Thermo Fisher

Development Chemist

Heysham, United Kingdom Full time

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Adherence to all Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Safety Standards, Laboratory Setting, Some degree of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) required (safety glasses, gowning, gloves, lab coat, ear plugs etc.), Will work with hazardous/toxic materials

Job Description

Job Description

Business Title (Internal title): Development Chemist

Job Profile: Scientist II, Research & Development

Direct Report To: Supervisor, M&D

Group/ Division: Laboratory Chemicals Division

Career Band: 5

Career Track: Professional

Work schedule: Standard (Mon-Fri)

Position Location: Heysham

Number of Direct Reports: 0

Working with Thermo Fisher Scientific entails participating in important projects and enjoying continual growth and learning opportunities within a championing environment. With revenues exceeding $40 billion and the industry's largest investment in R&D, we provide our employees with the resources and opportunities to improve the health, cleanliness, and safety of our world. We empower employees to adopt our 4i values (involvement, integrity, intensity and innovation) to achieve our mission.

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on gender, disability, or other factors. Our company provides equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees, regardless of race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status.

Position Summary:

As a Manufacturing, Research & Development (M&D) Chemist at Thermo Fisher Scientific, you will be actively engaged in synthetic chemistry activities within the M&D labs. Your responsibilities will include conducting literature searches, designing new synthesis processes across various scales ranging from milligrams to kilograms and improving existing processes. All processes and improvements must be fully documented and communicated and/or transferred by the Development Chemist as necessary to the manufacturing teams.

This role requires a strong understanding of chemistry and the ability to safely execute new process development while meeting the quality and timelines required by our clients, partners and stakeholders. You will work in laboratory environments, collaborating closely with diverse operational teams to achieve project objectives.

Responsibilities:

  • Make sure all safety protocols and guidelines to ensure a safe working environment are followed. Complete all the required safety, quality and regulatory compliance training. Adopt our safety culture - find it, fix it and report it.
  • Design & develop innovative and scalable synthetic routes for complex molecules.
  • Execute multi-step synthesis purification and characterisation using analytical techniques (GC, HPLC, NMR, GC-MS, DSC) and interpret wide range of analytical data. Trend data using the results to drive future improvements.
  • Work collaboratively with cross-functional teams, including custom & bulk, product management and other operations teams including manufacturing.
  • Demonstrate good process safety awareness completion of COSHH assessment and keep detailed records of experimental procedures, results, and observations in laboratory bench-books, amend or modify standard process work sheet if needed or follow clear instructions in the Batch manufacturing   instruction records process.
  • Prepare technical reports, research papers, and project presentations to communicate findings to collaborators, client discussion and team members.
  • Train and mentor junior chemists and technicians.
  • Consistently explore continuous improvement to optimize chemical procedures for heightened efficiency and cost-efficiency.
  • Execute literature searches using the data to cost custom items, improve current processes or to explore new areas of focus for the business.
  • Provide cover for the senior development chemist in their absence.

Preferred Skills:

We are looking for a driven scientist who thrives in fast-paced, client-focussed environment.

  • BSc, MSc or PhD in Organic chemistry or medicinal chemistry  
  • A good knowledge of the fundamentals of chemistry (organic, inorganic, material science) – standard transformations, named reactions etc. An ability to analyse a desired compound and retro-synthetically deconstruct this to commercially available raw materials in the minimum number of synthetic steps.
  • A proven track record in complex synthetic chemistry demonstrated through publications, patents or industrial achievements.
  • Strong problem-solving skills with the creativity to overcome synthetic challenges.
  • Good communication and organisational skills with the ability to work on projects with or without supervision.
  • Strong time management for self-including a good understanding of the schedule, commercial direction and departmental goals.
  • Work effectively as part of a team showing resourcefulness and reliability.
  • Enthusiastic, flexible, conscientious and proactive in approach
  • Experience of development chemistry would be an advantage (preferably within a CDMO, CRO, pharmaceutical or) in a fine chemical environment.
  • Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).
  • Strong proficiency with MestReNova NMR software and the reaction search database Reaxys.
  • Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.