Lead Forensic Scientist
Notify me about similar jobsAbout this opportunity
Mylan Pharma UK Limited
Viatris is a global healthcare company uniquely positioned to bridge the traditional divide between generics and brands, combining the best of both to more holistically address healthcare needs globally. With a mission to empower people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life, we provide access at scale, currently supplying high-quality medicines to approximately 1 billion patients around the world annually and touching all of life's moments, from birth to the end of life, acute conditions to chronic diseases.
We have been included on number of award lists that demonstrate the impact we are making.
Our global portfolio includes best-in-class, iconic brand-name products as well as global key brands; generics, including branded and complex generics; and other offerings across a wide range of therapeutic areas. We are committed to helping create healthier communities worldwide through education, outreach and better access to treatment.
For those driven to live their lives with purpose, Viatris helps employees realise their full potential by creating a collaborative culture that fosters courage and resilience. Viatris is more than just a place to work. This is a place to make a difference in the world.
The Role & What You Will Be Doing
Every day, we rise to the challenge to make a difference and here’s how the Lead Forensic Scientist role will make an impact:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform the duties below. Reasonable adjustments may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the duties assigned to this role. The job description outlines the main duties and accountabilities in general terms only and is not intended to be prescriptive.
Working across Viatris product franchises, performs critical examination of drug products and drug substances, primary, secondary and tertiary packaging, patient information leaflets and labels that can be in various languages.
Trains new forensic scientists, customs, and ministries of health on best practices of anti-counterfeiting.
Experienced in writing concise analytical reports, with an understanding how to translate it into non-scientific terms.
Has working knowledge of GC-MS and FT-IR techniques, with awareness of Raman spectroscopy.
Maintains a tidy forensic laboratory with scheduled maintenance of key equipment.
Confident at presenting their own data, for example PowerPoint and also Posters at symposiums.
Process and review data, interpret results and report experimental outcomes to Forensic Director.
Lead the troubleshooting of instrumentation and investigation of aberrant sample results.
Maintain laboratory documentation in accordance with cGMP documentation practices.
Contribute to project delivery by carrying out other tasks (e.g. laboratory housekeeping, ordering, shipping samples) as required.
Work with Director and identify opportunities for improvements in working practices and procedures.
Oversee the day-to-day work of less experienced analytical laboratory staff.
Adherence to all applicable policies and procedures, including those relating to EHS, GLP, Quality and Compliance, consistent with the role and any associated responsibilities, including people management where applicable.
Perform other duties as assigned consistent with the grade of the role.
To help the student complete their year in industry project and presentation in a timely manner.
About Your Skills & Experience
For this role, we’re looking for a candidate who has an effective combination of the following qualifications, skills and experiences:
The minimum requirements for the position are outlined below. A combination of experience and/or education may be taken into consideration.
Minimum of a Bachelor of Science Degree (for example Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Forensics) or equivalent, or substantial practical work experience.
Must be willing to testify and defend your own case works in a Court of Law.
Willing to travel to deliver training and enhance networking.
Good understanding of laboratory safety and best practice.
Has very good verbal and written communication skills – for example, the role requires networking to access authentic comparator products and artworks.
Has a good understanding of basic principles of physical, organic and analytical chemistry, and can demonstrate advanced knowledge in specific areas related to their experience.
Highly familiar with calculations used in analytical chemistry and the application of statistics.
Has a good understanding and substantial practical experience of modern laboratory techniques, including HPLC and FT-IR.
Previously practical use of GC-MS would be desirable.
Able to work with others to plan the day-to-day work of a small team.
Able to work autonomously to deliver multiple tasks, planning own work to consistently achieve output of high-quality results in a timely manner.
Able to work collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team environment.
Able to lead troubleshooting and investigations.
Good IT skills (including Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, TEAMS).
Effective verbal and written communication skills
Enthusiasm to work in a laboratory-based role.
At Viatris, we are dedicated to building a truly diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t fully align with every requirement, we still encourage you to apply. You may just be the right candidate for this or other roles.
Benefits at Viatris
At Viatris, we offer competitive salaries, benefits and an inclusive environment where you can use your experiences, perspectives and skills to help make an impact on the lives of others. Some of our benefits include the following on top of a competitive salary:
Top Employer Accreditation, demonstrating that we provide excellent people policies and practices
Competitive compensation package inclusive of annual discretionary bonus
Focus on career progression with growth and development opportunities
Emphasis on Health & Wellness programmes
100% paid medical insurance and Employee Assistance Programme
Life cover
Excellent employer-matched pension scheme with Viatris contributing up to 11%
2 paid volunteer days per year
Diversity & Inclusion at Viatris
At Viatris, diversity and inclusion are essential to our mission. The diversity we foster in all aspects of our business can be one of our greatest strengths in redefining healthcare not as it is, but as it should be. If you would like to know more about what diversity, equity and inclusion means to us, please visit https://www.viatris.com/en/Careers/Diversity-and-Inclusion
Sustainability at Viatris
Corporate social responsibility is fundamental to the Viatris mission. We work to advance responsible and sustainable operations and leverage our collective expertise to empower people to live healthier at every stage of life, recognizing that our actions affect the stakeholders and communities we serve. To learn more about our efforts, please visit https://www.viatris.com/en/about-us/corporate-responsibility
A t Viatris, we offer competitive salar ies , benefits and an inclusive environment where you can use your experiences, perspectives and skills to help make an impact on the lives of others.
Viatris is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Job details
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 981 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 76 biopharma companies.
Salary context
406 of 981 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 981 comparable roles
+ 24 more countries
Seniority mix
705 of 981 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
132 of 981 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 Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research 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.