Principal Bioinformatics Scientist

Principal Bioinformatics Scientist

UCB - Union Chimique Belge

Slough, United Kingdom

About the Role

As Senior Bioinformatics Scientist, you will make a substantial contribution to therapeutic programs across research and clinical development. By integrating, analysing, and interpreting large-scale molecular and patient-level datasets, you will generate insights that support target identification, biomarker discovery, indication selection, patient stratification, and translational research efforts.

You will combine strong biological expertise with advanced computational approaches to help uncover disease mechanisms and inform decision-making across UCB's portfolio. Working at the intersection of data science, biology and drug discovery, you will contribute to the development of precision medicine and innovative therapeutic approaches.

Who You'll Work With

You will collaborate with scientists across biology, translational medicine, pharmacology, and data sciences, translating complex biomedical datasets into mechanistic insights that support therapeutic project progression. You will work alongside and with guidance from senior colleagues within the bioinformatics group.

What You'll Do

• Contribute to target hypotheses, indication prioritization, asset differentiation, and patient stratification using multi-omics data.
• Work confidently across data types, from bulk and single-cell transcriptomics to genetics and proteomics, drawing biological meaning from each.
• Apply and develop analytical methods for functional interpretation of biological data, including pathway and systems level analyses.
• Work with combinations of diverse data types, including gene expression, genetic, VDJ repertoire, spatial, and proteomic datasets, to generate biological insights.
• Apply statistical, machine learning, and systems biology approaches to answer key scientific questions.
• Communicate complex findings clearly to scientific and non-scientific audiences.
• Support the continuous evolution of bioinformatics approaches and workflows, data integration strategies, and analytical best practices.

Interested? For this role we're looking for

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computational Genetics, Life Sciences or MSc with significant industry experience.
• Industry or academic experience in a bioinformatics role, ideally within a pharmaceutical or biotechnology setting.
• Solid expertise in the analysis and biological interpretation of omics data, ideally including bulk, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics. Experience with other omics modalities and familiarity with immunology are a significant plus.
• Strong programming skills in Python and R, with hands-on experience developing reproducible bioinformatics pipelines using Nextflow/Snakemake, containerisation with Docker, version control via Git/Azure DevOps, and deployment on cloud-based (e.g. AWS/DNAnexus) and HPC environments.
• Scientific rigor and excellent communication and collaboration skills.