Principal Scientist Immunotoxicology - RIA Safety

Are you a scientist with an interest in the development of novel treatments for patients with respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity diseases? Are you open for an opportunity to apply your expertise in immunology in a company that is accelerating innovative science and turns ideas into life changing medicines? Welcome to join us on our journey to ease the lives of patients with respiratory and autoimmune diseases!

At AstraZeneca, we are now looking to strengthen our Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity (RIA) Safety department with an experienced Principal Scientist Immunotoxicology. This position will be based at one of our three strategic R&D sites in Gothenburg (Sweden), Cambridge (UK) or Gaithersburg, MD (US).

The Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity (RIA) Safety department is a leading safety organization that develops and integrates innovative safety science with toxicology excellence to drive the design, selection and successful development of novel treatments for patients with respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity diseases. We are a diverse international department across Sweden, UK and US that comprises project toxicologists, discovery safety specialists, respiratory safety experts, experimental scientists, a.o.

As part of Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences (CPSS), which contains all non-clinical safety functions that support the entire AstraZeneca Portfolio, we have a strong focus on talent development. You will be able to make a difference in drug development by deploying and developing your skills, competences and scientific leadership, working together with experts in investigative toxicology, drug discovery and development, cell biology, predictive safety science, pharmacology, and regulatory toxicology.

The role

As a Principal Scientist Immunotoxicology, you will combine expertise in immunology and drug safety with experience in drug development. You should hold strong communication skills with the ability to influence across geographical and organizational dimensions and have the drive to contribute to our team culture - in which trust, cooperative support, diversity and inclusion enable engaged and motivated colleagues to deliver and develop.

Your main responsibilities will involve:

* Developing and implementing a comprehensive immunotoxicology strategy for drug discovery and development programs and diverse drug modalities across our Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity (RIA) portfolio, and align and contribute to the global immunotoxicology strategy across our therapeutic areas.
* Design platform- and project-specific in vitro and in vivo strategies to predict, assess and mitigate modality-, target- and drug-related immune-safety risks and execute through internal and external experimental capabilities.
* Integrate disease-specific immune dysfunction context to drive patient-centric risk assessment approaches.
* Engage with internal and external world-leading experts to develop, refine and implement innovative experimental strategies and apply to assess and/or provide mechanistic understanding of immune-safety issues.
* Develop innovative research proposals to pursue cutting edge science and technologies in order to optimize and influence immune-safety assessment of novel therapies in the RIA space.
* Operate and communicate with stakeholders across international boundaries and across R&D functions to provide insight and judgement on immunotoxicology aspects to enable successful candidate selection and clinical development of projects in the RIA portfolio.
* Contribute to development and delivery of the department strategy.

Essential Requirements:

* A PhD education in Immunology, Lung disease biology, Toxicology or a relevant life-science subject.
* Experience working within a pharmaceutical or biotech company, with a primary focus on immunology, respiratory or toxicology science and with knowledge and experience of drug development. Alternatively, experience working in a senior role at a leading academic research institution (or contract research organization) with experience of collaborating with pharmaceutical companies, with a primary focus on immunotoxicology and/or respiratory science.
* A strong scientific track record in the field.
* Demonstrated ability to translate complex research questions into innovative experimental strategies to inform translational understanding of pharmaceuticals.
* Eagerness for scientific excellence, investigation of mechanisms of toxicity and translation of insights to risk assessment.
* Specific experience with inhaled pharmaceuticals, immunogenicity, drug hypersensitivity and/or lung immunology is an advantage.

If this sounds like the opportunity for you - apply today!

We look forward to your application no later than 8th March 2020.

More information
For more information about the position please contact Hiring Manager Jorrit Hornberg, Global Head of RIA Safety, at