Group Leader, Discovery and Engineering

IONTAS is part of the Fair Journey Biologics family, which operates across four global sites (Porto – Portugal, Cambridge – UK, San Francisco and San Diego – USA). Fair Journey Biologics is dedicated to discovering high-quality biologics drug candidates for our partners, providing solutions to their technical challenges, and helping bring life-changing medicines to patients. Our antibody discovery and engineering services have benefitted over 200 biotech and pharma partners worldwide.

With more than 1,000 completed projects using a range of molecular formats and 20 clinical-stage molecules, we are internationally recognized for tackling novel and challenging discovery programs. Our expertise in Phage and Mammalian Display platforms enables us to push the boundaries of antibody discovery, driving innovation for next-generation therapeutics.

We are seeking a skilled and experienced Group Leader to join the expanding Discovery & Engineering Unit at our South Cambridgeshire site (DEU III). This role will be client facing and involve Project Leadership and line management of lab-based staff. Building on your direct scientific experience, you will shape decisions and planning of practical work for client projects and play a role in hands‑on training and development of staff.

Teamwork is a key skill for this role – you will need to balance capacity and resources to drive internal and external projects, meeting agreed timelines.

You will have a strong background in Biologics drug discovery in an industry setting and apply this to projects, while working with colleagues to refine our B cell and (phage and mammalian) display technologies. This will be an onsite role, reporting to an Associate Director within the Discovery & Engineering Unit. Your responsibilities will include overseeing the design and execution of experiments, data analysis, interpretation and communication of the findings to the team and clients.

This role will include line management responsibilities and technical training of team members. You will have direct leadership of a team who work on complex, high impact projects, work with autonomy and have organisational influence. A positive, team-oriented and solution-focused mindset is required to deliver on a wide range of innovative and intellectually challenging projects.

• Lead antibody discovery programs using B cell technologies, phage and/or mammalian display, ensuring timely delivery and high-quality outcomes.
• Manage and strengthen client and internal stakeholder relationships to drive project success.
• Apply your knowledge of antibody drug discovery to shape and guide project decisions in collaboration with team leaders and clients.
• Initiate and lead novel research directions and strategic initiatives to advance business objectives.
• Work with the Technology Unit to evaluate and integrate novel platforms to the drug discovery process.
• As a line manager, support individuals to deliver project work and develop professionally.
• Collect, analyse, and interpret scientific data to inform decision-making.
• Present findings and progress updates to senior management, partners and at scientific conferences.
• Contribute to generation of training guidelines for staff, including process, safety and compliance.

• PhD (or equivalent industry experience) in Antibody Discovery, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Immunology or a related field.
• 8+ additional years of hands‑on experience in antibody drug discovery, preferably within industry, with a demonstrable understanding of therapeutic antibody formats, structures, and sequences.
• Practical experience in single B cell discovery platforms.
• In-depth understanding and practical research experience of molecular…