Lead Biologist

**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 Early solution - Neurosciences Therapeutic Area department, based in our hub in Braine, Belgium, we are looking to fill the position of**:Associate Director/Director Biologist for the early solution partnering team.**

**As a UCB scientist (in vitro or in vivo), you like to work in an environment where you can**:

- Be part of the Partnering Team, which reports to the VP - Neuroscience TA
- Systematically map, evaluate scientifically and facilitate in-licensing of external and innovative drug discovery and development program in order to enrich the Neuroscience portfolio.
- Conceive, Contribute and lead programs for the internal portfolio including participating to early, disease oriented, incubation teams
- Be autonomous in: (i) critically assessing results of in vivo and in vitro experiments; and (ii) provide a broader recommendation on opportunities by assembling an integrated view point.
- Have access to a large panel of experts, available within or outside the organization
- Use your significant experience in discovery of drugs in the neurology area
- Contribute to pathobiology driven systematic scouting of externally available program in coordinate with the bio-informatic team at UCB
- Contribute to business negotiations and set-up research programs and organize alliance management at early stages of the collaborations.

**As an associate Director/Director lead Biologist for the early solution partnering team you will contribute by the following activities**:
Using his/her network, connections in meetings and available databases:

- Scout amidst pharmaceutical companies or academia for possible external assets or programs matching our strategic interests.
- Coordinate external scouting using bio-informatic derived disease relevant biological targets
- Act as the due diligence expert lead/coordinator within a large DD team, with the aim to pro-actively provide recommendations to decision committees.
- Nurture the internal portfolio
**Interested? For this position you’ll need the following education, experience and skills**:

- Ideally a PhD in the field(s) of biology/pharmacology, together with a postdoc in the field and 7+ years’ experience in a bio-pharmaceutical environment
- Thorough understanding of different phases in pre-clinical drug discovery and hands-on project management is essential
- Have an understanding of competitive environment in pharma
- Understand partnering processes and have some experience in partnering with external companies
- Have a proven track record of publications in peer-reviewed, high-quality science journals
- Be open to innovation and driven by science
- Be able to clearly communicate scientific content in management committees
- Have the capacity to understand/deduce partner’s view and situation
- Have the necessary skills to work in a multidisciplinary environment (research, clinical, BD, legal, IP,.)
- Have an adaptive sense for change management and for influencing the organization
- Be fluent in English (spoken and written), the official language for meetings and reporting
- Proactive, creative and enterprising attitude
- Strong work ethic and motivation
**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.