Pharmaceutical Associate Scientist

Ultimate Staffing; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Courtyard workspace

Gym facilities

Snacks & drinks

Occasional catered meals

Job summary

Ultimate Staffing is seeking an Associate Scientist (Pharmaceutical Sciences) in Irvine, CA. The role is fully onsite, 5 days a week, reporting to the Manager/Senior Scientist of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The candidate will support formulation development, analysis, and documentation across product lifecycles. The ideal candidate has 1–3 years of hands-on lab experience in pharmaceutical development, strong problem-solving skills, and excellent written/verbal communication.

Qualifications

• Bachelor in Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• Hands-on lab experience in preformulation, formulation development, process development or analytical characterization preferred.
• 1–3 years of hands-on lab experience in pharmaceutical development from industry, academia, or internships.
• Strong critical thinking and problem-solving with ability to tackle technical challenges.
• Experience with pre-formulation, formulation, process development, scale-up from lab to pilot scale.
• Familiarity with analytical techniques to characterize drug substances or products (HPLC, UV-Vis, particle size, dissolution, rheology, pH).
• Maintains organized lab records and documents procedures clearly.
• Ability to work collaboratively while managing multiple priorities and meeting timelines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to summarize results for teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and conduct formulation studies under supervision.
• Maintain strong lab practices and generate reproducible data with integrity.
• Review internal/external technical docs and author memos, presentations, reports.
• Complete trainings assigned by Quality department as part of GxP compliance.

Skills

critical thinking

problem-solving

written & verbal communication

teamwork

Education

Bachelor in Chemistry

Bachelor in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Bachelor in Chemical Engineering

Tools

HPLC

UV-Vis spectroscopy

Particle size analysis

Dissolution tests

Rheology

pH measurement

Osmolality

Viscosity measurement

Job description

We are hiring for an Associate Scientist (Pharmaceutical Sciences) with 1-3 years of lab experience. You will have an opportunity to join a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Irvine, CA!

*NOTE*: This position is fully onsite 5-days a week in Irvine, CA. Candidates MUST be local to Orange County, CA.

We are looking for inspired individuals who are motivated to grow professionally, while building a best-in-class pharmaceutical company with a differentiated approach. Join us in advancing our mission to focus on unmet needs and apply proven science and new technology to revolutionize treatment for patients.

Overview:

Under supervision of the Manager and Sr Scientist of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Associate Scientist will be involved in the development, designing, and performing and/or management of experiments to support products' development at various stages of their lifecycles. This individual will be involved in the formulation, preparation and characterization of experimental formulations, writing and reviewing of technical documents and reports, maintenance of lab instruments, and other general lab duties.

Key responsibilities:

• Help design and conduct formulation studies to support formulation and manufacturing process development with assistance and supervision of Sr Scientist, Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• Demonstrates strong laboratory practices, attention to detail, and the ability to generate accurate, reproducible, and well-documented experimental data.Author and review internal notebook entries documenting lab work in timely manner and treat data with a high level of integrity and ethics.
• Review internal and external technical documents and author technical memos, scientific presentations, and reports.
• Complete trainings assigned by the Quality department as part of being a GxP employee in a timely manner.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor in Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, or related fields
• Hands-on laboratory experience in one or more of the following areas is preferred: preformulation, formulation development, process development, analytical characterization.
• Recently graduated with 1-3 years of hands-on laboratory experience laboratory experience in pharmaceutical development, gained through industry, academic research, or internships.
• Strong critical thinking, and problem-solving skills with the ability to investigate technical challenges and propose practical solutions..
• Experience with a combination of any the following: pre-formulation, formulation, process development, scale-up and optimization from laboratory scale to pilot scale.
• Familiarity with analytical techniques used to characterize drug substance or drug products (e.g., HPLC, UV-Vis spectroscopy, particle size analysis, dissolution, rheology, pH, osmolality, viscosity, or related techniques).
• Maintains organized laboratory records and effectively documents experimental procedures, observations, and conclusions.
• Ability to work collaboratively while managing multiple priorities and meeting project timelines.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to summarize experimental results and present findings to project teams.
• The position will be based in our beautiful Irvine office, complete with a courtyard, gym, snacks, drinks, and occasional catered meals.
• We are passionate about our culture! Our employees live our values of commitment to patients, empowerment to champion innovation, and teamwork to amplify impact!
• This position reports directly to our Manager of Pharmaceutical Sciences.