Working at AstraZeneca means being entrepreneurial, thinking big and working together to make the impossible a reality. We are now recruiting a high calibre Associate Principal Scientist to join the Cell Immunology team, within the Cell, Gene and RNA Therapies department of Discovery Sciences. The position is placed at AstraZeneca’s Global HQ R&D site in Cambridge, UK. What you’ll do:We have an opening for an Associate Principal Scientist, who will be responsible for driving the science and strategic direction of our immune cell engineering platform to improve how we manufacture immune cell therapies.This lab-based role will be focused on developing novel high capacity viral vector technologies to enable AZ’s portfolio of cell therapies to advance to the Clinic, and will involve working as part of a multi-disciplinary team delivering strategic directions in key scientific areas Role Profile:Individual contributor accountable for the development of scientific research strategies related to viral vector development and gene delivery methods for the creation of gene edited immune therapies to support Oncology Cell Therapy. Sets strategic direction to ensure that the scientific priorities are aligned to business need and act as the internal expert in this field.Role model for excellence in execution of experiments in the laboratory and delivery of data to projects.A scientific leader, with a track record of successful delivery of innovation to projects and a large external networkInitiates and manages internal and external research investigations, collaborations, and partnerships in line with agreed business needs to exploit new technologies or external services and ensure their adoption within AstraZeneca and uses technical expertise and applies specialist knowledge to lead groundbreaking platform developments in line with business needs.Keeps abreast of trends within the external scientific and technological world to transform novel ideas appropriately into platform activities and project impact within AstraZeneca.Shares experience, knowledge, and industry developments with peer scientists in AstraZeneca, other internal concerned parties, or external organisations with the purpose of growing their general level of competence and industry awareness.Manages key partners and collaborators to oversee delivery and understand future needsEncouraged to hold significant matrix roles, contributing to the wider organisationPlays a key role in the scientific development of staff, ensuring that the capability maintains a leading presence and keeps pace with the needs of the businessResponsible for determining which processes and methodologies should be pursued and making decisions about how much resources to invest in them or contributes to this decision-making process as a valued expert.Ensures own work, and the work of others, is performed in accordance with appropriate Safety, Health & Environment (SHE), quality and compliance standards. 

Expert in viral packaging and manufacturing including Adenovirus, Adeno-Associated virus, and LentivirusExperience with mammalian cell culture (stable and adherent lines), genetic engineering (e.g. CRISPR), and molecular and cell biology techniques such PCR and RT-PCR, FACS, flow cytometry, FACS, transfection, transduction, and assay development.Experience of working in external collaborations both in academia and pharmaceutical industry

Ph.D. in virology, immunology, cell biology or molecular biology plus at least 3 years of academic or industrial research experience or BSc/MSc degree with 6+ years within the pharmaceutical industry or equivalent experience in academia.Experience with viral vector engineering, state-of the-art cloning methods, cassette optimisation, and multi-gene expression construct development