Biogen Posted November 10, 2026

Principal Scientist, Oral Formulation Development

Cambridge, United States Full time
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Biogen 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

About the Role

Biogen is seeking a Principal Scientist, Oral Formulation Development to provide scientific leadership for the development of small molecule oral drug products. This role leads formulation and process development across clinical programs, with a focus on enabling technologies for challenging compounds, clinical manufacturing readiness, and technology transfer. The role requires the ability to manage multiple interfaces with manufacturing, quality, regulatory CMC, other technical functions. This role will also be responsible for managing external partnerships and advancing new technologies and workflows that strengthen Biogen’s oral drug product development capabilities.

What You’ll Do

Lead formulation design, process development, manufacturability assessment, scale-up, technology transfer, and clinical manufacturing of small molecule oral dosage forms across all stages of development.

Develop enabling formulation approaches for challenging compounds, including poorly soluble, poorly permeable, unstable, or complex molecules.

Serve as the drug product representative on cross-functional CMC and asset teams, driving alignment across regulatory, quality, manufacturing, analytical, clinical pharmacology, DMPK, and external partner functions.

Influence portfolio decisions through assessment of developability, manufacturability, biopharmaceutical performance, technical risk, and investment priorities.

Champion technology transfer, clinical manufacturing readiness, and scale-up activities at internal and external manufacturing sites.

Identify and implement new formulation technologies, predictive tools, digital workflows, and best practices that improve development efficiency and portfolio execution.

Oversee completion of drug product sections for regulatory submissions and related technical documentation.

Required Skills

PhD in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or a related scientific discipline with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in oral drug product development.

Demonstrated track record leading formulation and process development for oral solid dosage forms from early development through clinical manufacturing.

Strong understanding and hands on experience with oral solid dose manufacturing unit operations and manufacturability considerations.

Experience with scale-up, technology transfer, clinical manufacturing, and external manufacturing organizations.

Strong knowledge of CMC development, regulatory expectations, technical documentation, and phase-appropriate development strategies.

Preferred Skills

Deep expertise in enabling technologies such as amorphous solid dispersions, spray drying, hot-melt extrusion, lipid-based formulations, modified release, or particle engineering.

Experience implementing new technologies, digital tools, knowledge platforms, or best practices across multiple programs.

Demonstrated success managing external CDMO/CMO relationships and technology transfer activities.

Experience with late-stage development, commercial readiness, process characterization, and process validation.

Job Level: Management

Additional Information

The base compensation range for this role is: $159,000.00-$219,000.00

Base salary offered is determined through an analytical approach utilizing a combination of factors including, but not limited to, relevant skills & experience, job location, and internal equity.

Regular employees are eligible to receive both short term and long-term incentives, including cash bonus and equity incentive opportunities, designed to reward recent achievements and recognize your future potential based on individual, business unit and company performance.

In addition to compensation, Biogen offers a full and highly competitive range of benefits designed to support our employees’ and their families physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being ; including, but not limited to:

Medical, Dental, Vision, & Life insurances

Fitness & Wellness programs including a fitness reimbursement

Short- and Long-Term Disability insurance

A minimum of 15 days of paid vacation and an additional end-of-year shutdown time off (Dec 26-Dec 31)

Up to 12 company paid holidays + 3 paid days off for Personal Significance

80 hours of sick time per calendar year

Paid Maternity and Parental Leave benefit

401(k) program participation with company matched contributions

Employee stock purchase plan

Tuition reimbursement of up to $10,000 per calendar year

Employee Resource Groups participation

Why Biogen?

We are a global team with a commitment to excellence, and a pioneering spirit. As a mid-sized biotechnology company, we provide the stability and resources of a well-established business while fostering an environment where individual contributions make a significant impact. Our team encompasses some of the most talented and passionate achievers who have unparalleled opportunities for learning, growth, and expanding their skills. Above all, we work together to deliver life-changing medicines, with every role playing a vital part in our mission. Caring Deeply. Achieving Excellence. Changing Lives.

At Biogen, we are committed to building on our culture of inclusion and belonging that reflects the communities where we operate and the patients we serve. We know that diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives make us a stronger and more innovative company, and we are focused on building teams where every employee feels empowered and inspired.  Read on  to learn more about Biogen.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, race, color, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. Biogen is an E-Verify Employer in the United States.

Job details

Seniority
Principal
Function
Manufacturing & CMC
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Cambridge, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Manufacturing & CMC role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 634 comparable Principal Manufacturing & CMC roles across 88 biopharma companies.

634Comparable roles tracked
588Currently active
88Companies hiring similar roles
29Countries represented

Salary context

229 of 634 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 Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Senior Technician Calibration - Maintenance · Mylan Technologies, Inc. $37,000/yr – $80,000/yr
Peer group range $58,500 – $288,000 (median $150,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 634 comparable roles

United States413
India45
Ireland30
Netherlands16
Germany15
China13

+ 23 more countries

Seniority mix

634 of 634 peers have a known seniority level

Senior403
Principal125
Director106

Therapeutic area mix

6 of 634 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Vaccines & Infectious Disease3
Dermatology & Aesthetics1
Respiratory1
Oncology1

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.

60%similar
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60%similar
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60%similar
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc (USA) Tarrytown, United States Principal
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60%similar
Lilly Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Principal
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60%similar
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Same function Same seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

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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.