Welcome to Next Phase Recruitment! Please see below our current jobs that match your search criteria. For a broader job search please visit the home page or call us on 01403 216216 to discuss career options in other areas of Life Science and Technology.

Welcome to Next Phase Recruitment! We are very experienced in helping people to progress their careers in Research. Firstly, here is a general guide to a career path in this sector. Please also scroll further down the page to see and apply for our current jobs that match your search criteria. We also invite you to go to the main page of our website for a broader job search and call us on 01403 216216 for a confidential discussion about your career options. 

Research Scientist

Research Scientists are often multi-disciplinary, with experience of using a range of scientific reearch techniques covering Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, and Genetics, depending on the environment.  Often one of the most innovative sectors for Research Scientists is Synthetic Biology, which has a wide range of applications as well as the potential to impact on society significantly.  Examples of the applications are bio production, use of waste feedstocks for the manufacture of high value products, manipulation of virus or mammalian cells to be used within Viral Vector manufacture, and Cell & Gene Therapies.  Due to the relative youth of this sector this is an area where the most creative and forward thinking research scientists will be able to bring their ideas to the market, right at the cutting edge of new discoveries and innovations.  New technologies such as CRISPR will transform the industry and are now becoming more commonplace, with so many applications yet to be explored and true impact to be measured.

Research Scientists tend to have quite standard job titles – Junior Research Scientist, Senior Research Scientist, Lead Scientist, Principal Scientist and so on.

Skills and Experience required to become a Research Scientist

  • PhD or equivalent in a relevant field
  • Post doctoral experience in a commercial environment
  • Automation, statistics, design of experiments and/or programming
  • Multidisciplinary industrial environment
  • Excellent communication skills 
  • Ability to use your own initiative to work autonomously
  • Knowledge of GMLP / GLP or ISO Standards
  • Innovative, creative scientist who enjoys problem solving

Salary Levels

Research Scientists can receive a wide range of salaries depending on their seniority and areas of expertise. A graduate-level Research Scientist  would expect to earn something around £23k - £25k initially and to then progress up through each next phase of their career as a Research Scientist, especially in specialist areas such as Viral Vector science, Fermentation and Genetic Manipulation. 

Leighton Buzzard is a town in Bedfordshire in the East of England region, lying approximately 15 miles from both Luton and Milton Keynes, 30 from Northampton and 55 from central London.

Leighton Buzzard is the location of Europe’s largest battery, housed in a huge facility where electricity is converted from AC to DC in one room and stored in another room in a trial being undertaken to assess the viability of storing energy so that it can be used during periods of peak demand.  If successful, battery storage could be added to solar, wind and tidal power as alternative sources of energy.  Leighton Buzzard’s other main claim to fame is the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway, a narrow gauge heritage railway.  The main employment sectors in the Leighton Buzzard area include engineering quarrying.

Famous people from Leighton Buzzard:  Kajagoogoo, 1980’s pop band and Mary Norton, writer author of “The Borrowers” and “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”