Therapeutic Opportunities Lead (Portfolio Generation)

200 staff. Limitless Potential. One team. Cancer Research Horizons.

Location: Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge (1 - 2 days per week on site) 

Salary: £58,400 - £76,000  plus benefits

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We’re seeking a Therapeutic Opportunities lead to join our Portfolio Generation team in Glasgow. In this key, high-impact role you’ll assess new therapeutic opportunities from academic partners and the Network Translation Team, as well as more advanced cancer drug discovery projects that could be accelerated toward the clinic.

About Cancer Research Horizons: Cancer Research Horizons (CRH) unites Cancer Research UK’s established drug discovery teams. Our mission is to accelerate new cancer treatments by combining unique cancer biology expertise, world-class academic networks, cutting-edge technology, and clinical insights. Based at sites in Cambridge, Glasgow, and Newcastle, our diverse team works to bring forward the day all cancers are cured.

What you will be doing:

• Development of multiple new opportunities/ from concept review, through evaluation and de-risking to a decision point on drug discovery portfolio entry (in collaboration with key drug discovery stakeholders)  
• Lead on the development and delivery of multiple workplans to agreed inflection points  
• Part of team exploring and evaluating drug discovery opportunities (more advance assets) from 3^rdparty organisations (notably BioPharma) 
• Act as a primary point of contact between academic collaborators and CRH-TI within Portfolio Generation space as required.  
• Assist the triage of Therapeutic Catalyst expressions of interest and the development of full proposals  
• Lead multiple Therapeutic catalyst projects to required/approved endpoints including option to accelerate via additional TI support.  
• Matrix manage drug discovery activities and interactions with PI’s in conjunction with key drug discovery stakeholders (Target Validation and Project Enabling leads)   

What we are looking for:

• PhD or equivalent experience in relevant cancer field.  
• Significant experience cancer drug discovery including early drug target discovery and the evaluation process (target selection, validation, technical feasibility etc) and assessment of more advanced therapeutic opportunities.
• Appreciation of commercial landscape in terms of drug discovery and onward development.
• Previous experience of working with PIs and helping to deliver early translation projects in cancer discovery.  
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to network and build strong working relationships.  
• Strong scientific and strategic understanding of what it takes to drive exciting opportunities towards advanced drug discovery and appreciation of the use of preclinical cancer models to support therapeutic discovery.  
• Proven ability to contribute at a technical level across multiple programmes simultaneously.  

Our Values: Bold, Credible, Human, Together. We seek individuals who embody these values to drive progress against our mission.

What will I gain? We offer a supportive working environment, generous benefits, career development opportunities, and high-quality tools to support your work-life balance and career progression.

Closing date: Sunday 8^th March 23:55pm

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