Senior AI Scientist - Hit Discovery and Protein Sciences

Job details
Posting date:	19 February 2026
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	19 March 2026
Location:	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 0AA
Company:	Astrazeneca
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	R-246291_1771511185

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Summary

Job Title: Senior AI Scientist - Hit Discovery and Protein Sciences

Location: Cambridge, UK

Competitive salary and benefits

Introduction to the role:

Are you a curious Data and AI Scientist seeking a role where your expertise can make an extraordinary impact? This is an opportunity to join a dynamic and enthusiastic environment and transform the way we discover hits and protein reagents in drug discovery.

Diverse Minds. Bold Disruptors. Meaningful Impact through Partnership.

At AstraZeneca we're dedicated to being a Great Place to Work. Where you are empowered to push the boundaries of science and unleash your entrepreneurial spirit. There's no better place to make a difference to medicine, patients and society. An inclusive culture that champions diversity and collaboration. Always committed to lifelong learning, growth and development.

Join a place built on innovation and creativity. We harness digital, data science & AI to fast-forward our research. Your scientific vision would ensure that new small molecules and peptides discovered using your skills and in partnership with our technical platforms can serve as the seeds for future medicines and make a real difference in our mission to help patients.

You will be based in early drug discovery R&D within the Data Sciences & Quantitative Biology department in Discovery Sciences and will work closely with our colleagues in the Hit Discovery and Protein Sciences departments. To learn more about our department and culture watch this video: A Life-changing day - Meet our Quantitative Biology team at AstraZeneca.

What you will do
You will develop data science, computational and AI solutions to enable the discovery of hits (small molecules and peptides) and protein reagents enhancing the output from our hit and lead data generation platforms. This will involve close collaboration with screening scientists, chemists, biologists, informaticians and statisticians. We truly believe that everyone has an important role in drug discovery and each individual brings a unique set of competencies. Your curiosity and passion for personal development combined with support from colleagues and leaders, will ensure you maximise your potential and contribution, building from your current skills and experience.

Essential requirements:

Our team is a highly collaborative group of scientists, working in an evolving technical and scientific landscape. Therefore, you will be comfortable working in a dynamic and team-focussed environment. Critical will be to have effective communication skills and a proactive and delivery-focused approach. Aligned to Hit Discovery and Protein Sciences activities, you will bring analytical skills, innovation and your strategic mindset to this exciting and evolving area.

You also have:

A PhD or equivalent numbers of years in industry/academia in bioinformatics, cheminformatics, computer science, AI/ML, statistics or related computational and data science subject areas applied to chemistry, biology or medicine.

Experience in data science, AI/ML and/or modelling methods applied to the analysis of highly multidimensional or unstructured datasets in molecular, drug discovery or biomedical contexts.

Programming in Python, R and/or Shell, and experience with querying and integrating data from disparate sources (e.g. SQL, NoSQL, Graph or file-based approaches).

Experience in developing computational workflows applied to the analysis of experimental or AI-generated data (e.g. Nextflow or Snakemake), knowledge of version control systems (e.g. Git and GitHub) and high-performance computing infrastructure.

Experience reporting data analysis results, drawing conclusions and defining recommended actions in interdisciplinary and collaborative environments.

Desirables:

Experience in AI/ML and/or physics-based mathematical modelling methods applied to peptides, small molecules, and/or proteins

Experience in data analysis of high-throughput assays (peptides / small molecule screens, virtual or high content screening, chemical profiling, mass spectrometry, recombinant protein expression and/or omics).

Experience in developing software and packages.

Track record of publishing relevant research as preprints, peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and other scientific proceedings.

Ability to collaborate and build consensus across cross-functional teams.

Ability to identify opportunities and synergies across projects.

Experience in communicating chemistry and protein concepts within a data science context.

Why AstraZeneca
There are many opportunities to develop yourself and your career. From our diverse portfolio and collaboration to our ground-breaking innovations - it's a place for lifelong learning.

You'll be based in our Discovery Centre placed in the heart of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus - an open, welcoming and vibrant centre that will encourage us and our partners to push the boundaries of scientific innovation.

Next Steps:

Are you already imagining yourself joining our team? Good, because we can't wait to hear from you. Please apply via the link and one of our team members will be in touch as soon as possible. This is being actively recruited so early application is advised.