Principal Scientist, Operational Excellence

Novo Nordisk A/S; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Novo Nordisk A/S in Oxford is seeking a Principal Scientist, Operational Excellence to drive continuous improvement across TIM. You will optimise workflows, strengthen quality systems, and lead cross-functional improvement initiatives to enable scientists to focus on discovery while ensuring scalable, high-quality execution.

You will mentor colleagues, shape research strategy, and partner with external vendors to deliver interoperable data.

Qualifications

• PhD or Master’s degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, or a related scientific discipline.
• Typically 7 to 10 years of pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry experience, with demonstrated expertise in operational excellence, experimental workflow optimization, and/or target identification and validation.
• Strong knowledge of experimental design and statistics, data interpretation, and quality systems, with the ability to ensure reliable, reproducible, and decision-grade scientific outputs.
• Proven ability to apply governance and compliance principles (e.g., documentation, traceability, control strategies) and to embed quality-by-design practices into day-to-day operations.
• Solid experience and demonstrated success in driving adoption of new ways of working, including leading change management activities, embedding standardized processes, and achieving sustained impact across scientific teams.
• Demonstrated capability to mentor and develop scientific colleagues, build effective cross-functional collaborations, and communicate complex scientific and operational concepts to multidisciplinary stakeholders.
• Experience working with external partners/vendors, including defining scientifically aligned requirements, assessing quality/performance, and enabling delivery of interoperable, interpretable, and traceable data outputs (FAIR practices preferred).

Responsibilities

• Lead operational excellence initiatives in In Vitro Science, standardising end-to-end workflows from experimental design to reporting, decision-making and target validation.
• Partner with scientific leads to improve and implement experimental approaches and enabling technologies that strengthen reproducibility, robustness and compliance with governance and quality expectations.
• Embed quality-by-design practices by defining performance metrics, success criteria, documentation standards and control strategies aligned with relevant policies and regulations.
• Assess outsourcing opportunities for data generation, aligning vendors and partners to scientific priorities, quality standards and outputs that are interoperable, interpretable and traceable to project progression.
• Build cross-functional and external collaborations with scientific leaders, operational stakeholders, academic groups, biotechnology partners and service providers to expand capabilities and accelerate discovery.
• Mentor scientists by sharing operational best practices, championing emerging technologies, and promoting FAIR data practices that increase target discovery impact.

Skills

Operational excellence

Stakeholder engagement

Structured problem solving

Scientific leadership

Mentorship

Education

PhD in molecular biology/biochemistry/cell biology

Master’s in related field

Job description

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Principal Scientist, Operational Excellence

Category: Research

Location: Oxford, South East, GB

Your impact starts here

As Principal Scientist, Operational Excellence, you'll drive the continuous improvement of how science is delivered across the Target Identification & Maturation (TIM) department. By optimising workflows, strengthening quality systems, and leading cross-functional improvement initiatives, you will enable scientists to focus on breakthrough discovery while ensuring efficient, scalable, and high-quality execution. Your work will build the operational foundations that accelerate innovation, enhance collaboration, and ultimately help bring new treatments to patients faster.

What you’ll bring

You are a scientifically accomplished and collaborative researcher with deep expertise in operational excellence, experimental workflow optimisation and high-quality scientific execution. You combine technical credibility with strong stakeholder engagement, structured problem-solving and the ability to influence research strategy, technology development and scientific outcomes.

To succeed in this role, you will have:

• A PhD or Master’s degree in molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, or a related scientific discipline.
• Typically, 7 to 10 years of pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry experience, with demonstrated expertise in operational excellence, experimental workflow optimization, and/or target identification and validation.
• Strong knowledge of experimental design and statistics, data interpretation, and quality systems, with the ability to ensure reliable, reproducible, and decision-grade scientific outputs.
• Proven ability to apply governance and compliance principles (e.g., documentation, traceability, control strategies) and to embed quality-by-design practices into day-to-day operations.
• Solid experience and demonstrated success in driving adoption of new ways of working, including leading change management activities, embedding standardized processes, and achieving sustained impact across scientific teams.
• Demonstrated capability to mentor and develop scientific colleagues, build effective cross-functional collaborations, and communicate complex scientific and operational concepts to multidisciplinary stakeholders.
• Experience working with external partners/vendors, including defining scientifically aligned requirements, assessing quality/performance, and enabling delivery of interoperable, interpretable, and traceable data outputs (FAIR practices preferred).

Useful, but not essential:

• Certification in continuous improvement methodologies is an advantage.

Aligned to the responsibilities of this role, you will be able to operate with a high degree of scientific independence, serving as a recognized leader in scientific operational excellence—shaping both strategic and day-to-day operational decisions that enable novel therapeutic targets to progress through the research pipeline.

What you’ll do

As Principal Scientist, Operational Excellence, you will be a scientific leader within the In Vitro Science team, driving the development and implementation of advanced experimental approaches that support target discovery. You will partner with TIM scientific and operational leaders to standardise and streamline processes, improve the reliability of experimental execution, and strengthen governance and performance metrics, while ensuring compliance with relevant requirements. Through this work, you will enable teams to generate high-quality data for decision-making, accelerate target discovery and validation across the research portfolio, and help shape the future direction of in vitro capabilities within TIM. You will also mentor colleagues, influence scientific strategy, and build internal and cross-functional collaborations that increase research impact.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Lead operational excellence initiatives in In Vitro Science, standardising end-to-end workflows from experimental design to reporting, decision-making and target validation.
• Partner with scientific leads to improve and implement experimental approaches and enabling technologies that strengthen reproducibility, robustness and compliance with governance and quality expectations.
• Embed quality-by-design practices by defining performance metrics, success criteria, documentation standards and control strategies aligned with relevant policies and regulations.
• Assess outsourcing opportunities for data generation, aligning vendors and partners to scientific priorities, quality standards and outputs that are interoperable, interpretable and traceable to project progression.
• Build cross-functional and external collaborations with scientific leaders, operational stakeholders, academic groups, biotechnology partners and service providers to expand capabilities and accelerate discovery.
• Mentor scientists by sharing operational best practices, championing emerging technologies, and promoting FAIR data practices that increase target discovery impact.

You will work with a high degree of scientific independence and be recognised as a leader in scientific operational excellence, shaping strategic and operational decisions that advance novel therapeutic targets through the research pipeline.

Who you’ll work with

The Target Identification and Maturation (TIM) department, based at Novo Nordisk Research and Development UK (NNRDUK) in Oxford, is part of Novo Nordisk Global Research. TIM plays a pivotal role in discovering, validating and advancing novel therapeutic targets that address unmet patient needs across Novo Nordisk’s research portfolio. By combining cutting‑edge human biology, advanced experimental platforms, computational approaches and translational science, the department generates insights that enable target identification, mechanistic understanding and target maturation towards project initiation.

Our multidisciplinary teams work across the target discovery value chain, integrating in vitro and in silico capabilities, functional genomics, screening technologies, data science and disease biology to uncover and de‑risk new therapeutic opportunities. While maintaining a strong focus on cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and related co‑morbidity, TIM also supports the exploration of emerging therapeutic areas and novel biological pathways.

The Oxford research centre thrives on collaboration. We maintain strong partnerships with leading academic institutions, particularly the University of Oxford, as well as biotechnology and technology partners worldwide. As part of a global research organisation, TIM works closely with colleagues in Denmark, Boston and across Novo Nordisk Global Research to translate scientific discoveries into the next generation of innovative medicines for patients.

What you can expect here

You will join a scientific community where curiosity and patient focus are central to how we work, and where your expertise can help shape important decisions. You will be trusted to take ownership and make your voice heard, while being supported to grow through mentorship, collaboration, and challenging work across therapeutic areas and development stages.

Application Support

We are an equal opportunities employer, and we are committed to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our applicants. If you are a person with a disability, or if you are neurodivergent and require adjustments during the application or selection process, please email [e-mail]. Please include your name, the role you are interested in, and the type of adjustment you need, so we can support you throughout the process.

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.