CANCER RESEARCH UK
>Salary: £50,400 – £57,400 (flexible according to experience)
Department: Research and Innovation
Reports to: Group Leader Computational Chemistry
Contract type/hours: Permanent, full time 35 hours per week (Other flexible-working requests can also be considered)
Location: Beatson Institute, Glasgow (high flex – we would expect you to be in the office 1 to 2 days per week)
Closing date: Wednesday 31st May at 23.55. This vacancy may close earlier if a high number of applications are received or once a suitable candidate is found, so please do not delay submitting your application to avoid any disappointment.
Do you want to help deliver breakthrough medicines for cancer patients?
At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer
We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That’s why we we’re looking for someone talented, someone innovative and ambitious, someone like you.
We are currently recruiting for a Computational Chemist to join our team based at the Beatson Institute in Glasgow. The position provides the opportunity to work in a dynamic environment, making a practical and intellectual contribution within oncology drug discovery.
We are seeking a Principal Scientist to work within a multidisciplinary drug discovery environment. This position involves supporting our drug discovery projects with computational design, virtual screening, and data analysis/modelling.
The role would suit a scientist with a PhD or BSc/MSc with significant experience in a life sciences discipline and with experience of working closely with colleagues from other disciplines. Good time management skills, a proven ability to form close and effective relationships with colleagues at all levels and excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential.
What will I be doing?
- Conduct, interpret, and report computational chemistry studies such as virtual screening, binding mode predictions, free energy perturbations, data analysis and compound design.
- Act as a computational chemistry expert on multidisciplinary drug discovery projects to support the project needs.
- Proactively suggest suitable computational approaches to achieve the project goals.
- Work collaboratively within the drug discovery project teams and interact with multi-disciplinary research teams both internally and with external stakeholders.
- Maintain awareness of new technologies and emerging literature within computational chemistry and help develop our computational chemistry platform.
- Aid in the design and implementation of the computational chemistry strategy for the wider organisation
- Ensure equality and diversity is celebrated and considered as part of all decisions taken
- Promote scientific excellence, through external publication, presentations
What skills are you looking for?
- Qualified to PhD or BSc/MSc with relevant experience in a life sciences discipline.
- Significant experience of working in a drug discovery environment.
- Knowledge of theoretical and practical computational medicinal chemistry and cheminformatics as applied to hit and lead optimisation.
- Experience of collaborating and working in a multidisciplinary environment where computational chemistry directly impacts project decisions.
- Knowledge of contemporary medicinal chemistry and drug design principles.
- Proficiency with script programming (Python, R, others).
- Hands on experience with computational chemistry software suites such as Schrödinger, MOE, OpenEye or similar.
- Experience with one or more of molecular dynamics, FEP, cheminformatics, and machine learning/deep learning would be beneficial.
- Proven track record of portfolio impact across a range of challenging target classes, through intellectual and practical contributions, and project leadership
What will I gain?
Each and every one of our employees contributes to our progress and is supporting our work to beat cancer. We think that’s impressive.
In return, we make sure you are supported by a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools, policies and processes to enable you to do your job well.
Our benefits package includes a substantial retirement plan, a generous and flexible leave allowance, discounts on anything from travel to technology, gym membership, and much more.
We review pay annually and aim to recognise individual performance and achievements.
We don’t forget people have lives outside of work too and so we actively encourage a flexible working culture.
Our work – from funding cutting-edge research to developing public policy – will change the world. It’s exciting to be part of our team.
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 quickly, fairly and objectively.