Principal Scientist, Pharmaceutical Development

Are you an ambitious scientist with expertise in developability, drug delivery or pharmaceutical development, with an interest in applying digital and AI-enabled approaches to help molecules progress from discovery towards medicines?

Do you want to help turn promising molecules into medicines by working across developability science, formulation strategy and integrated drug discovery?

Following our integration into IQVIA Laboratories, Pharmaceutical Development is entering an exciting new phase. We are building a modern, developability-focused scientific function that combines physicochemical sciences, biopharmaceutics, solid-state science, drug delivery expertise and data-enabled approaches, to help clients make better decisions and accelerate candidate progression.  

We are seeking a Principal Scientist in Pharmaceutical Development, to help drive our scientific ambition, shape the future of our discipline, and play a key role in delivering innovative solutions for clients across the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.  

The successful candidate will help embed developability thinking earlier in drug discovery programmes, using experimental, computational and AI-enabled approaches to identify risks, generate insight and support clear recommendations for clients.

Why Join Us?

At IQVIA, Pharmaceutical Development is evolving. We're moving beyond traditional formulation support and building a science-led capability focused on understanding and mitigating developability risk, enabling confident progression of drug candidates from discovery into development.

You'll join a growing team in Cambridge, working alongside experts across Discovery, DMPK, CMC and broader IQVIA scientific functions.

This is a role for someone who:

• Wants to influence scientific direction, not simply execute studies.

• Is comfortable challenging the status quo, bringing forward and championing new ideas.

• Is interested in using AI-enabled and data-driven approaches responsibly to enhance developability assessment, scientific interpretation and client impact.

• Enjoys solving complex drug delivery and developability challenges.

• Is excited by working directly with clients.

• Loves mentoring and developing scientists.

• Wants to help shape a growing scientific capability during a transformational period.

What You'll Be Doing

You will combine scientific leadership, client engagement and project delivery responsibilities.

• Design, oversee and interpret developability studies to support candidate progression.

• Integrate physicochemical, solid-state, biopharmaceutic and formulation data to inform key development decisions.

• Apply digital, computational and AI-enabled approaches to support developability risk assessment, literature insight, data interpretation and experimental prioritisation.

• Translate AI-supported and experimental insights into clear, scientifically robust recommendations for drug discovery teams and client programmes.

• Recommend formulation and development strategies for challenging molecules.

• Provide scientific leadership within multidisciplinary drug discovery programmes.

• Lead pharmaceutical development projects from proposal through delivery.

• Act as the primary scientific contact for client programmes.

• Lead and support business development through scientific proposals, technical discussions and client interactions.

• Mentor and develop junior scientists.

• Contribute to the continued growth and evolution of the Pharmaceutical Development group. 

What We're Looking For

We're less interested in finding someone who has done the exact same role before and more interested in finding someone with the curiosity, energy and scientific drive to help us build something exciting.

The strongest candidates are likely to bring:

• Significant industrial experience in pharmaceutical development or drug discovery, with a broad cross-disciplinary understanding of the drug discovery process.

• Experience designing and interpreting developability, preformulation or formulation studies.

• Strong understanding of physicochemical, biopharmaceutic and drug delivery principles.

• The ability to integrate experimental, computational, predictive and AI-enabled approaches to support developability decision-making.  

• A track record of leading scientific projects and influencing project direction.

• Excellent communication and client-facing skills.

• A passion for scientific problem solving, mentoring and continuous improvement.

What Makes This Opportunity Different?

You’ll be joining at a unique moment. Backed by the global reach and capabilities of IQVIA, we are redefining the role of Pharmaceutical Development within drug discovery. This is your chance to help build a growing scientific function, influence how we work, and contribute to a long-term vision focused on developability science, innovation and client impact.

If you're looking for an opportunity where your scientific expertise, ambition and ideas can genuinely influence the future direction of a team, we'd love to hear from you.

Core Skills and Experience

• A postgraduate degree (BSc/MSc or PhD) in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry or a related discipline.

• Extensive experience of working in an industrial R&D setting, supporting developability assessment, drug delivery and candidate progression for novel small molecule APIs, within multidisciplinary drug discovery programmes.

• Strong knowledge of the drug discovery and development process.

• Experience of mentoring junior colleagues.

• Ability to communicate complex scientific data to stakeholders with varying degrees of expertise.

• A proactive can-do approach, attention to detail and the ability to adapt to changing demands and requirements.

• Scientific project management.

Additional experience in the following approaches would be valuable:

• Model-informed and data-driven formulation design.

• Computational, predictive and AI-enabled developability approaches.

• Ability to interpret PK data and use it to inform formulation and candidate selection strategies.

• Application of mechanistic developability approaches (e.g. DCS, PBPK or related modelling frameworks).

• Physicochemical characterisation and developability assessment.

• Solubility, dissolution and absorption risk evaluation.

• Integration of experimental, computational and predictive data to support decision making.

• Enabling formulation technologies (e.g. spray drying, particle engineering, lipid-based systems).

• Oral drug delivery and absorption enhancement strategies.

• Working knowledge of solid form characterisation techniques.

• Experience of supporting non-oral dosage routes (nasal, inhaled, dermal or parenteral).

• Experience addressing developability challenges of Beyond Rule of 5 compounds.

IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at

IQVIA is committed to integrity in our hiring process and maintains a zero tolerance policy for candidate fraud. All information and credentials submitted in your application must be truthful and complete. Any false statements, misrepresentations, or material omissions during the recruitment process will result in immediate disqualification of your application, or termination of employment if discovered later, in accordance with applicable law. We appreciate your honesty and professionalism.