Principal Scientist

Make your mark for patients.

We’re here because we want to build the future and transform patients’ lives for the better.

At UCB, our people are our experiences and achievements, our passion and drive. That’s why we’re looking for talented individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences - not just the best and brightest, but those who care about making a meaningful difference in the lives of patients. We promote an environment of diversity, openness, and respect where people can make valuable contributions.

An exciting journey lies ahead. Will you join us in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible?

To strengthen our Neuroinflammation Researchteam, we are looking for a high caliber, self-motivatedGroup Leader in Neuroinflammationbased in Braine l’Alleud, Belgium.

At UCB everything we do starts with a simple question: “How will this make a difference to the lives of people living with severe diseases?” We do that by connecting our ground-breaking science with patients and their families around the world living with the physical and social burdens of autoimmune and neurological disorders. Those connections offer new perspectives, drive innovation, and offer the hope of a new generation of therapies that will help improve lives on a global scale.

You like to work in anenvironmentwhere you can:

As an experienced neuroimmunologist, lead a growing team focusing on human disease biology in this exciting and high visibility role.

You willcontributeby:

• You will have an in-depth knowledge of microglia and peripheral immune involvement in neurodegenerative and/or autoimmune disease backed by publications.
• You will work side-by-side with the team on target ID, validation, and driving the biology strategy from hit ID to candidate selection. You are expected to have a hands-on involvement in experimental work, coordinate/prioritize activities together with his/her team, act as the neuroinflammation biology representative to the various neuroinflammation pre-clinical projects, and drive target ID and validation initiatives together with internal and external collaborators.
• You will work closely with other teams within the Neuroinflammation department and align with key stakeholders across UCB’s research sites to define experimental approaches, specific studies, and priorities.
• You will also manage external collaborations with academic labs, CROs and biotech partners, and will represent the Neuroinflammation team by proposing new drug targets and providing updates on projects to UCB leadership/governance.

Interested? For this position you’ll need the followingeducation, experienceandskills:

Technical Competencies

• Ph.D. in Neuroimmunology with a minimum of 5 years of experience in a pharma setting or 10 years in academia paired with a strong publication record.
• In-depth expertise handling, establishing/troubleshooting functional assays utilizing human or non-human primate blood and bone marrow-derived immune cells, including PBMCs, monocytes, monocyte-derived macrophages.
• Expertise in gene editing, overexpression or knockdown technologies combined with high throughput/high content imaging approaches is a must.
• In-depth experience with immune phenotyping (flow/mass cytometry) and cell sorting technologies is a must.
• Experience with murine cell lines, bone marrow-derived macrophages and microglia as well as knowledge of rodent models of autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease is highly desirable.
• Experience with iPSC-derived systems including microglial and neuronal functional assays is highly desired.

Professional competencies and soft skills

• Experience managing/mentoring junior scientists
• Strong leadership, inter-personal, communication and presentation skills
• Strong ability to collaborate across the matrix organization and with external parties (academic labs, CROs, biotech partners)
• A can-do attitude and exceptional attention to detail, dynamic, independent and innovative
• Open-minded and flexible to work in a fast-paced environment.

We can offer you an informal and open working environment that does not lock scientists into structure and hierarchy. Freedom to take space to pursue your own ideas and make a difference. Opportunity to gain internal and external visibility through interactions with other UCB teams and with world-renown academic investigators. Opportunity to grow both as a drug hunter and leader through participation in project teams and our career/personal development programs. Some travel primarily to US and UK will be required.

About us.

UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are around 7,600 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

At UCB, everything we do start with a simple question: “How will this create value for people living with severe disease?”. We are on a journey to become the patient-preferred biopharma leader by delivering medicines and solutions that improve lives. We want to ensure the creation of patient value, now and into the future, while contributing to a society where a population of 8 billion people and more should be able to live a good life within limited resources of one planet.

UCB and its subsidiaries encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace; we are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race/color/religion/sex/national origin/veteran/disability/age/sexual orientation/gender identity.