Senior Scientist - High Throughput Screening

Senior Scientist - High Throughput Screening

Selvita

Kraków, Poland

We are seeking an experienced Senior Scientist – High Throughput Screening (HTS) to join our In Vitro Pharmacology Oncology team.

This role is ideal for a scientifically driven professional with strong hands-on experience in designing, executing, analyzing, and troubleshooting large-scale HTS campaigns. The primary focus will be on delivering HTS projects in a CRO environment, including campaigns involving 200,000+ compounds, while contributing to assay development, automation, and hit identification workflows.

The successful candidate will become a key HTS expert within the organization, supporting scientific excellence, data quality, process development, and collaboration across multidisciplinary project teams.

Key Responsibilities

High-Throughput Screening Leadership

• Lead and execute large-scale biochemical and cell-based HTS campaigns in 384- and 1536-well formats, including campaigns involving 200,000+ compounds.
• Define screening strategies, assay requirements, controls, and quality criteria.
• Oversee campaigns from assay transfer and screening execution through hit identification and confirmation.
• Ensure high-quality project delivery in line with timelines and client expectations.

Assay Development and Optimization

• Develop, optimize, miniaturize, and validate biochemical and cell-based assays for HTS applications.
• Transfer assays into automated, HTS-compatible formats.
• Optimize assay robustness and performance and ensure high-quality screening data.-

Scientific and Technical Oversight

• Interpret screening data, troubleshoot technical issues, and drive improvements in assay and screening performance.
• Support hit triage, confirmation, counter-screening, and follow-up characterization.
• Contribute to the development of new HTS approaches, technologies, and workflows.

Quality and Process Excellence

• Ensure compliance with internal SOPs, quality standards, and documentation requirements.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of HTS processes, quality controls, and operational standards.

Cross-Functional and Client Collaboration

• Collaborate with biology, chemistry, automation, and data science teams to support client projects.
• Provide scientific input during project planning, study design, and proposal preparation.
• Present project updates and scientific findings to internal stakeholders and external clients.
• Act as an HTS subject matter expert within multidisciplinary project teams.

Mentoring

• Mentor junior scientists and laboratory staff.
• Provide technical guidance in assay development, screening execution, troubleshooting, and data interpretation.
• Contribute to building HTS expertise across the organization.

Your Background

• PhD in Biology, Biotechnology, Pharmacology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, or a related life science discipline.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant industrial experience in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or CRO environments.
• Proven experience leading large-scale high-throughput screening campaigns, ideally involving 200,000+ compounds.
• Strong hands-on experience in biochemical and/or cell-based assay development and optimization.
• Experience with automated liquid handling and screening platforms.
• Strong understanding of HTS assay quality, validation, experimental design, and data analysis.
• Experience with hit identification, confirmation, and profiling workflows.
• Experience working with electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) and data management systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Echo acoustic dispensing systems.
• Experience with automated screening platforms and robotic workflows.
• Experience working directly with external clients in a CRO environment.
• Previous experience mentoring or supervising scientists.