Principal Scientist - Protein Mass Spectrometry

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Join the Extended Characterisation Europe team within Analytical Development and use your protein mass spectrometry expertise to help progress early-phase biopharmaceutical projects. This predominantly laboratory-based role sits at the interface of research and medicine development, generating analytical understanding that supports critical decisions on biotherapeutics, process development and product quality. 

You will work in a high-performing scientific environment with exposure to multiple modalities and analytical technologies. This role offers the opportunity to deepen your protein characterisation expertise while collaborating across Discovery and CMC Development to help turn promising molecules into medicines. 

We create a place where people can grow, be their best, be safe, and feel welcome, valued and included. We offer a competitive salary, an annual bonus based on company performance, healthcare and wellbeing programmes, pension plan membership, and shares and savings programme.

We embrace modern work practises; our Performance with Choice programme offers a hybrid working model, empowering you to find the optimal balance between remote and in-office work.

Discover more about our company wide benefits and life at GSK on our webpage Life at GSK | GSK

In this role you will

Perform analytical characterisation of biotherapeutics using mass spectrometry and chromatography techniques to generate knowledge and enable project decisions.

Develop, optimise and troubleshoot analytical methods, including workflows used to identify post-translational modifications and critical quality attributes.

Support early-phase portfolio progression through activities such as technology transfer, forced-degradation studies and analytical strategy delivery.

Plan and deliver high-quality experimental work, independently analyse complex data and communicate clear scientific conclusions.

Collaborate across matrix teams in Discovery and CMC Development, contributing technical insight, reports and regulatory documentation.

Maintain high standards of data integrity, scientific rigour, laboratory safety and effective documentation.

Why you?

Basic Qualifications & Skills:

We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

PhD, MSc or equivalent experience in analytical science, biochemistry, chemistry or a related field, with application to biopharmaceuticals or other therapeutics.

Strong hands-on experience setting up, running and troubleshooting mass spectrometry, including Orbitrap and/or Q-TOF platforms.

Experience of LC-MS or LC-MS/MS and analytical chromatography for protein or therapeutic characterisation.

Knowledge of protein biochemistry and the relationship between molecular structure, function and critical quality attributes.

Ability to plan experiments and independently analyse, interpret and draw conclusions from complex analytical data.

Effective technical communication, organisation and matrix-working skills, with commitment to data integrity, documentation and safe laboratory practice.

Preferred Qualifications & Skills:

Please note the following skills are not necessary, just preferred, if you do not have them, please still apply:

Knowledge of protein glycosylation and analytical workflows for N-linked glycan analysis.

Experience in advanced MS workflows such as host-cell protein, sequence variant or glycopeptide analysis, or complex and emerging modalities.

Experience with Protein Metrics, automated data-processing pipelines, data standards or digital MS workflows.

Experience with data visualisation, statistics or programming tools such as Spotfire, Power BI, JMP, SIMCA, SQL, Python or R.

Experience of liquid-handling automation, QbD approaches or control-strategy development.

Adaptability across scientific areas, shared instrumentation and multiple therapeutic modalities.

Location: For candidates seeking to be located at our Stevenage site, this role will temporarily be based at Stevenage. However, the Company plans to relocate its offices to Ware. The location of this role will therefore subsequently change to Ware in accordance with timelines to be set by the Company. The relocation is currently proposed to take effect by early 2029.

Closing Date for Applications – 13th October 2026 (COB)

Please take a copy of the Job Description, as this will not be available post closure of the advert. 

When applying for this role, please use the ‘cover letter’ of the online application or your CV to describe how you meet the competencies for this role, as outlined in the job requirements above. The information that you have provided in your cover letter and CV will be used to assess your application.

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success. We’re uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

Find out more:  

Our approach to R&D .  

Skills

Biopharmaceuticals, Bioprocessing, Cell Line Development, Chromatographic Analysis, Drug Development, Experimental Methods, Mass Spectrometry (MS), Method Development, Molecular Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Industry, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Protein Biochemistry, Protein Characterization, Quality by Design, Regulatory Submissions, Simulation Models, Technical Writing, Technology Transfer  

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GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

This Position Description is to provide a framework for job understanding between employee and manager. It may not cover or contain the full listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice and at the discretion of the management of the Company. The position description is not used in the assignment or assessment of any GSK level or grade used in the Job Evaluation Process.

Compensation Grade:

7

Job Posting End Date:

13-10-2026

Eligible for Employee Referral Bonus:

Yes