Pfizer Posted September 25, 2026

Associate Scientist, In Vitro Pharmacology

Cambridge, United States Full time
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Pfizer is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Use Your Power for Purpose

At Pfizer, our purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. In this role, you will contribute to the discovery and advancement of innovative medicines for patients worldwide by applying rigorous science, modern pharmacology, and cutting-edge technologies. Your work will help transform promising therapeutic ideas into high-quality experimental data that enable confident decisions across the drug discovery process.

What You Will Achieve

A key strategic focus within the Internal Medicine Research Unit (IMRU) is the discovery of novel therapies for obesity, cardiovascular disease, and related cardiometabolic conditions. As an Associate Scientist in the In Vitro Pharmacology group, you will contribute to early drug discovery programs by generating rigorous, reproducible pharmacology data that support target validation, assay development, compound profiling, and mechanism-of-action studies. This role is well suited for a collaborative, hands-on scientist with experience in cell-based assay execution, mammalian cell culture, quantitative data analysis, and an interest in receptor pharmacology within cardiometabolic drug discovery.

How You Will Achieve It

Develop, optimize, and execute cell-based signaling, ligand-binding, and other in vitro pharmacology assays to generate high-quality data that support project decisions.

Support compound profiling and mechanism-of-action studies through careful experimental design, troubleshooting, and quantitative data analysis.

Maintain mammalian cell cultures and prepare fit-for-purpose cellular or membrane-based assay reagents to support screening, binding, and functional assay workflows.

Apply core pharmacology concepts, including ligand potency, efficacy and affinity to interpret experimental results.

Work collaboratively with pharmacology colleagues and cross-functional project teams to support experimental priorities, data interpretation, and program objectives.

Summarize and communicate experimental findings clearly in team meetings, project discussions, and written updates.

Maintain accurate, timely, and compliant experimental records in an electronic laboratory notebook.

 

Qualifications

Must-Have

Bachelor’s degree with any years of laboratory experience.

 

Nice- to-Have

Hands-on experience with mammalian cell culture and cell-based assay execution.

Familiarity with core pharmacology concepts, concentration-response analysis, and principles of robust assay execution.

Experience analyzing and visualizing pharmacology data using Microsoft Excel, GraphPad Prism, or similar tools.

Interest in receptor pharmacology, GPCR signaling, obesity or cardiometabolic drug discovery.

Exposure to compound profiling, screening workflows, assay miniaturization, membrane-based assays, second messenger signaling assays, or emerging technologies to interrogate receptor function is preferred but not required.

Ability to organize, execute, and troubleshoot experiments with attention to detail, scientific rigor, and data quality.

Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present experimental results in individual and group settings.

Ability to manage multiple priorities and contribute effectively to a collaborative, cross-functional research environment.

Scientific curiosity, enthusiasm for learning, and motivation to contribute to the discovery of new medicines for patients.

Work Location Assignment: On Premise

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $60,200.00 to $100,400.00. In addition, this position is eligible for participation in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan with a bonus target of 7.5% of the base salary. We offer comprehensive and generous benefits and programs to help our colleagues lead healthy lives and to support each of life’s moments. Benefits offered include a 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution, paid vacation, holiday and personal days, paid caregiver/parental and medical leave, and health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage. Learn more at Pfizer Candidate Site – U.S. Benefits | (uscandidates.mypfizerbenefits.com). Pfizer compensation structures and benefit packages are aligned based on the location of hire. The United States salary range provided does not apply to Tampa, FL or any location outside of the United States.

Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.

Candidates must be authorized to be employed in the U.S. by any employer.

U.S. work visa sponsorship (such as TN, O-1, H-1B, etc.) is not available for this role now or in the future.

Sunshine Act

Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations.  These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider’s name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure.  Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act.  Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government.  If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.

EEO & Employment Eligibility

Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status.  Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA.  Pfizer is an E-Verify employer.  This position requires permanent work authorization in the United States.

Pfizer endeavors to make   www.pfizer.com/careers   accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process and/or interviewing, please email   disabilityrecruitment@pfizer.com . This is to be used solely for accommodation requests with respect to the accessibility of our website, online application process and/or interviewing. Requests for any other reason will not be returned.

To learn more about acceptable and prohibited uses of AI during the recruitment process, please review our candidate AI-use guidelines available on  Pfizer Careers .

Research and Development

Job details

Seniority
Associate
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Cambridge, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 95 comparable Associate Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 24 biopharma companies.

95Comparable roles tracked
95Currently active
24Companies hiring similar roles
11Countries represented

Salary context

24 of 95 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.

This roleSubject $60,200/yr – $100,400/yr
Lowest disclosed · 2027 Future Talent Program – Biophysics Intern – Intern · Merck $39,908/yr – $111,111/yr
Highest disclosed · Advisor - Lab Lead – Preclinical Imaging CMR · Lilly $129,000/yr – $211,200/yr
Peer group range $75,510 – $170,100 (median $90,600)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 95 comparable roles

United States67
Germany5
Canada5
Belgium3
Singapore3
France3

+ 5 more countries

Seniority mix

95 of 95 peers have a known seniority level

Intern/Fellow/Postdoc64
Associate23
Manager8

Therapeutic area mix

12 of 95 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology5
Neuroscience3
Immunology3
Cardiovascular / CVRM1

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.

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Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

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.

60%
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Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 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.