About this opportunity
Make your mark for patients
We are looking for a Principal Scientist / Automation Team Leader who is innovative and agile to join our Cellular Pharmacology group located in Slough, UK (Windlesham, Surrey from spring 2027).
About the role
In this role, as the leader of our Automation team, you will help build the next generation of automation platforms at UCB. You will manage a team dedicated to developing and implementing automated pharmacological screening assays that generate high-quality, biological data, rapidly and at scale. Working with a high degree of autonomy, you will drive automation strategy within the department, lead and develop scientists, and may take on Associate/Project Leadership responsibilities for early-stage projects.
Who you’ll work with
Working within the Target Evaluation and Primary Pharmacology department, you will collaborate with scientists and colleagues across UK Research and other disciplines, contributing to departmental and project strategies. You will also build external scientific connections, representing UCB through professional networks, conferences, seminars, publications and patents.
What you’ll do
Lead a highly skilled team of automation specialists and scientists in the transfer of cell-based and biochemical assays to automated platforms.
Evaluate and introduce transformative new automation technologies and workflows that expand the autonomy and generality of automation at UCB.
Partner with therapeutic project teams to reduce learning cycle timelines and accelerate the delivery of novel therapeutics.
Work with Data scientists to integrate automated workflows within the digital architecture at UCB.
Provide scientific leadership, drive innovation, identify opportunities for investment, and contribute to the development of automation strategy within UCB.
Interested? For this role you’ll need the following education, experience and skills
A Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD in a relevant scientific discipline.
5+ years’ experience of building and scaling laboratory automation within drug discovery environments, including in-depth experience with liquid handlers, robotics, and digital integration.
Extensive knowledge of currently available and future automation technologies in the field of drug discovery, with the ability to apply expertise strategically and share insights with peers and senior colleagues.
Demonstrated ability to deliver scientific innovation within biological assay automation and identify opportunities for novel approaches.
Knowledge of the drug invention and early development process, together with awareness of relevant external scientific trends.
Experience of scientific team leadership is desirable.
Experience working with AI/ML-driven orchestration software within lab-in-the-loop platforms would be beneficial.
This role is expected to include significant hands-on laboratory time, and as such will require being on-site for 4 days a week.
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 Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 3428 comparable Manufacturing & CMC roles across 175 biopharma companies.
Salary context
813 of 3428 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 3428 comparable roles
+ 55 more countries
Seniority mix
1516 of 3428 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
22 of 3428 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.
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.
Or follow a whole field: get every new Manufacturing & CMC job in the United Kingdom, and choose locations and companies.
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.