Scientist

Cpl Life Sciences; Newsham; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

CPL Life Sciences seeks an experienced scientist to join a Materials Characterisation team focusing on formulation development and drug product manufacturing. You will study how raw material and API variability affects manufacturability, robustness, and performance, using experimental work, predictive modelling, and data-driven science to guide supplier changes and risk assessments.

You will help bridge formulation science, process understanding and material characterisation, predicting scale-up

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related scientific discipline.
• 3–5 years' industry experience in Pharmaceutical formulation development or related pharmaceutical disciplines.
• Experience working with oral solid dosage forms and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated experience designing experimental studies and interpreting scientific data.
• Excellent technical writing and presentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and execute laboratory studies to assess the impact of material variability and supplier changes on drug product performance.
• Apply Science of Scale principles to develop representative small-scale manufacturing models.
• Use computational and predictive modelling approaches to forecast process and product performance.
• Design and perform formulation-focused performance prediction studies.
• Investigate relationships between material attributes, manufacturing process parameters, and CQAs; conduct experiments covering powder blending, content uniformity, wet and dry granulation, powder flow and feeding behavior, and tablet compression and compaction.

Skills

Formulation development

Drug product manufacturing

Data-driven decision making

Critical thinking

Scientific writing

Stakeholder management

Independent working

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related scientific discipline

Job description

We are seeking an experienced scientist with a strong background in pharmaceutical formulation development and drug product manufacturing to join a specialist Materials Characterisation team.

This role will focus on understanding how raw material and API variability impact product manufacturability, robustness, and performance. You will apply a combination of small-scale experimental studies, predictive modelling, and data-driven scientific approaches to support material supplier change assessments and manufacturing risk evaluations.

Working at the interface of formulation science, process understanding, and material characterisation, you will help predict large-scale manufacturing performance from laboratory-scale studies and provide scientific recommendations that influence product development and commercial supply strategies.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and execute laboratory studies to assess the impact of material variability and supplier changes on drug product performance.
• Apply Science of Scale principles to develop representative small-scale manufacturing models.
• Use computational and predictive modelling approaches to forecast process and product performance.
• Design and perform formulation-focused performance prediction studies.
• Investigate relationships between:
• Material attributes
• Manufacturing process parameters
• Critical quality attributes (CQAs)
• Conduct experimental studies covering:
• Powder blending
• Content uniformity
• Wet and dry granulation
• Powder flow and feeding behaviour
• Tablet compression and compaction

Skills & Experience

• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical formulation development and drug product manufacturing.
• Experience evaluating formulation and process performance using scientific and data-driven approaches.
• Knowledge of material attributes and their impact on manufacturability, process robustness, and product quality
• Ability to analyse complex datasets and translate findings into actionable scientific recommendations.
• Excellent technical writing and presentation skills.
• Strong problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities.
• Effective stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently while contributing within multidisciplinary teams.
• Comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications Required

• Bachelor's degree in a related scientific discipline
• Minimum 3-5 years' industry experience in Pharmaceutical formulation development or related pharmaceutical disciplines
• Experience working with oral solid dosage forms and pharmaceutical manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated experience designing experimental studies and interpreting scientific data.