Senior Scientist (Portfolio Generation)

Cancer Research UK - CRUK Scotland Institute

200 staff. Limitless Potential. One team. Cancer Research Horizons.

Location: CRUK Scotland Institute, Glasgow with high flex (1 to 2 days per week on site).

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

As a Senior Scientist in our portfolio Generation Team, you will play a key role in identifying and shaping early therapeutic opportunities for TI drug discovery. You’ll review and evaluate new ideas emerging from academic groups, including those identified by the Network Translation Team, to assess their potential for further development. You will support the creation of effective, de‑risking workplans that move promising opportunities toward a clear decision on TI portfolio entry.

About Cancer Research Horizons: Cancer Research Horizons (CRH) unites Cancer Research UK’s established drug discovery teams. Our mission is to accelerate new cancer treatments by combining unique cancer biology expertise, world-class academic networks, cutting-edge technology, and clinical insights. Based at sites in Cambridge, Glasgow, and Newcastle, our diverse team works to bring forward the day all cancers are cured.

What you will be doing:

• Development of multiple new opportunities/ from concept review, through to evaluation and de-risk to a decision point on drug discovery portfolio entry (in collaboration with key drug discovery stakeholders)
• Support the development and delivery of workplans to agreed inflection points
• Act as a primary point of contact between academic collaborators and CRH-TI within Portfolio Generation space as required.
• Assist the triage of Therapeutic Catalyst expressions of interest and the development of full proposals
• Lead multiple Therapeutic catalyst projects to required/approved endpoints including option to accelerate via additional TI support.
• Make scientific recommendations to relevant review groups/leadership teams.

What we are looking for:

• PhD or equivalent experience in relevant cancer field.
• Relevant experience of early drug target discovery and the evaluation process (target selection, validation, technical feasibility etc), preferentially developed in a drug discovery environment.
• Previous experience of working with PI’s and helping to deliver early translation projects in cancer discovery
• Strong scientific understanding of what it takes to drive exciting opportunities towards future drug discovery starts (biology and early drug discovery).
• An appreciation of the use of preclinical cancer models to support therapeutic discovery.
• Ability to conceive and manage workplans across teams aimed at de-risking a therapeutic opportunity area within the therapeutic catalyst scheme
• Ability to embed across multiple scientific areas: Flexible, unafraid of failure, able to focus on the key experiments

Our Values: Bold, Credible, Human, Together. We seek individuals who embody these values to drive progress against our mission.

What will I gain? We offer a supportive working environment, generous benefits, career development opportunities, and high-quality tools to support your work-life balance and career progression.

Closing date: Sunday 8th March 23:55pm