Job Description

Astex Pharmaceuticals is a world leader in innovative drug discovery and development. The company has successfully applied its proprietary fragment-based drug discovery platform to generate multiple new drug candidates that are progressing in clinical development. Successful collaborations have led to three launched oncology drugs (Kisqali partnered with Novartis, Balversa partnered with Janssen and Truqap partnered with Astra Zeneca). Astex continues to grow and focuses on Oncology and Neurological Disorders.


Astex has pioneered the use of electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) in fragment- and structure-based drug discovery (FBDD and SBDD). We have established a state-of-the-art, in-house cryo-EM facility, including an extensive and dedicated computing infrastructure. We have also developed custom data collection and processing workflows to facilitate the rapid generation and interpretation of cryo-EM structures for SBDD and FBDD. Astex is a member of the Cambridge Cryo-EM Consortium and has multiple collaborations with cryo-EM centres of excellence, including the MRC-LMB, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the CSIC Biocomputing Unit (Madrid) and Monash University (Australia).

The Role:

We are looking for a talented software engineer to join our cryo-EM software team, based in Cambridge, UK. The core responsibility of the team is the development and maintenance of webcryo, our proprietary, high-throughput cryo-EM data processing and visualisation platform. Webcryo features automated data processing pipelines, web-based analysis tools and seamless integration with the computational tools outside of our group. Astex scientists use our platform to determine protein-ligand structures by cryo-EM, data which drive our drug discovery projects and our mission to deliver new, safe and efficacious medicines to patients.


This is an opportunity to have a significant impact on both the software we write and the projects our team supports. We are particularly keen to recruit someone who can drive our DevOps process and scale our computing capacity as we move workflows to the cloud. There will also be the opportunity to collaborate with scientific software developers across the wider company. The job grade is dependent upon a candidate's qualifications, knowledge and relevant experience.

Principal Responsibilities:

Use your experience in CI/CD and automated testing to improve developer efficiency and automation Lead the implementation of scalable workflow execution via containerisation technologies and cloud solutions Develop and improve/refactor our processing backend through the continued implementation of robust coding practices Implement new methodologies, software packages, and functionalities into the webcryo processing backend Maintain and provide user support for webcryo

The Ideal Candidate:

You bring demonstrable experience in contributing to, or leading, DevOps initiatives in collaborative, cross-functional teams. This is complemented by a practical understanding of CI/CD, containerisation technologies, infrastructure as code, and cloud-native operations.


You are confident navigating existing codebases, thrive on writing clear, testable code, as well as improving and refactoring an existing codebase. You take pride in maintaining and producing high quality code and understand the value of robust testing in building reliable, maintainable software. A background in science, or related domain knowledge, will help you engage and collaborate effectively with researchers.


Most importantly, you're curious and proactive, communicative with users and fellow developers, and are excited to be part of a team that strives for continuous improvements in our code and how our informatics teams operate.

Essential Skills:

Python

: Proven experience developing software in Python in a collaborative environment.

Software Development Practices

: Proficiency in version control (e.g. Git), CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing.

Containerisation:

Extensive hands-on experience with container technologies like Docker, especially in the context of scalable workflow execution.

Relational Databases:

Understanding of good relational database design and how to query efficiently (knowledge of SQLAlchemy is a bonus).

Web Development Fundamentals:

While not a front-end role, a basic understanding of web development is important.

Problem Solving and Collaboration

: Creative and self-motivated with excellent problem-solving skills. Ability to work independently and within multidisciplinary teams. Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Degree:

Computer Science, software engineering, or a scientific equivalent.

Desirable Skills:

Cloud Computing:

Proven experience in deploying or managing applications in cloud environments.

Infrastructure as Code:

Familiarity with tools like Terraform or AWS CloudFormation for managing infrastructure programmatically.

Modern Web Development:

Experience with TypeScript and frameworks such as React, FastAPI, or Flask.

Domain Knowledge

: Familiarity with structural biology and related workflows

Why Astex

You will be part of a collaborative and flexible development environment where your contributions truly matter. Our team structure and size give you the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the direction of our codebase and the tools we use. We foster open communication across teams, enabling a unified approach to software development and creating space for continuous learning.


We offer excellent training and development opportunities as well as a highly competitive salary and benefits package including hybrid and remote working options to promote a flexible and inclusive work environment.


At Astex we embrace diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse Company representing all backgrounds, harnessing industry-leading scientific innovation and behaviours.


Astex is situated 2.5 miles from Cambridge City centre on the Cambridge Science Park. The Park has onsite sports facilities and excellent transport links to London.