Formulation Scientist - Pharmaceutical Development

Placements24; Queenstown; Hybrid; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Modern formulation laboratories

Professional growth opportunities

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a creative Formulation Scientist to join our pharmaceutical development team in Queenstown, NZ. The role focuses on designing, developing, and optimizing dosage forms for new and existing products, ensuring efficacy, safety, and patient compliance.

You will work across projects from early development to scale-up, collaborating with chemists, analysts, and manufacturing teams, applying deep knowledge of pharmaceutics and drug delivery systems in a hands-on lab setting.

Qualifications

• PhD or MSc in Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of pharmaceutical formulation development experience.
• Strong knowledge of drug delivery systems and excipients.
• Hands-on experience with formulation development equipment and techniques.
• Familiarity with GMP principles and regulatory requirements.
• Excellent problem-solving abilities and scientific communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop oral solid dosage forms (tablets, capsules).
• Conduct pre-formulation studies on drug substances.
• Optimize formulations for bioavailability, stability, manufacturability.
• Pilot-scale formulation development and tech transfer to manufacturing.
• Characterize formulations by particle size, dissolution, microscopy.
• Collaborate with analytical teams to establish test methods.

Skills

Drug delivery systems

Excipients interactions

Formulation development equipment

Problem-solving

Scientific communication

Education

PhD or MSc in Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry, or a related field

Tools

Laboratory instrumentation experience

Job description

About the Role

Our client is seeking a creative and experienced Formulation Scientist to join their pharmaceutical development department in Queenstown . This critical role focuses on designing, developing, and optimizing dosage forms for new and existing pharmaceutical products, ensuring efficacy, safety, and patient compliance. You will work on diverse projects, from early-stage development to formulation scale-up, collaborating with chemists, analysts, and manufacturing teams. The ideal candidate possesses a deep understanding of physical chemistry, pharmaceutics, and drug delivery systems, coupled with practical laboratory experience in formulation development. This is an opportunity to make a tangible impact on product innovation within the pharmaceutical industry .

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop innovative oral solid dosage forms (tablets, capsules) and potentially other dosage forms.
• Conduct pre-formulation studies to understand drug substance properties and their impact on formulation.
• Optimize formulations for improved bioavailability, stability, and manufacturability.
• Perform experiments for pilot-scale formulation development and technology transfer to manufacturing.
• Characterize formulations using techniques such as particle size analysis, dissolution testing, and microscopy.
• Collaborate with analytical development teams to establish appropriate test methods for formulations.

Requirements

• PhD or MSc in Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in pharmaceutical formulation development .
• Strong knowledge of drug delivery systems, excipients, and their interactions.
• Hands‑on experience with formulation development equipment and techniques.
• Familiarity with GMP principles and regulatory requirements for drug product development.
• Excellent problem‑solving abilities and strong scientific communication skills.

Benefits

• Competitive annual salary and comprehensive benefits package.
• Opportunities for professional growth and exposure to diverse drug development projects.
• Access to modern formulation development laboratories.
• Collaborative and innovative work culture.
• Contribution to the development of life‑enhancing medications.