Senior Scientist in particulate materials characterization & digital sciences
- United States - Connecticut - Groton
Use Your Power for Purpose
At Pfizer, our purpose is to deliver breakthroughs that change patients' lives. Central to this mission is our Research and Development team, which is dedicated to translating advanced science and innovative technologies into the therapies and vaccines that matter most. Whether you are involved in discovery sciences, ensuring drug safety and efficacy, or supporting clinical trials, you will leverage cutting-edge design and process development capabilities to accelerate the delivery of best-in-class medicines to patients worldwide.
ROLE SUMMARY
The Drug Product Design & Supply (DPDS) organization is seeking a Senior Scientist in particulate materials characterization & digital sciences to advance the manufacturing science of solid oral dosage forms, including tablets, capsules, and multiparticulate systems. This role will focus on developing innovative experimental and digital approaches to characterize drug substances, excipients, drug-product intermediates, and drug product, generating the mechanistic understanding needed to accelerate pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.
Our goal is to enhance our material-sparing, predictive-science-based drug product development approaches to further enable robust formulation risk assessment and decision making. By combining advanced particulate-material characterization, laboratory automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital technologies, we generate key experimental data of high quality and scientific insights needed to support formulation development, process understanding and advancement of next generation predictive tools.
The successful candidate will lead the development of novel characterization methodologies and laboratory workflows, leveraging modern data science and AI tools to improve the understanding and prediction of particulate-material behavior. Close collaboration with formulation scientists, process modelers, process engineers, and data scientists will be essential to translate material understanding into improved product quality, manufacturing robustness, and development efficiency.
ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES
Lead the development of innovative characterization methods for drug substances, excipients, drug-product intermediates and drug product from particulate to bulk scales to improve understanding of critical material attributes and process-relevant behavior.
Apply artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and advanced analytics to characterize particulate materials, extract insights from complex datasets, and enable predictive understanding of material behavior.
Develop and implement automated and high-throughput characterization workflows, including integration of instrumentation into digital laboratory environments and robotic platforms
Partner with process modelers and digital scientists to establish experimental data pipelines that support model-informed drug product development and manufacturing.
Develop data analysis, visualization, and reporting workflows that facilitate rapid decision making and knowledge generation.
Support Pfizer's strategic initiatives in digital development, advanced manufacturing, and laboratory automation.
Collaborate closely with formulation scientists, process engineers, and modelers to connect material properties with process performance and product quality.
Communicate scientific findings through technical reports, presentations, publications, patents, and external scientific forums.
Collaborate with academic institutions, research organizations, technology providers, and equipment vendors to evaluate and implement emerging characterization technologies.
QUALIFICATIONS
Must Have
PhD with 0–3 years of relevant experience, or MS with relevant industrial experience, in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline with 7 to 9 years of experience
Demonstrated expertise in characterization of powders, particulate materials, granular systems, or related complex materials.
Strong quantitative, analytical, and problem-solving skills with experience handling complex experimental datasets.
Excellent organizational, interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrated record of scientific publications, presentations, patents, or technology development.
Nice to Have
Demonstrated experience in developing novel characterization methods, instrumentation, or measurement workflows.
Familiarity with leveraging AI, machine learning, or other advanced data-science tools to characterize particulate materials and accelerate scientific decision making.
Familiarity with laboratory automation, robotics, high-throughput experimentation, or digital laboratory solutions.
Experience with programming and data analysis skills using Python, R, MATLAB, or similar tools.
Knowledge of statistical methods, Design of Experiments (DoE), multivariate data analysis, and predictive modeling approaches.
Familiarity with pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and the relationships between material attributes, process performance, and final product quality.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams.
PHYSICAL/MENTAL REQUIREMENTS
Requires the ability to safely conduct laboratory work, including standing, walking, and handling laboratory materials and equipment.
Requires analytical skills to perform complex data interpretation, mathematical analysis, scientific problem-solving, and computer-based data processing.
NON-STANDARD WORK SCHEDULE, TRAVEL OR ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS
No non-standard work schedule, travel, or environmental requirements.
Relocation support available
Work Location Assignment: On Premise
Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.

Candidates must be authorized to be employed in the U.S. by any employer.
U.S. work visa sponsorship (such as TN, O-1, H-1B, etc.) is not available for this role now or in the future.

Sunshine Act
Pfizer reports payments and other transfers of value to health care providers as required by federal and state transparency laws and implementing regulations. These laws and regulations require Pfizer to provide government agencies with information such as a health care provider’s name, address and the type of payments or other value received, generally for public disclosure. Subject to further legal review and statutory or regulatory clarification, which Pfizer intends to pursue, reimbursement of recruiting expenses for licensed physicians may constitute a reportable transfer of value under the federal transparency law commonly known as the Sunshine Act. Therefore, if you are a licensed physician who incurs recruiting expenses as a result of interviewing with Pfizer that we pay or reimburse, your name, address and the amount of payments made currently will be reported to the government. If you have questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact your Talent Acquisition representative.
EEO & Employment Eligibility
Pfizer is committed to equal opportunity in the terms and conditions of employment for all employees and job applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or gender expression, national origin, disability or veteran status. Pfizer also complies with all applicable national, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act and IRCA. Pfizer is an E-Verify employer. This position requires permanent work authorization in the United States.
Pfizer endeavors to make www.pfizer.com/careers accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process and/or interviewing, please email disabilityrecruitment@pfizer.com. This is to be used solely for accommodation requests with respect to the accessibility of our website, online application process and/or interviewing. Requests for any other reason will not be returned.
To learn more about acceptable and prohibited uses of AI during the recruitment process, please review our candidate AI-use guidelines available on Pfizer Careers.

Research and Development
Breakthroughs that change patients’ lives
Research confirms what intuition tells us: that purpose-driven companies perform better, are more innovative, attract and retain the best people, and know how to unleash the power of those people. Pfizer’s purpose—Breakthroughs that change patients' lives—fuels everything we do and reflects our passion for building on our legacy as one of the greatest contributors of good to the world.
Each word in our purpose has meaning and reflects the value we strive to bring to patients and society:
“Breakthroughs” - These are the innovations, scientific and commercial, that we seek to deliver every day. All colleagues, regardless of role, level or location, strive for breakthroughs every day.
“Change” - We want to do more than simply improve patients’ medical conditions; we want to dramatically change their lives for the better.
“Patients’ lives” - We consider not only patients, but everyone they touch—including their families, caregivers, and friends—and everything they love to do. It’s an intentionally holistic view.
Our purpose ensures that patients remain at the center of all we do. We live our purpose by sourcing the best science in the world; partnering with others in the healthcare system to improve access to our medicines; using digital technologies to enhance our drug discovery and development, as well as patient outcomes; and leading the conversation to advocate for pro-innovation/pro-patient policies.
Every decision we make and every action we take is done with the patient in mind—and to nurture an environment where breakthroughs can thrive.
Our Values
To fully realize Pfizer’s purpose, we have established a clear set of expectations regarding “what” we need to achieve for patients and “how” we will go about achieving those goals.
The “how” is represented by four simple, powerful values—courage, excellence, equity, and joy—that define our company and our culture.
Courage: Breakthroughs start by challenging convention, especially in the face of uncertainty or adversity. This happens when we think big, speak up, and are decisive.
Excellence: We can only change patients’ lives when we perform at our best together. This happens when we focus on what matters, agree who does what, and measure our outcomes.
Equity: We believe that every person deserves to be seen, heard, and cared for. This happens when we are inclusive, act with integrity, and reduce healthcare disparities.
Joy: We give ourselves to our work, but it also gives to us. We find joy when we take pride, recognize one another, and have fun.
Pfizer Research & Development
Pfizer Research & Development serves as the beating heart of Pfizer's trailblazing product pipeline, the essence of our mission to bring life-changing medicines to the world.
With an unwavering commitment to innovation, we use a multidisciplinary approach that blends scientific expertise, cutting-edge technologies, and strategic collaborations, igniting a powerful engine that propels groundbreaking discoveries into life-saving treatments for patients in need.
Through our relentless pursuit of progress, we envision a future where cutting-edge medicines pave the way to healthier, happier lives worldwide.
Benefits at Pfizer
Pfizer offers competitive compensation and benefits programs designed to meet the diverse needs of our colleagues. Our Pay for Performance Philosophy and Practices reward colleagues based on the contributions they make to our business.
Our Competitive Benefits Programs help our colleagues by:
- Promoting Health and Wellness to help colleagues maintain and improve their physical and mental wellbeing. Pfizer offerings include health and disability insurance, preventative health programs, medical screenings, free or reduced-cost vaccinations, discounts on Pfizer products, mental health support, nutrition and fitness counseling and more.
- Strengthening Colleagues’ Financial Security by providing company contributions to retirement plans, life insurance and financial planning education to help colleagues achieve their financial goals.
- Providing Benefits and Time off for the Moments that Matter to ensure Pfizer colleagues have the time away from the office to recharge, recover and return to work as the best version of themselves. Vacation, Holiday time and Sick time are just the beginning, with a 12 week parental leave policy for both parents of a new born, 10 day of caregiver leave for those times when your family needs you whether it’s a child, spouse or parent, bereavement leave, and additional country-specific programs.
- And so much more, depending on your country and site, Pfizer offers childcare facilities or discount programs, on-site health and/or fitness centers, movement and mindfulness solutions, “Log in for your Day” work flexibility and so much more.
For U.S. based jobs, view an overview of Pfizer’s U.S. benefits program (opens in a new window)