Senior Scientist, Biology

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 cell biologist 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 team, you’ll make important contributions to our projects to ensure that the value of our in vitro data is maximised and increased through AI methods.

What will you be accountable for?
With a strong cell biology background you will work as part of a multi disciplinary team. A key aspect of your role will be to research and develop cutting edge human cell-based disease relevant models to aid target validation

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 PhD in biology, pharmacology or related field of research or equivalent experience
• At least four years cell biology experience in an industrial or academic setting
• Strong practical laboratory experience of tissue culture, maintaining suspension and adherent cell lines
• Experience of isolating immune cells or primary cells from tissue and an in depth knowledge of inflammatory disease(s)
• Experience and expertise in age related diseases with practical experience to interrogate mechanisms driving disease
• Experience in the optimisation of human primary cell systems including iPSCs
• Familiarity with the development of phenotypic assays using iPSC-based and/or primary neuronal models
• Experience in co cultures assays, 3D culture and organoid processing
• Experience of flow cytometry assay development and functional cell assays
• Experience with automated high throughput analysis systems
• Knowledge of confocal and high content imaging
• Well organised, self-motivated and with excellent communication skills and attention to detail
• 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.