Scientist in Trace Analysis Mass Spectrometry

ASTRAZENECA UK LIMITED; Macclesfield; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

AstraZeneca UK Limited in Macclesfield seeks a Mass Spectrometry Scientist to quantify trace impurities and support product understanding and regulatory documentation. You will design and apply MS methods across development and commercial products, delivering robust data for decision making.

Join an analytical team that partners across development and commercialisation, translating complex signals into clear conclusions, with opportunities to mentor colleagues and advance digital tools for

Qualifications

• Significant practical mass spectrometry experience in pharma analysis.
• Ability to develop and troubleshoot MS methods for trace impurities.
• Strong data interpretation and cross-functional communication.
• Experience interpreting complex analytical data across disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Trace Impurity Quantification: Develop, review and apply mass spectrometry methods to quantify trace-level components in complex matrices, supporting both development projects and marketed products with reliable, sensitive and specific assays.
• Separation Science and Sample Preparation: Design and optimise sample-preparation and chromatographic approaches that resolve challenging low-level analytes, ensuring reproducible outcomes and robust method performance.
• Investigation and Characterisation: Investigate unexpected results and unknown impurities; conduct targeted characterisation and structure confirmation to explain signals and strengthen scientific rationale.
• Data Interpretation and Decision Influence: Translate analytical outputs into clear, defensible conclusions that drive product understanding, impurity control strategies and regulatory documentation.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration and External Oversight: Work closely with project teams and partner functions to deliver on timelines; transfer methods or oversee external laboratories to ensure consistent execution and data integrity.
• Quality, Compliance and Safety: Operate to Safety, Health and Environment expectations and applicable GMP, GLP and data-integrity standards; contribute to inspection-ready documentation and ways of working.
• Capability Building and Continuous Improvement: Share knowledge, mentor colleagues and advance scientific capability, including opportunities to apply automation and digital tools for efficiency and insight.

Skills

Mass spectrometry

Pharmaceutical analysis

Data interpretation

Method development

Education

Relevant scientific degree

Tools

LC-MS

Job description

Are you ready to use separation science and mass spectrometry to quantify trace impurities that protect patients and accelerate medicines to market? Based at our Macclesfield, UK campus, you will apply your expertise to generate decisive, high-quality data that directly shapes product understanding and control strategies. You will join an analytical team that partners across development and commercialisation, translating complex trace-level signals into clear, evidence-led decisions. Your work will influence how products are designed, controlled and released, ensuring the right outcomes for patients and the business. Do you want to see your conclusions inform regulatory submissions and help define robust strategies for known and unknown impurities?

Accountabilities

• Trace Impurity Quantification: Develop, review and apply mass spectrometry methods to quantify trace-level components in complex matrices, supporting both development projects and marketed products with reliable, sensitive and specific assays.
• Separation Science and Sample Preparation: Design and optimise sample-preparation and chromatographic approaches that resolve challenging low-level analytes, ensuring reproducible outcomes and robust method performance.
• Investigation and Characterisation: Investigate unexpected results and unknown impurities; conduct targeted characterisation and structure confirmation to explain signals and strengthen scientific rationale.
• Data Interpretation and Decision Influence: Translate analytical outputs into clear, defensible conclusions that drive product understanding, impurity control strategies and regulatory documentation.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration and External Oversight: Work closely with project teams and partner functions to deliver on timelines; transfer methods or oversee external laboratories to ensure consistent execution and data integrity.
• Quality, Compliance and Safety: Operate to Safety, Health and Environment expectations and applicable GMP, GLP and data-integrity standards; contribute to inspection-ready documentation and ways of working.
• Capability Building and Continuous Improvement: Share knowledge, mentor colleagues and advance scientific capability, including opportunities to apply automation and digital tools for efficiency and insight.

Qualifications

• A relevant scientific degree, or equivalent experience, with significant practical experience in mass spectrometry and pharmaceutical analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, troubleshoot, review and apply mass spectrometry methods for the quantification of trace-level components in complex matrices.
• Practical experience operating and interpreting data from a range of mass spectrometry platforms, supported by strong separation-science and sample-preparation skills.
• Ability to interpret complex analytical data, draw scientifically defensible conclusions and communicate and influence effectively across disciplines, sites, cultures and external partners.

Desirable Skills/Experience

• Experience with automated or high-throughput sample-preparation approaches and digital tools for analytical data processing or workflow improvement.
• Understanding of pharmaceutical product development, impurity control strategies and the development lifecycle from early development through launch and lifecycle management.
• Experience supporting method transfer, external analytical partners, technical investigations or regulatory submissions, and a proactive approach to developing colleagues.
• A sound understanding of quality and regulatory expectations relevant to pharmaceutical analysis, including GMP, data integrity and applicable ICH guidance.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.