Principal Scientist, Microbiology

Description Who is USP?

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is an independent scientific organization that collaborates with the world’s leading health and science experts to develop rigorous quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. At USP, we believe that scientific excellence is driven by a commitment to fairness, integrity, and global collaboration. This belief is embedded in our core value of Passion for Quality and is demonstrated through the contributions of more than 1,300 professionals across twenty global locations, working to strengthen the supply of safe, high-quality medicines worldwide.

At USP, we value inclusive scientific collaboration and recognize that attracting diverse expertise strengthens our ability to develop trusted public health standards. We foster an organizational culture that supports equitable access to mentorship, professional development, and leadership opportunities. Our partnerships, standards, and research reflect our belief that ensuring broad participation in scientific leadership results in stronger, more impactful outcomes for global health.

USP is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer (EEOE) and is committed to ensuring fair, merit-based selection processes that enable the best scientific minds—regardless of background—to contribute to advancing public health solutions worldwide. We provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities and uphold policies that create an inclusive and collaborative work environment.

This is a hands‑on position responsible for the development and delivery of a portfolio of microbiology physical reference materials and reference standards that support the stated breadth of industry needs and align with the USP Microbiology Business Unit strategy. The incumbent will lead technical aspects of new product development, play a key role in determining the pipeline of new products for USP Microbiology, lead scientific studies related to the advancement of the field of microbiology and USP microbiology reference materials.

In addition, the incumbent will serve as a technical expert to support microbiology reference material production investigations, production scale‑up activities as well as analytical quality control test method development as it relates to new microbiology analytical reference materials and reference standards.

As part of our mission to advance scientific rigor and public health standards, you will play a vital role in increasing global access to high‑quality medicines through public standards and related programs. USP prioritizes scientific integrity, regulatory excellence, and evidence‑based decision‑making to ensure health systems worldwide can rely on strong, tested, and globally relevant quality standards.

Additionally, USP’s People and Culture division, in partnership with the Equity Office, invests in leadership and workforce development to equip all employees with the skills to create high‑performing, inclusive teams. This includes training in equitable management practices and tools to promote engaged, collaborative, and results‑driven work environments.

• Provides scientific leadership for USP’s microbiology reference material and reference standards portfolio, ensuring alignment with the Microbiology Business Unit strategy and long‑term growth objectives;
• Leads and oversees scientific studies, method development programs, validation strategies, technology development and product characterization efforts;
• Plays a key role in identifying, prioritizing and developing new microbiology reference materials and reference standards, to establish a robust innovation pipeline and drive portfolio expansion;
• Collaborates with USP documentary standards scientists to serve as the scientific and technical lead for microbiology product development strategy, technical approaches, and critical decision making;
• Leads cross functional teams through complex product development initiatives, fostering collaboration among scientific,…