Associate Principal Scientist, External Capabilities

Primary Responsibilities

• Provide scientific leadership and day-to-day technical oversight for process chemistry activities conducted at external partners.
• Guide synthetic route design, route scouting, process optimization, reaction understanding, impurity-control strategy, process robustness, and preparation of intermediates and APIs.
• Serve as a key scientific interface between external partners and internal project teams, ensuring that technical priorities, deliverables, risks, and timelines are clearly understood.
• Critically evaluate experimental plans, data packages, development reports, and technical proposals from external partners.
• Identify emerging scientific, operational, quality, and delivery risks, and work with internal and external stakeholders to establish practical mitigation plans.
• Apply innovative and rigorous problem-solving approaches to complex synthetic chemistry and process-development challenges.
• Collaborate with Process Chemistry, Discovery Process Chemistry, Enabling Technologies, Chemical Engineering Research & Development, Analytical Research & Development, Quality, and other partner functions to advance programs and support successful API delivery.
• Contribute to technical and strategic decisions for assigned projects or a portfolio of programs through clear, data-based recommendations.
• Establish productive relationships with scientists and management at external partner organizations and promote transparent communication and timely issue escalation.
• Support effective knowledge transfer between external partners and internal project teams.
• Promote high standards of scientific rigor, documentation, quality, data integrity, safety, and compliance across external activities.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of external capability strategies, working practices, scientific standards, and continuous-improvement initiatives.
• Mentor and support the scientific development of colleagues and external-partner scientists, as appropriate.
• Communicate project progress, technical risks, key decisions, and recommended actions clearly to scientific and cross-functional stakeholders.

Education Requirement

• Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry or a closely related field.

Required Experience and Skills

• Relevant pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry experience in synthetic chemistry, process chemistry, or closely related drug-development activities.
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex scientific activities and effectively guide multidisciplinary or external project teams.
• Strong knowledge of synthetic organic chemistry, route design, process development, reaction optimization, impurity control, and scale-up considerations.
• Demonstrated record of delivering high-quality scientific results through innovation, sound judgment, and proactive problem-solving.
• Ability to critically analyze complex experimental data, identify technical risks, and recommend practical development strategies.
• Experience collaborating across scientific and operational functions to achieve project objectives and delivery commitments.
• Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Effective negotiation, influencing, collaboration, and relationship-management skills.
• Ability to work effectively across organizational boundaries, cultures, geographies, and time zones.
• Demonstrated commitment to scientific excellence, data integrity, quality, safety, compliance, and ethical decision-making.
• Evidence of scientific contribution through publications, presentations, patents, internal technical reports, process-development accomplishments, or other relevant forms of scientific impact.
• Ability and willingness to travel approximately 25% of the time , based on business needs.

Preferred Experience

Preferred Skills

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