Principal Scientist, Pharmaceutical Development

About the role

Following its integration into IQVIA Laboratories, IQVIA's Pharmaceutical Development function is building a modern, developability-focused scientific function combining physicochemical sciences, biopharmaceutics, solid-state science, drug delivery expertise and data-enabled approaches. It is seeking a Principal Scientist in Cambridge to embed developability thinking earlier in drug discovery programmes, using experimental, computational and AI-enabled approaches to identify risks and support client recommendations. The role sits in a growing team alongside experts in Discovery, DMPK, CMC and other scientific functions.

Key responsibilities

• Design, oversee and interpret developability studies to support candidate progression.
• Integrate physicochemical, solid-state, biopharmaceutic and formulation data to inform development decisions.
• Apply digital, computational and AI-enabled approaches to assess developability risk, interpret data and prioritise experiments.
• Translate insights into clear, scientifically robust recommendations for drug discovery teams and client programmes.
• Recommend formulation and development strategies for challenging molecules.
• Provide scientific leadership in multidisciplinary drug discovery programmes and lead pharmaceutical development projects from proposal to delivery.
• Act as the primary scientific contact for client programmes and lead business development through scientific proposals and technical discussions.
• Mentor and develop junior scientists and contribute to the growth of the Pharmaceutical Development group.

Required profile

• Postgraduate degree (BSc/MSc or PhD) in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry or a related discipline.
• Extensive industrial R&D experience supporting developability assessment, drug delivery and candidate progression for novel small molecule APIs.
• Strong knowledge of the drug discovery and development process and experience mentoring junior colleagues.
• Ability to communicate complex scientific data to stakeholders with varying levels of expertise.

Required skills

• Physicochemical, biopharmaceutic and drug delivery principles.
• Scientific project management and client-facing communication.
• Value added: model-informed formulation design, computational and AI-enabled developability approaches, PK data interpretation, mechanistic approaches such as DCS or PBPK, solid form characterisation, solubility/dissolution/absorption risk evaluation, enabling formulation technologies, oral and non-oral delivery, and developability of Beyond Rule of 5 compounds.