For 70 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we’ll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.
As part of the UK Government’s National Testing Strategy for COVID-19, a new testing centre has been established in Cambridge through a collaboration between AstraZeneca, GSK and the University of Cambridge. The COVID-19 Cambridge Testing Centre, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, opened in April, and is making a significant contribution to the national testing effort. The high-throughput testing laboratory was purpose designed and is equipped with state-of-the art automation and innovative scientific processes.
The Cambridge COVID-19 Testing Centre is required to continue its testing operation into 2021. To support this continued operation, Charles River has been asked to join the collaboration and we are now seeking to recruit over 200 scientists to support the continued lab operation across a range of roles. Staff in the laboratory will be required to work a shift pattern, that enables continuous operation of the centre 18 hours per day; this may increase to 24 hours per day with a third shift pattern introduced in the future should demand necessitate.
We are seeking Shift Leaders for this project in Cambridge.
Ths is based on a 9-month FTC with competitive salaries and set shifts below:
Pattern 1: Tuesday – Friday (6.15am – 3.15pm or 3pm – 12am)
Pattern 2: Saturday – Monday (6.15am – 3.15pm or 3pm – 12am)
Responsibilities:
They are accountable for the leadership of ~50 scientists on site. They will oversee laboratory based activities and build strong working relationships with the lab team leaders. Predominantly office based within the laboratories and will be the point of contact for issue escalation, management of personnel issues and overall supervision of the full shift of 5-6 teams. They will report directly to the centre Director.
Further Responsibilities include:
• Liaising with different departments as needed, such as: IT, Data Management.
• Overall accountability for resource management, quality and delivery of data
• Representing your team on the testing centre Joint Management Committee
• Liaising with different departments as needed: IT, QA, Data Management, other shift leaders
• Building a good technical understanding of lab workflows to support troubleshooting and resource allocation
• Identifying areas for further development of the scientific workflow
• Prepare reports and data summaries to present to senior stakeholders within and external to the centre
• Support Lab Team Leaders with any issues, applying strong problem-solving skills.
Requirements:
• Educated to PhD level within a scientific discipline or present with industry experience
• Substantial leadership experience in a laboratory-based environment, demonstrable skills in managing teams across a cross functional matrix
• Experience of management within Level 2 Biosafety Laboratory
• Experience of management of automated high throughout screening workflows
• Experience of working with human biological samples with awareness of the different safety protocols and legislations associated with this work.
• Can foster and maintain strong working relationships with different departments
About Discovery
Discovery from Charles River is industry-proven in the successful development of novel therapies, with over 350 patents and 80 preclinical drug candidates delivered to our sponsors in the past 17 years. Backed by more than 650 scientists, our comprehensive, integrated portfolio employs the latest technology and platforms to provide chemistry, biology, and pharmacology services that support clients from the earliest stages of hit identification all the way through to IND. Our client-focused, collaborative approach creates true partnerships that anticipate challenges, overcome obstacles, and move us forward together on the journey of getting new drugs to market.
About Charles River
Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients’ clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.
With over 17,000 employees within 90 facilities in 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client’s unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world. And in 2019, revenue increased to $2.62 billion.
At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly supported the development of ~85% of the drugs approved by the FDA in 2019.