Senior Scientist, Early Formulation Science and Drug Delivery, Drug Product Design

Senior Scientist, Early Formulation Science and Drug Delivery

We’re in relentless pursuit of breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. We innovate every day to make the world a healthier place.

To fully realize Pfizer’s purpose – Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives – we have established a clear set of expectations regarding what we need to achieve for patients and how we will go about achieving those goals.

Pfizer Research & Development serves as the beating heart of Pfizer's trailblazing product pipeline, the essence of our mission to bring life-changing medicines to the world.

Pfizer offers competitive compensation and benefits programs designed to meet the diverse needs of our colleagues.

At Pfizer, our purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Central to this mission is our Research and Development team, which strives to translate advanced science and cutting‑edge technologies into the therapies and vaccines that matter most. Whether you are involved in discovery sciences, ensuring drug safety and efficacy, or supporting clinical trials, your role is crucial. You will leverage innovative design and process development capabilities to accelerate the delivery of best‑in‑class medicines to patients around the globe.

This position will be reporting into the Early Formulation Science and Drug Delivery group at the La Jolla, California location. You will act as a resident pharmaceutical science subject matter expert to influence small molecule early drug candidate selection with respect to drug delivery, bio-performance, and stability. You will collaborate closely with colleagues in Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacokinetics & Drug Metabolism, and Clinical Pharmacology.

Your responsibilities include designing, implementing, and interpreting in vitro, in silico, and in vivo experiments, and designing stage‑appropriate traditional and enabled formulations for preclinical studies. You will also be responsible for material science and physicochemical property assessments of early drug candidates to inform manufacturing, bio‑performance, and stability risks for development.

• Evaluate physicochemical properties of potential small molecule drug candidates to inform drug product formulation strategy and develop ability risk assessment.
• Design and develop fit‑for‑purpose and diagnostic traditional and enabled formulations for preclinical studies.
• Design, execute, and interpret polymorph and salt screens for potential drug candidates related to stability, manufacturability, and bio‑performance.
• Apply first‑principles understanding of thermodynamics and kinetic processes to dissolution and precipitation of drugs in biorelevant conditions and physical and chemical stability in the solid state.
• Work in cross‑disciplinary teams and partner with subject matter experts in Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacokinetics & Drug Metabolism, and Clinical Pharmacology departments to influence candidate selection and progression.
• Develop strategic collaborations with academic and industrial researchers to address gaps in fundamental or applied science related to pharmaceutical sciences.
• Conduct novel research and present significant findings via internal and external presentations or publications.

• Recent PhD with 0–3 year post‑doctoral experience, MS with 7+ years experience, or BS with 8+ years experience in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Physical Chemistry, Physics, Physical Organic Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, or Pharmaceutical Sciences.
• Experience working independently and collaboratively in a laboratory environment.

• Experience designing and conducting hypothesis‑driven laboratory experiments.
• Experience applying fundamental principles to solve complex problems.
• Generating, interpreting, and integrating experimental data into mathematical models to progress the understanding of complex materials and processes.
• Experience in pharmacokinetic modeling and simulations using Gastroplus or similar modeling software.
• Experience with data structuring and capture.
• Experience with formulation design for preclinical studies and awareness of drug product…