Team Lead (MSAT - Molecular Biology)

Location: Cambridge

Contract: Full-time and permanent

Sector: Biotechnology

Salary: £45-55K depending on experience and interview performance

Work Hours: Full-time, onsite, Monday to Friday.

Our client is an innovative biotechnology company based in Cambridgeshire. They have developed novel molecular biology-based technologies to support the drug discovery sector, particularly for gene therapies. In a phase of growth, they are seeking a Team Lead for their MSAT function.

The Opportunity

This is an opportunity suitable for a proven Team Leader with experience in tech transfer from R&D to manufacturing for biological products (gene therapies, molecular biology products, cell products). As the Team Leader, you will be responsible for:

* Direct line management of a Team of Scientists and Laboratory Technicians, supporting ongoing training and development initiatives.

* Leading the upstream process development and tech transfer function, including the leading of projects. You will orchestrate projects coming from R&D into the team. You will scale them and tech transfer them to the GMP manufacturing facilities in-house.

* Being the subject matter expert for upstream processing (USP), liaising with various teams across the business including GMP manufacturing and R&D.

* Overseeing the validation and optimisation of various molecular biology and biochemistry experiments to enable efficient product development and transfer to manufacturing. This may include: DNA handling, PCR, gel electrophoresis, DNA quantification, other molecular and microbiological workflows.

* Support with documentation including QA (CAPA, change control, non-conformance, deviation) and SOP writing.

Skills and Experience Needed

The ideal candidate will have the following:

* BSc / MSc in Biology / Biochemistry (essential, equivalent experience okay)

* Must have proven experience in an MSAT or scale up function for a biotechnology, molecular biology, gene therapy or cell therapy business (essential)

* Must have proven experience as a Team Lead within a biological setting (essential)

* Knowledge of GMP and GDP (essential)

* A strong molecular biology skillset. For example, you may have some skills from the following list: molecular cloning, PCR, gel electrophoresis, DNA and RNA handling + quantification, plasmid purification (essential)

* Prior process development and tech transfer experience (desired)

The Package

As an up-and-coming Cambridge Biotech, our client is able to offer a competitive salary, progression options and benefits package including private pension