Overview
Senior research leader driving AI-enabled cancer vaccine discovery within a national programme that combines sovereign AI computing, automated labs, and immunology to accelerate NHS patient vaccines. You will guide a cross-disciplinary team, shape the research direction, and deliver high-impact outputs across computational biology, AI software, and translational science. This role offers a unique chance to build an end-to-end platform linking discovery, validation, manufacturing, and clinical trials. You will forge collaborations with academia, industry, and research organisations, while mentoring staff and contributing to strategy.
Pay / Benefits
- salary £56,623 - £65,336 with a discretionary range to £73,296 p.a. (pro rata)
- pensionable Oxford University Weighting of £1,730 per year (pro rata)
- full-time fixed-term contract until 30 September 2030
- funded by ARIA
- opportunity for high-impact translational research
- collaborative academic environment
Responsibilities
- Lead a major interdisciplinary research project within the national AI and cancer vaccine programme
- Provide scientific and technical leadership across AI, agentic AI, computational biology, scientific software, and research computing
- Lead development of the programme’s AI Scientist, integrating frontier AI models with sovereign supercomputing and autonomous laboratory technologies
- Shape research direction, develop new concepts, and implement methods
- Manage a multidisciplinary research team and supervise staff
- Contribute to funding applications and strategic planning
- Produce high-quality research outputs for publication and presentations at national/international venues
Key requirements
- PhD/DPhil in Pathology, Immunology or related field
- substantial post-qualification research experience
- national reputation in AI, computational biology, AI-enabled science or related field
- experience leading complex interdisciplinary research projects and managing staff
- demonstrable experience building agentic AI systems or AI-enabled scientific software
- practical experience with frontier AI systems, open-source foundation models, research-computing infrastructure and integration with laboratory automation
- strong knowledge/experience in cancer biology, genomics, immunology or related field
- advantageous: experience of AI supercomputing, external partnerships, research strategy or private-sector/start-up environments
- leadership and team management
- collaboration across disciplines
- strategic planning and funding applications
- agentic AI
- computational biology
- AI-enabled scientific software
Senior Researcher in AI-Augmented Immunology & Autonomous Laboratories for Cancer Vaccine Development employer: University of Oxford
The Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford is an exceptional employer, offering a collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment where finance professionals can thrive. With a commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, along with generous benefits such as 38 days of annual leave and a robust family leave scheme, employees are supported in both their professional and personal lives. This role not only provides the opportunity to influence strategic financial decisions within a world-renowned department but also fosters continuous growth and development in a vibrant academic community.
