Principal Scientist, Project Representative DMPK

What's the role and how do you fit in?
BenevolentAI, founded in 2013, is an advanced technology company focused on accelerating the journey from data to medicines. It is the world’s only technology company with end-to-end capability from early discovery to late stage clinical development.

We have a range of drug discovery programmes ranging from exploratory work through to phase II clinical studies. Our portfolio of projects covers areas including, motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s Disease, various cancers, rare diseases and many others. We are one of the top 5 biggest private AI companies in the world and have raised over $200M in funding to drive our research based out of our sites in London, Cambridge & New York. As a DMPK scientist within BenevolentAI, you will make important contributions across our portfolio of current projects within our laboratories based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge.

At BenevolentAI, we are reimagining the way drugs are discovered through the use of AI. An important part of this is characterisation of the best drug molecules through generation of the right in vitro data to rapidly accelerate identification of molecules for clinical use. As a key part of our Biological Sciences DMPK team, you’ll make important contributions to our projects to ensure that the value of our data is maximised and increased through AI methods. You will work as part of the senior DMPK team, building and developing the groups capabilities and expertise.

What will you be accountable for?

• Design and implementation of adme and PK studies, reporting and interpretation of results.
• Lab based, balancing lab time with project support, liaising with medicinal chemists and other functions to design and coordinate studies.
• Within the DMPK team, work closely with colleagues to schedule studies in-house and balance with outsourcing external studies where required.
• Attention to detail across studies, careful consideration of study design, formulation, bioanalysis, stability etc, and communicating key aspects to all involved.
• Participate fully in a multifunctional project team environment, providing DMPK advice and interpreting data to help team select the strongest molecules to progress.
• Ability to develop a good understanding of the project rationale, target biology and medicinal chemistry.
• Experienced in determination and interpretation ADME properties, IVIVC, human dose prediction, understanding of PBPK, calculation of safety margins, able to adapt study designs, experience in candidate profiling for LO and preclinical development. Awareness of regulatory guidance, including MIST guidelines.
• You will keep up to date with literature, updates in industry best practice and regulatory guidance and will be required to attend DMPK conferences, championing new initiatives.
• As a key contributor within a cross functional team you should be comfortable working in a fast paced, dynamic environment and on multiple projects with changing priorities and deadlines
• You have a passion for applying scientific expertise to drug discovery collaborations. With a proactive and positive problem solving mindset you are confident to contribute strategically and implement ideas to drive targets forward
• You will be an excellent communicator, able to collaborate with internal and external colleagues. You will be willing to share knowledge with more junior members of the team with the possibility of line management responsibilities.

What skills, experience, and qualifications do you need?

• A degree and preferably PhD in chemistry, biology, pharmacology or related field of research or equivalent experience
• Extensive experience within Lead Optimisation and ideally Preclinical Development as a DMPK representative
• A strong understanding of bioanalytical methodology and pharmacokinetic data analysis
• Ideally with some understanding of PK/PD relationships and relevant models
• Familiarity with Phoenix Winnonlin and Analyst and Masslynx software
• Well organised, self-motivated and with excellent communication skills and attention to detail
• Able to communicate well and share data and context with project teams and within the DMPK group to ensure colleagues are fully up to date and engaged in any challenges.
• Ideally with some experience of supervising and managing staff.

About BenevolentAI

BenevolentAI, founded in 2013, is an advanced technology company focused on accelerating the journey from data to medicines. It is the world’s only technology company with end-to-end capability from early discovery to late stage clinical development. The company is HQ’d in London with a research facility in Cambridge (UK) and further offices in New York and Belgium.

The ‘Benevolent Platform’ is a unique machine intelligence technology system built to mine new knowledge from vast quantities of biomedical data, propose treatments and design drugs to enable its world leading scientists to bring new treatments to patients faster.

We are working on applying tech to real problems, and see real outcomes and the fruits of our labour by working on a meaningful mission. We do our job ‘Because it matters’ and live by the philosophy that unconventional thinking together with purposeful technology can have an impact on humanity.

The working environment is agile and we work in cross functional teams. We encourage a culture of learning, developing and challenging the status quo to foster dynamic, entrepreneurial behaviours, innovation and a ‘fail fast’ mentality.