Join us as a Senior Scientist and make an invaluable contribution to our Food Safety & Biosecurity!
As a Senior Scientist, you will drive the development and delivery of scientific work in animal health monitoring. You’ll ensure the efficient delivery of testing services and project outcomes, while guiding and mentoring scientists and assistant scientists across the team.
What you’ll be doing:
* Work closely with science leads to deliver animal health monitoring, diagnostic, and screening services on time and to the highest quality standards.
* Lead on results interpretation, reporting, and troubleshooting across molecular diagnostics, bacteriology, parasitology, serology, and necropsy.
* Contribute to new proposals and assist in developing new products, services, process improvements, or research areas.
* Ensure the team understands and meets quality systems, licensing requirements, and health and safety standards.
* Collaborate with team managers to train and develop colleagues, fostering scientific excellence across the organisation.
* Support scientific delivery by ensuring screening plans, quality assurance, and reporting meet customer expectations and create future business opportunities.
* Maintain and expand your own scientific expertise, actively seeking opportunities to raise Fera’s scientific profile.
What we’re looking for
We’re particularly keen to hear from candidates with experience in biomedical science, diagnostic laboratories, microbiology, or similar regulated laboratory environments.
You will bring:
* A biological or biomedical science degree and strong practical lab experience, ideally in microbiology.
* A sound understanding of service delivery within health monitoring or diagnostic settings, including troubleshooting and interpreting results across molecular, microbiological and immunological techniques.
* Solid knowledge of laboratory methods and experimental approaches relevant to animal or human health monitoring.
* Strong organisational skills—able to plan, prioritise, track progress and adapt delivery to meet deadlines and budget requirements.
* Clear, confident communication skills, including the ability to deliver presentations, training and scientific updates to internal and external audiences.
* A commitment to quality, safety and compliance, with the ability to champion and train others in best practice.
* A collaborative working style, sharing expertise with colleagues and supporting team development.
What’s in it for you?
* 25 days’ holiday (rising to 29) with the opportunity to buy extra leave.
* Flexible working hours, on-site gym, restaurant, and free parking
* The opportunity to take a paid day out of the office, volunteering for our charity partners or a cause of your choice
* Company matched pension, life assurance, a cycle2work scheme, 15 weeks’ fully paid maternity, adoption and shared parental leave, paternity pay of two weeks…and plenty more.
* Voluntary benefits designed to suit your lifestyle – from discounts on retail and socialising, to health & wellbeing, travel and technology
* Access to our Employee Network Groups, which represent every strand of diversity and allow colleagues to connect and learn from each other on an open, inclusive platform
* Fera operates a LTIP ( Long Term Incentive Plan) under which all employees are awarded points towards shares in the Employee Benefits Trust on an annual basis. The Employee Benefits Trust holds shares on behalf of our employee, at the point of an equity event the shares will realise a cash value.
What we hope you’ll do next:
Choose ‘Apply now’ to fill out our short application, so that we can find out more about you. If you have any questions you’d like to ask before applying, you can contact
We’re an equal opportunity employer, which means we recruit and develop people based on their merit and passion. We’re committed to providing an inclusive, barrier-free recruitment process and working environment for everyone. If you need the job description or application form in an alternative format or if you’d like to discuss other changes or support you might need going forward, please email at and we’ll get back to you.