Principal Scientist, Biologics Drug Discovery

About Relation

Relation is a sector defining Tech Bio company developing transformational medicines, with technology at our core. Our ambition is to understand human biology in unprecedented ways, discovering therapies to treat some of life’s most devastating diseases. We leverage single-cell multi-omics from patient tissue, functional assays, and machine learning to drive disease understanding, from cause to cure.

We are scaling rapidly and building a team of exceptional individuals to push the boundaries of drug discovery. You will work in highly interdisciplinary teams where biology, computation, and engineering come together to solve complex problems that have not been solved before. Our state-of-the‑art wet and dry labs in the heart of London are designed to accelerate this integration and translate insight into impact.

We are committed to building diverse and inclusive teams. Relation is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, disability, or age.

By joining Relation, you will help define how medicines are discovered and deliver meaningful impact for patients.

Relation is offering an outstanding opportunity for a Principal Scientist, Biologics Drug Discovery to bring deep biologics drug discovery knowledge to our growing pipeline. You will help shape how we choose targets, select modalities, design discovery cascades, and progress biologics candidates from early concept through to IND‑enabling studies. As Relation grows its scientific and machine learning capabilities, you will act as a senior individual contributor and technical authority on biologics drug discovery, working alongside our computational, ML, and translational teams to translate biological insight into well‑designed molecules with a credible path to the clinic.

You will be a key technical voice in pipeline decisions and a trusted partner to colleagues across Drug Discovery and beyond.

• Apply deep biologics drug discovery knowledge to shape program plans, modality choice, and discovery cascades, contributing to the wider strategy set by Drug Discovery leadership.
• Drive biologics programs end‑to‑end — from target validation and hit identification through lead characterization, optimization, and develop ability triage — against agreed Target Product Profiles (TPPs).
• Make informed modality decisions across the biologics landscape (antibodies, bispecifics, ADCs, fusion proteins, fragments) and ensure the right molecule is selected for the right target and indication.
• Design and oversee fit‑for‑purpose discovery packages, combining cell‑based functional assays, biophysical characterization (SPR/Biacore, BLI/Octet), and develop ability assessment to drive sound candidate selection.
• Operate effectively in a matrixed pharma/biotech environment, partnering with Computational Biology, Machine Learning, CMC, DMPK, Toxicology, and Translational colleagues to de‑risk candidates and progress them toward IND‑enabling studies.
• Manage externalised work streams day‑to‑day: support CRO selection and oversee outsourced biologics production, in vitro pharmacology, and in vivo studies, ensuring data quality and timelines.
• Represent biologics drug discovery in project teams and pipeline reviews; communicate scientific progress, data, and risks clearly to project leadership and broader cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Partner with our ML and computational biology teams to bring biologics drug discovery insight into how predictive and generative approaches are applied to target selection, molecule design, and lead optimisation.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of biologics discovery workflows and standard operating procedures, ensuring data integrity, reproducibility, and readiness for regulatory milestones.
• Contribute to Relation’s scientific culture by mentoring junior scientists in biologics drug discovery, supporting publications and conference visibility, and helping to shape the broader scientific identity of…