Job Description

Location: Macclesfield, UK (Hybrid - 3 days on site)

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company where we not only focus on the discovery, development and delivery of life-saving medicines to our patients but believe in sustainability and are determined to minimise the impact of our work on the environment. We are proud to be a great place to work and have a culture that inspires innovation and collaboration. We empower our colleagues to express diverse perspectives and at the same time feel valued, respected and rewarded for their ideas and creativity.

The Role

As a continuous processing engineer you will be working in a group dedicated to identifying, developing and delivering continuous manufacturing opportunities in the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The role involves working collaboratively with chemists, engineers, analysts, specialists in instrument automation and control, physical organic scientists, data scientists and others. In the role you will:

• Provide engineering expertise in the development and implementation of new continuous processes to achieve robust and sustainable manufacturing for the delivery of drug substances. This will include both laboratory experimentation and in-silico modelling.
• Provide expertise to support the development and implementation of process control systems to ensure continuous manufacturing delivers acceptable quality drug substance and appropriate data capture.
• Assess and manage process risks arising from scale, equipment, or process changes.
• Support problem solving when development or manufacturing issues arise.
• Work with third party organisations to develop and manufacture API processes.
• Contribute to the further development and delivery of a continuous manufacturing strategy for AZ

Essential Requirements

• BSc/MSc/ PhD in Chemical Engineering, Process systems engineering or equivalent
• Demonstrated experience of developing continuous processes by using one or more of the following areas to generate process understanding and improve process performance: kinetics, reaction engineering, process modelling, process equipment automation and control, control algorithm programming or Machine learning approaches for reaction self-optimisation.
• Good collaborative skills to enable effective working with different skillsets.
• Strong communication and influencing skills.
• The ability to think innovatively and be open minded to applying new technologies when finding solutions to long term API manufacture.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience in pharmaceutical/fine chemical/food manufacturing.
• Experience of working in a lab environment.
• Experience of chemical process development scale up and/or technical transfer, working across skillsets (e.g. with chemists, analysts and physical properties experts).
• Experience of applying process control systems in a lab or manufacturing environment
• Ability to use modelling software (e.g. Aspen, DynoChem, gPROMS, Computational Fluid Dynamics) to support process understanding.

• An understanding of data collection, storage and interrogation through trending or modelling
• An ability to interpret or implement basic programming tasks using Python

• The confidence to coach and drive performance and development among your peers

Skills and capabilities

• Ability to challenge, innovate, think critically and flexibly, bringing new solutions and opportunities for chemical development.
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex problems and provide solutions with a high attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate across interfaces of scientific disciplines, culture, and expertise both internally and externally.
• The ability to confidently participate in, and potentially lead, improvement projects.

AstraZeneca is an equal opportunity employer. AstraZeneca will consider all qualified applicants for employment without discrimination on grounds of disability, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave status, race or national or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, gender identity or re-assignment, marital or civil partnership status, protected veteran status (if applicable) or any other characteristic protected by law.

Date Posted 22-Aug-2023

Closing Date 12-Sept-2023

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity. We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.

AstraZeneca