Join us.
Drug Discovery Outsourcing Scientist
The Company
BenevolentAI unites technology with human intelligence to re-engineer drug discovery and deliver life-changing medicines. We have developed the Benevolent Platform®, a drug discovery platform built on powerful data foundations with state of the art machine learning and AI technology. Our technology empowers scientists to decipher the vast and complex code underlying human biology, find new ways to treat disease and personalise medicines to patients. Benevolent has active in-house R&D drug programmes in disease areas such as neurodegeneration, immunology, oncology and inflammation and has research and commercial collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and research organisations. The company is headquartered in London with a research facility in Cambridge (UK) and a further office in New York.
Who we are
We are an eclectic bunch at Benevolent, united by our belief that innovative thinking and purposeful technology can truly change outcomes for the better. Our mission is to re-engineer drug discovery and deliver life-changing medicines for patients in need and we do this by applying AI, machine learning and other advanced technologies to reinvent the ways drugs are discovered and developed. We strive to bring together unique skills and perspectives across biology, chemistry, engineering, AI research, informatics, precision medicine and drug discovery.
The Role
We are looking for an individual with a proven track record for working with internal teams and external CROs, generating and integrating plate-based pharmacology data from a variety of lab-based environments. If you are in a current lab-centric role, you will be looking for an opportunity to step out of the lab and develop in this area. Through your Pharmaceutical or CRO experience, you will have a thorough understanding of the data elements of preclinical drug discovery, demonstrated by your direct involvement in areas of compound-to-assay workflows, screen-data generation, ELN-data capture and data analysis, on platforms such as Dotmatics. You will have experience in setting up, running and supporting plate-based in vitro assays; assay design, development of primary screens, high content-assays, or equivalent applied knowledge from DMPK or toxicology/pathology type safety screening. You will also offer a clear interpretation of these data in providing support and advice to Project teams.
There is an option to be based out of our London office, or our Cambridge lab-site on the Babraham Research Campus. You will be a key member of our Discovery Enabling Team (DET), which operates as a cross-discipline team within BAI’s Drug Discovery(DD). Within DET, you will work with BAI colleagues at all sites, across a wide range of disciplines; including non-lab and lab-based scientists, research informaticians, machine learning and AI technologists. As an integral member of the team, you will manage DET-specific screen support for our Drug Discovery, and support and streamline data-capture across our AI-driven drug discovery pipeline (TargetID, HitID, LeadOp to Candidate Development). Your experience in working with internal researchers and external (CRO) partners will allow you to proactively manage the unique challenges that each presents. You will work with internal drug discovery scientists and CROs to directly advise, share your knowledge of assay set up and data capture, to ensure BAI generates quality-driven results that allow timely and clear decision making. You will help researchers set up pilot assays, QC-qualify, run and interpret their screens, as well as manage their datasets into Dotmatics ELNs.
Primary Responsibilities
- Manage outsourcing operations; including logistics, CRO contract relationship, budget management, quotation requests
- DET outsourcing activities, eg Primary pharmacology, selectivity & safety pharmacology screens
- Serve as a key DET-point of contact to internal Project Teams, Project Management and CROs
- Continuously improve compound-to-data workflows, Dotmatics data capture and data presentation across DD
Additional Responsibilities
- Coordinate with key stakeholders; Target Identification program leads, drug discovery core teams, safety pharmacology, DMPK, Project Management and external CROs
- Participate in the organisation and logistics of business and collaboration meetings
- Ensure assay requests and data strategies are developed and implemented within the expected timelines, across multiple Project and Target Identification teams
- Help pilot, develop and qualify assay protocols, QC data, upload and share key results
- Keep abreast of technical developments in key fields, eg target and selectivity screening, safety pharmacology and regulatory guidance. Influence CROs to build and develop relevant capabilities
We are looking for someone with
- Experience of drug discovery from either; a small to large Pharma, Biotech or CRO background
- Proven ability to multitask; organise, coordinate and interpret multiple studies across different projects at the same time
- Working knowledge of the best CROs for performing in vitro studies. Outsourcing experience across multiple target classes, from early target identification to candidate nomination
- Positive attitude. A problem solver and clear communicator. Able to learn new technology and enjoy assisting others
- Working knowledge of internal and/or commercial data-management tools; including but not limited to Dotmatics, Excel-macros/XLfit, Prism, IDBS-ActivityBase and Chem/Bio ELNs
- Ability to work effectively across broad-discipline internal teams and external-vendors to; develop, integrate, ‘prove’ and support workflows prior to their confident rollout
- A track record of understanding the data needs of drug discovery teams, suggesting innovative solutions to improve data flow and data availability
- Experience and understanding of the challenges in handling large datasets
- Good knowledge of drug discovery (e.g. DMPK, medicinal chemistry) as it pertains to primary pharmacology, selectivity and safety pharmacology
- Familiarity with current regulatory guidelines relating to the drug development process
Together, we envision a world in which no disease goes untreated. If you are benevolent, curious, want to tackle real world problems and are willing to embrace new ideas, hit that ‘apply’ button and join us.
Important Note
It has come to our attention that unfortunately fraudsters have been falsely offering jobs and set-up fake interviews under the guise of being a Benevolent recruiter. We therefore advise you to be very stringent about who is reaching out to you. Any enquiry from our team will only be made via the email careers@benevolent.ai or an email from this domain @benevolent.ai. Please flag any suspicious contact request to hello@benevolent.ai
