigned area of chemical synthesis.
• Optimise and execute synthetic routes, assessing and implementing modifications to known methodologies, as necessary.
• Summarise, correctly interpret and respond to raw experimental and analytical data.
• Solve routine synthetic problems and develop solutions.
• Develop and maintain knowledge in own areas of synthetic chemistry expertise and apply this to the successful execution of experiments.
• Provide verbal and written reports/presentations internally when required.
• Maintain electronic laboratory notebooks and other data to company standards.
• Perform all work demonstrating due care and attention to all internal processes and procedures including health & safety and COSHH regulations
• Accountable for the synthesis of assigned synthetic targets in one or more projects.
• Work to schedules and deadlines as determined by the line manager.
• Independently solve routine synthetic chemistry problems.
• Work in conjunction with team/department members to investigate and solve non-routine chemistry and chemical biology problems.
• Plan and execute research using standard or modified experimental techniques.
• Working collaboratively to make modifications to methodologies and known synthetic routes in routine situations.
• Responsible for the delivery of own workload.
• Follow a work plan of typically up to two weeks.
• Support work of team members as directed.
• Provide information and exchange ideas with team/internal stakeholders as requested.

About you:

Education & experience required:

• Master’s degree with a strong focus in organic or medicinal chemistry or undergraduate degree and equivalent experience.

Desirable:

• Some recent experience of chemical synthesis in an industrial setting.

Skills & abilities:

• Strong problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Self-motivated with a proactive approach to work
• Demonstrates resilience and adaptability in a dynamic environment

About us:

LifeArc is a not-for-profit life science organisation, leading the way for change in rare diseases in the UK and supporting promising initiatives in global health. We seek out research in areas of unmet need that has great potential, providing support to help it become breakthroughs that change lives.

What we can offer you:

Focused on finding life changing solutions for underserved patients, our people thrive in an inclusive, and supportive environment that prioritises their health and wellbeing. Our multidisciplinary approach guarantees our people growth opportunities, while our culture of innovation and collaboration drives the impact we make delivering on our purpose of ‘putting patients at the centre of everything we do’.

LifeArc are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences. As part of the Disability Confident Employer Scheme, we guarantee an interview to candidates with a disability/long term health condition who meet the essential criteria for the role.

It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all Disability Confident candidates who meet the essential criteria for the job. In certain recruitment situations such as high-volume of applications, we may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled candidates and non-disabled candidates. In these circumstances, we may need to select the disabled candidate(s) who best meet the essential criteria. (Please note at LifeArc, the Disability Confident Scheme's 'minimum criteria' is referred to as 'essential criteria)

Salary will be determined by qualifications and experience along with other exceptional benefits. Because we understand everyone has different requirements, our flexible benefits allow you to choose those which are important to you. Our pension scheme offers employer contributions of up to 12%, private health insurance, and annual leave of 31 days PLUS bank holidays.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, for example, are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At LifeArc we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so whatever your background or lived experience, if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. Our top priority is finding the best candidate, and you may be just right for this or other roles.

We all have potential. At LifeArc, you’ll discover what you can really do with it