Senior Bioinformatics Scientist
About this opportunity
Make your mark for patients
We are looking for a scientifically curious, data-driven, and inventive Senior Bioinformatics Scientist to join our Data Science and Analytics department, advancing the discovery and development of therapies through the analysis and interpretation of complex biological data. The role is based in Slough, UK.
About the Role
As Senior Bioinformatics Scientist, you will make a substantial contribution to therapeutic programs across research and clinical development. By integrating, analysing, and interpreting large-scale molecular and patient-level datasets, you will generate insights that support target identification, biomarker discovery, indication selection, patient stratification, and translational research efforts.
You will combine strong biological expertise with advanced computational approaches to help uncover disease mechanisms and inform decision-making across UCB's portfolio. Working at the intersection of data science, biology and drug discovery, you will contribute to the development of precision medicine and innovative therapeutic approaches.
Who You'll Work With
You will collaborate with scientists across biology, translational medicine, pharmacology, and data sciences, translating complex biomedical datasets into mechanistic insights that support therapeutic project progression. You will work alongside and with guidance from senior colleagues within the bioinformatics group.
What You'll Do
Contribute to target hypotheses, indication prioritization, asset differentiation, and patient stratification using multi-omics data.
Work confidently across data types, from bulk and single-cell transcriptomics to genetics and proteomics, drawing biological meaning from each.
Apply and develop analytical methods for functional interpretation of biological data, including pathway and systems level analyses.
Work with combinations of diverse data types, including gene expression, genetic, VDJ repertoire, spatial, and proteomic datasets, to generate biological insights.
Apply statistical, machine learning, and systems biology approaches to answer key scientific questions.
Communicate complex findings clearly to scientific and non-scientific audiences.
Support the continuous evolution of bioinformatics approaches and workflows, data integration strategies, and analytical best practices.
Interested? For this role we're looking for:
PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computational Genetics, Life Sciences or MSc with significant industry experience.
Industry or academic experience in a bioinformatics role, ideally within a pharmaceutical or biotechnology setting.
Solid expertise in the analysis and biological interpretation of omics data, ideally including bulk, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Experience with other omics modalities and familiarity with immunology are a significant plus.
Strong programming skills in Python and R, with hands-on experience developing reproducible bioinformatics pipelines using Nextflow/Snakemake, containerisation with Docker, version control via Git/Azure DevOps, and deployment on cloud-based (e.g. AWS/DNAnexus) and HPC environments.
Scientific rigor and excellent communication and collaboration skills.
Are you ready to ‘go beyond’ to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!
About us
UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are over 9.000 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.
Why work with us?
At UCB, we don’t just complete tasks, we create value. We aren’t afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We ‘go beyond’ to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that’s on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.
At UCB, we’ve embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless expressly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.
UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable laws.
Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on EMEA-Reasonable_Accommodation@ucb.com. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Biostatistics & Data Science role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 62 comparable Senior Biostatistics & Data Science roles across 16 biopharma companies.
Salary context
22 of 62 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 62 comparable roles
+ 7 more countries
Seniority mix
62 of 62 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
1 of 62 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.