UCB

JOB DESCRIPTION

Make your mark for patients

We are looking for a talented and experienced Senior Group Leader to join the Translational Bioinformatics group, based in Belgium, Braine l'Alleud.

About the role

In this role, you will lead a dynamic and highly motivated team of bioinformatics scientists to generate actionable insights from multi-omic profiling of patient samples and in vitro / in vivo translational models. By helping to better understand the pathways that drive disease, your work will directly support UCB’s immunology research portfolio, spanning areas such as inflammatory dermatology, senescence, and immune reset.

Who you’ll work with

A key focus of the role is close integration into project teams, where you will collaborate with multidisciplinary scientists to design, execute, and interpret omic studies, driving the discovery and validation of therapeutic targets and translational research.

You will also build strong relationships with external parties, academic, commercial and industry consortia to expand access to human level data, develop state-of-the-art-defining methods, and provide novel insight, analysis and strategic steer.

What you’ll do

• Assist UCB’s therapeutic ambitions in inflammatory diseases by unlocking mechanistic insight from molecular profiling of patient samples, analysing perturbations of patient-derived cell systems and in vivo / ex vivo disease models, and enriching our knowledge of disease aetiology to inform new targets and drug mechanism of action.
• Provide scientific leadership, mentorship, and guidance to a team of bioinformatics scientists, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment.
• Advocate seamless collaboration with diverse stakeholders. Driving rapid and iterative refinement of scientific hypotheses to create lasting influence and impact.
• Embed within therapeutic project teams to align bioinformatics efforts with project objectives. Clearly communicating insights to influence project decision making and translational packages.
• Drive innovation in bioinformatics methods, data visualization, generative and predictive modelling to enhance the impact of data-driven research.
• Stay abreast of advancements in bioinformatics and participate in scientific conferences, ensuring UCB remains at the forefront of the field.

Interested? For this role we’re looking for the following education, experience and skills

Ph.D. (or equivalent) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, or related field with 5+ years of industry experience.

• Proven ability to lead and mentor scientists, manage multiple priorities, and foster a collaborative work environment. Ideally in the context of pharma R&D.
• A passion for leveraging bioinformatics to accelerate drug discovery and understanding disease biology, with experience in immunology being a major advantage.
• Expertise in multi-omics data processing, analysis, and interpretation, with a strong preference for single cell RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics and methods for integrating genetic data to ID causal biology.
• Experience in supporting the translation of drug discovery projects into human clinical trials, enabling pre-clinical assessment, biomarker strategies and back translation.
• Exposure to multiple drug modalities including gene therapy would be a plus.
• Experience with HPC, cloud computing platforms, and containerisation technologies (e.g., Docker) for reproducible and portable bioinformatics workflows. Proficiency in programming languages such as R or Python.

Are you ready to ‘go beyond’ to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!

About us

UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are around 8,500 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

Why work with us?

At UCB, we don’t just complete tasks, we create value. We aren’t afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We ‘go beyond’ to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that’s on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.

UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable laws.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on EMEA-Reasonable_Accommodation@ucb.com. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.