Senior Scientific Associate - Internal candidates only (Fixed Term)

Fixed Term: 1 year in the first instance.

The Spatial Profiling and Annotation Centre of Excellence (SPACE) at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, directed by Dr. Dario Bressan and Prof. Greg Hannon, is seeking a highly motivated, organised and initiative-focused Senior Scientific Associate (SSA). This role will provide scientific and administrative support and help to manage the centre operations and collaborative projects. They will provide a critical interface between research and administrative processes within the lab.

SPACE was founded as an expansion of the IMAXT Cancer Grand Challenge project, an international effort focused on developing and applying new technologies for the 3D mapping of tumours and investigation of the tumour micro-environment. SPACE operates as a highly collaborative laboratory focused on all fields of spatial omics, leveraging a cutting-edge data generation and analysis infrastructure including most existing spatial profiling and 3d imaging technologies as well as a dedicated computational processing centre managed in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy. This infrastructure is used for collaborative projects ranging from large multi-centre initiatives to small proof-of-concept pilots, focusing on multiple tumour types and stages including high-grade serous ovarian cancer, glioma and glioblastoma, breast cancer, paediatric malignancies and neuroendocrine tumours. The team includes approximately 10 individuals with roles ranging from technical support to senior scientific staff, plus a dedicated team managing the data centre and a research administration/lab management team shared with the Hannon laboratory.

The role holder would be responsible for project management across the SPACE collaborative portfolio. This will include administrative management of the projects (setting up project agreements, ensuring human tissue act compliance, interacting with the legal, research operations and legal team to set up the collaborative infrastructure) as well as scientific oversight (organizing project meetings, distilling action points and monitoring their execution, interacting with the research staff to drive and monitor progress). For some specific projects, depending on the role holder’s skills, the scientific oversight might be more direct and include some experimental work or direct supervision of technical and research staff. It is also expected that the role holder will help with producing reports and summaries of the SPACE projects for funders and other stakeholders, or for public outreach. The role holder will collaborate very closely with Dr. Bressan (head of SPACE), and be further supported from the institute core functions and facilities (e.g., finance, grants, HR, core facilities, floor lab managers).

The team is looking for an individual to lead laboratory operations to an exceptional standard. To do this, it is essential that the holder of this role has experience working within an academic research laboratory and has sufficient scientific knowledge to grasp the scientific aspects across multiple projects. A PhD in a relevant field is essential. Experience working with collaborators, material transfer agreements and other contracts, as well as experience in managing projects, is highly desirable.

With large research groups such as this, it is vital that this role holder has outstanding interpersonal skills and has a positive, flexible, and diplomatic approach to demanding situations. This role will involve communication across the entire research group and therefore will require excellent team working and communications skills. Due to the nature of the role, we would expect this individual to be innovative, independent, and confident in their own decision making and highly organised, in order to ensure progress across the heterogeneous set of projects featured in the centre.

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Please ensure that you upload a covering letter and CV in the Upload section of the online application. The covering letter should outline how you match the criteria for the post and why you are applying for this role. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Please include details of your referees, including email address and phone number, one of which must be your most recent line manager.

Closing date: 15th December 2025

Interview date: to be confirmed

Please quote reference SW48108 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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Key information

Department/location

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute

Salary

£35,608-£46,049

Reference

SW48108

Category

Academic-related

Date published

1 December 2025

Closing date

15 December 2025