Careers at the ICR
We provide exceptional opportunities for the best scientists, clinicians, and professional and administrative staff, and excellent academic and recreational facilities at our two London sites, in Chelsea and Sutton.
As a world-leading research organisation, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, offers a fantastic working environment, great opportunities for career development and the chance to make a real difference for cancer patients. We aim to recruit and develop the best – with positions for outstanding scientists and clinicians, and the most talented professional or administrative staff.
Different types of positions at the ICR
Our aim is to attract the best people in cancer research. We offer an excellent working environment, competitive salaries and good staff benefits. There is a range of career paths at the ICR, in scientific research, research support, and professional and administrative positions.
We offer a variety of professional and administrative roles in areas such as facilities, fundraising, communication, IT, human resources, research services and education and library services.
Our professional services teams are tailored to meet the needs of a research organisation, and many of our employees in these teams have backgrounds in science, or experience of working with scientists and clinicians.
Our specialist finance team is experienced at dealing with research grants, and staff within our Business and Innovation Office have the expertise to negotiate complex collaborative agreements between the ICR and pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
We're recruiting the top figures in cancer research to work in a vibrant and confident culture that consistently produces world-changing research.
To become part of our career faculty, you will be an established senior researcher and have the proven leadership skills and international research credibility to direct major scientific programmes, and build and manage a motivated and high-performing scientific team.
Our culture emphasises the importance of collaborative working to address the big challenges in cancer research, and you will be expected to form part of the wider ICR team. You will also recruit and develop the research leaders of the future.
To join the ICR you’ll be a talented scientist looking for the next step after your initial postdoctoral studies. You’ll be ready to start leading a team independently under the mentorship of a leading senior scientist.
Personal fellowships, funded by a variety of medical research agencies and charities, are the usual route for new leaders to join us in areas in which we are traditionally very strong, such as cancer biology. Success as a fellow will put you on a fast-track route to gaining a long-term career at the ICR.
To join us you will have, or be in the process of gaining, a personal fellowship from one of the major national or international funding bodies, such as the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, one of the Research Councils, the Royal Society or the National Institute for Health Research.
For PhD graduates looking for a postdoctoral role. We offer a competitive salary, rigorous training, many opportunities for professional development, and an open and inclusive working culture.
We offer clinicians a variety of working opportunities, from working as a postdoctoral researcher in one of our eight scientific divisions, to carrying out independent research as a clinician scientist or clinical research fellow, to heading a specialised research team. We also offer clinicians the opportunity to develop their specialty, through a variety of taught or research-based postgraduate degrees.
Collaboration between scientists and clinicians is essential for the translational nature of the cutting-edge research carried out at the ICR. It gets new treatments to patients more quickly, and allows our researchers to learn from experience in the clinic.
Moving to the UK
We attract staff from all over the world. Find all the information you need to move to the United Kingdom to work with us.
Staff benefits
Find out more about the staff benefits we offer, including a competitive salary package, annual leave entitlements, and sports and social facilities.Some of our current vacancies
Prospect Research Manager
About the Role Our Prospect Research team plays a central role in unlocking new funding opportunities across the ICR's philanthropic income streams. It is responsible for delivering high quality, insightful prospect briefings and fundraising intelligence, which supports the ICR's fundraisers in their efforts to build meaningful relationships with philanthropic high net-worth individuals, trusts, foundations and corporates who have the interest and capacity to support the ICR's vital research. The post holder will play a key role in supporting the Development & Communications directorate to source, assess and validate new funding opportunities, maximise income secured across our philanthropic income streams and fundraising campaign, and grow our incredible donor community. The successful candidate will have experience of devising and successfully implementing targeted prospecting strategies. You will play a lead role in identifying philanthropic HNWIs and corporates with the capacity and inclination to support our work. The post holder will also be responsible for carrying out due diligence research and alerting fundraisers to reputational risks identified in support of the ICR's gift acceptance policy. You will work closely with the Head of Prospect Development to support fundraisers in maximising the success of our senior volunteer network through network mapping and expanding its ranks. In addition, the post holder will manage the Prospect Research Executive, providing development and mentoring support. What We Offer A supportive and collaborative working environment. Opportunities for professional development and career progression. Competitive salary and pension We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact Caroline Porter via telephone on 020 7153 5486 or email at [email protected].
Higher Scientific Officer (bioinformatician)
Under the guidance of Prof Anguraj Sadanandam, we are seeking to recruit a Bioinformatician (Senior Scientific Officer) to contribute to implementing and performing relevant analyses, interpreting the results in context of fast-moving projects, and presenting the results to project teams as well as internal and external collaborators and contribute, with the expectation of authorship on resulting publications. There will also be opportunities to engage in bench-based experimental research, although this is not mandatory. The successful candidate will play a key role in analysing RNAseq data (bulk, single-cell, spatial), developing methodologies and supporting research activities. About you The successful candidate must have: Master’s degree in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or related subject Proven experience of bioinformatics analyses and interpretation in one or more of the following key areas (NGS analysis of WES/WGS/RNAseq (bulk, single-cell) using standard practice pipelines; Clinical data analysis (Survival curves, correlation and subgroup analysis) Proven experience in the development of software pipelines to implement analysis workflow Proven experience in use of High Performance Computing platforms and unix-like operating systems Proven experience of writing and maintaining Python, R and Bash code using Git Department/Directorate Information The Division of Molecular Pathology conducts translational research linking molecular science to clinical oncology. The group of Dr Anguraj Sadanandam focuses on cancer metabolism and tumour subtypes, particularly in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Using integrative multi-omics approaches — including scRNAseq, spatial transcriptomics, bulk RNAseq, metabolomics (LC-MS), CNV, and WES — combined with cell culture and genetically engineered mouse models, we aim to define tumour heterogeneity and identify new therapeutic opportunities. The successful candidate will work under multidisciplinary supervision: for clinical and biological questions, guidance will be provided by Dr Christophe Cisarovsky, Clinical Oncologist in the GI clinic at The Royal Marsden Hospital and MD-PhD, together with Group Leader Prof Anguraj Sadanandam; for technical and bioinformatics questions, supervision will be provided by Prof Anguraj Sadanandam and members of his bioinformatics team. The candidate will primarily perform bioinformatic analyses and contribute to fast-moving projects with the expectation of authorship on resulting publications. There will also be opportunities to engage in bench-based experimental research, although this is not mandatory. https://www.icr.ac.uk/research-and-discoveries/find-a-researcher/test-researcher-profile-detail/dr-anguraj-sadanandam What we offer A dynamic and supportive research environment Access to state-of-the-art facilities and professional development opportunities Collaboration with leading researchers in the field Competitive salary and pension We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact Christophe Cisarovsky via Email on [email protected].
Postdoctoral Training Fellow in Computational Discovery of Cancer Vulnerabilities (Dr Syed Haider)
Under the guidance of Dr Syed Haider, we are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to apply and develop computational approaches for investigating genomic and transcriptomic determinants of cancer vulnerabilities, with a focus on homologous recombination deficient cancers. About you The successful candidate must have: A PhD (strictly) in a quantitative subject with exposure to genomic/transcriptomics dataset, have programming experience, and possess relevant experience in statistics and genetics together with programming experience in R/python and in statistical modelling, AI and ML for genetics/genomics datasets. Candidates who are nearing completion of their PhD may apply, but confirmation on awarded PhD is required within 6 months of employment. The ICR has a workforce agreement stating that Postdoctoral Training Fellows can only be employed for up to 7 years as PDTF at the ICR, providing total postdoctoral experience (including previous employment at this level elsewhere) does not exceed 7 years. For general information on Postdocs at The ICR, more information can be found here. Team Information The Breast Cancer Research Data Science Team is an interdisciplinary group of researchers (~15) who are experts in high-throughput data analyses, machine learning and software engineering. We work in a highly dynamic and collaborative environment focussing on the identification of molecular markers of breast cancer by interrogating genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic datasets profiled using bulk as well as single-cell assays. These molecular datasets are generated using patient samples and patient-derived models (xenografts and organoids), and interpreted alongside clinical covariates of patients. In particular, we are interested in the application and development of models to help understand the molecular basis of treatment resistant breast cancers. Directorate Information The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, within the Division of Breast Cancer Research at The Institute of Cancer Research is the first centre in the UK entirely devoted to breast cancer research. Our goal is to advance research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. It is located in state-of-the-art laboratory space, with excellent care facilities and is funded through a long term renewable programme grant from Breast Cancer Now. What we offer A dynamic and supportive research environment Access to state-of-the-art facilities and professional development opportunities Collaboration with leading researchers in the field Competitive salary and pension We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact Dr Syed Haider via email on [email protected]
Higher Scientific Officer
Under the guidance of Dr Tom Lund, we are seeking to recruit a Higher Scientific Officer to be in charge of the development of high-throughput spatial biology technologies recently acquired by the IPU, namely the Leica CellDIVE and CosMx. The successful candidate will play a key role in the running of experiments/projects on these machines, establishment and maintenance of relevant SOPs, coordination of provision of relevant reagents through centralised ordering systems, as well as analysis, quality control and quality assurance of scientific data produced via the CellDIVE and CosMx. In addition, the HSO is expected to support all aspects of histopathology related to a range of research projects in our established, advanced translational research laboratory in the field of complex (IHC/RNA-ISH/mIF) tissue hybridisation technologies using Leica Bond and Ventana Discovery automated stainers. About you The successful candidate must have: MSc in Biological Sciences, Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Pathology, or a similar discipline (essential) PhD in Biological Sciences/Cancer Biology, Molecular Biology, Molecular Pathology, or a similar discipline (desirable) Knowledge of cancer, spatial and molecular biology Knowledge of histopathology, immunohistochemistry and multiplex immunofluorescence staining techniques Department/Directorate Information The Integrated Pathology Unit (IPU) is a joint venture between The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH), running an advanced translational tissue hybridization and digital pathology operation, with strong collaborative research and engagement with industry at its core. Headed by Prof Manuel Salto-Tellez, and led by Dr Tom Lund, the IPU is a tissue-based laboratory with the mission to develop complex and highly quantitative approaches to tissue analysis (wet lab and in-silico) in the space of translational and clinical research, thus applicable in the context of clinical trials and adoption into diagnostic applications. The IPU uses state-of-the-art tissue-based profiling such as single-plex immunohistochemistry (IHC), RNA in situ hybridization (ISH) and IHC/immunofluorescence multiplexing (mIF), together with multi-scan imaging and digital pathology/artificial intelligence biomarker quantitation. Please visit our website https://www.cancerbrc.org/integrated-pathology-unit What we offer A dynamic and supportive research environment Access to state-of-the-art facilities and professional development opportunities Collaboration with leading researchers in the field Competitive salary and pension We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact Dr Thomas Lund via email on [email protected].
Clinical Trial Manager
Summary of Role The Institute of Cancer Research is looking for a Clinical Trials Manager to join The Drug Development Unit (DDU) at its Sutton site in Surrey to work within the unit’s investigator-sponsored studies team. The successful applicant will be responsible for the day-to-day management of allocated Phase I clinical trials to ensure successful and timely trial delivery ensuring compliance with GCP and UK Clinical Trials legislation. Key Requirements You should be a graduate in a life science or health related subject and have an understanding of Good Clinical Practice and the drug development process. This post is an excellent opportunity for an enthusiastic and well-motivated person to work in the largest academic Drug Development Unit in Europe. Excellent interpersonal skills are required, as is the ability to work to high standards across a variety of tasks with constant regard to scientific and regulatory requirements. Minimum of a first degree or equivalent qualification in biomedical sciences or an allied subject (including health care disciplines). Department/Directorate Information This position is within the Investigator Initiated Trial Team of the joint ICR/RM Drug Development Unit. The Drug Development Unit, led by Professor Johann de Bono aims to seamlessly integrate preclinical drug discovery, proof-of-principle phase I trials and tumour-specific evaluation of novel agents. It is a conduit for the two-way communication between laboratory and clinical teams that is so essential for successful modern drug development. The unit conducts first-in-man phase I trials involving a range of targets, including growth factor or intracellular signalling, angiogenesis, apoptosis, epigenetics and DNA repair. All trials are underpinned by extensive analysis of biomarkers, both predictive and pharmacodynamics. The DDU includes The Oak Foundation Drug Development Centre (Oak Ward) housed within The Royal Marsden at the Sutton site and specifically designed for phase I clinical trials. Opened in February 2005, the centre provides 10 inpatient beds, five treatment chairs and two outpatient suites, and allows researchers to enter almost 300 patients onto phase I trials each year. This makes the unit one of the largest of its kind in the world. The DDU also has portfolio of investigator-initiated trials of novel targeted agents and combinations of these, working with the ECMC network across the UK and with other Phase I units internationally. These studies are centrally managed by a dedicated team within the DDU that performs those functions associated with sponsoring early phase trials including project management, monitoring, pharmacovigilance, database development and central data review. The successful applicant will be responsible for the day-to-day management of allocated Phase I clinical trials to ensure successful and timely trial delivery ensuring with GCP and UK Clinical Trials legislation. To apply for this post, please submit an online application including a supporting statement, detailing reasons why you are applying for the post and with your CV. We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact the recruiting team by email on [email protected] Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close the advert before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. Therefore, we advise that you to submit your application, as early as possible to avoid disappointment
Cyber-Security Engineer
We are seeking a highly motivated Cyber-Security Engineer to safeguard our critical data and infrastructure from cyber threats by implementing and maintaining robust security solutions. Key Responsibilities: - Security Assessments & Vulnerability Management: Identifying weaknesses in systems and networks through vulnerability assessments and penetration testing. - Implementing Security Solutions: Putting in place firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and other tools to actively block and monitor for threats. - Patch Management: Ensuring all systems are up-to-date with the latest security patches to fix known vulnerabilities. - Security Monitoring & Incident Response: Keeping watch for suspicious activity and responding to security incidents effectively. This involves analysing logs, investigating alerts, and containing breaches. - Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity: Helping develop plans to restore systems and get the business back up and running quickly in case of a cyber attack or other disaster. - Staying Up-to-Date on Threats: Keeping current with the latest cyber security threats and trends to ensure the company's defences are always effective. - Security Policy Development & Enforcement: Creating and enforcing security policies to ensure everyone in the organization is following best practices. - Security Automation: Using automation tools to streamline security tasks and improve efficiency. Why Join Us? - Be a crucial part of a dedicated team committed to excellence. - Enjoy a collaborative and supportive work environment. - Make a real impact by helping users overcome technical challenges. If you have a knack for solving problems and a desire to help others, apply today to become our next Cyber-Security Engineer. Department/Directorate Information The Digital Services Directorate ensures that everyone at the ICR has access to the technology they need to do their jobs effectively including providing specialist IT support to the ICR's research community. We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact Ian Andrews via Email at [email protected]
Supporter Care Administrator
About the Role We are looking for a highly organised and confident Supporter Care Administrator to provide an excellent supporter care service for the Fundraising Campaigns and Individual Giving team. You will be the primary contact point for our supporters, prospective supporters and the public, taking responsibility and ownership for each enquiry, providing answers to questions relating primarily to donations and fundraising activities. You will also support your manager in developing a new stewardship programme to welcome, engage and retain our supporters. Key Responsibilities In this role you will be the first point of contact for prospective and existing supporters, helping with enquiries, taking donations, reassuring concerns and ensuring our supporters have a positive experience with every contact and interaction they have with our charity. You will: Take full ownership, responding effectively to all enquiries, interactions and complaints received on our fundraising activities, by email, phone and letter. Respond to supporters with empathy and compassion, applying our tone and voice and brand values Maintain supporter database records of enquiries received, ensuring that all data entered is administered accurately Work to meet agreed response times (SLAs) to enquires, ensuring supporters are satisfied Work with the Individual Giving Manager (Stewardship) on key stewardship activities and supporter journeys, to thank, welcome, engage and retain our supporters. Represent the team at cross-team meetings to ensure our supporter’s voice is heard, sharing feedback gathered through direct supporter interactions Keep up to date with technology, applying digital approaches, new solutions and identify improvements to become more effective in donation and contact processes. About You You will be a highly organised and confident individual, with experience in customer service or supporter care roles, with a passion to make a difference by engaging with and acknowledging supporters who choose to donate to or fundraise for our charity. To be successful, you’ll need: Experience of working in a team environment which directly services and engages with members of the public, supporters or customers Experience working in a team, consulting others and sharing expertise, know-how and ideas with colleagues for best results Experience using of variety of office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook) to communicate and retrieve information and knowledge Practical experience of databases or customer relationship management systems Experience at problem solving with a solution focused approach Ability to convey complex ideas using a variety of methods to communicate with the supporter to win understanding and support Ability to respond to the needs of the supporter, adapting content, style, language and use of channel to deliver maximum clarity Ability to develop professional relationships with colleagues at all levels and with external contacts and partners to support the team objectives Ability to contribute ideas, approaches and insights that enable innovation What We Offer A supportive and collaborative working environment. Opportunities for professional development and career progression. Competitive salary and pension Department/Directorate Information The Development and Communications Directorate is responsible for fundraising and philanthropic income across the ICR, maximising support from major donors, individuals, trusts, corporates, charity partners and events. We have a proud track record of performing at a consistently high-level, raising millions every year. This role is part of the Fundraising Campaigns and Individual Giving team, who are focused on raising funds through individual giving, gifts in Wills and sports and challenge events. Join our team to help make the discoveries that are so urgently needed to improve cancer patients’ lives. We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached. If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Catherine Graham ([email protected]), Jenny Seymour ([email protected]), Joint Heads of Fundraising Campaigns and Individual Giving, or Sej Hindocha-Shah ([email protected]), Individual Giving Manager.
PDTF - Homologous Recombination Defective Cancers ( Profs Chris Lord and Andrew Tutt)
Under the guidance of Professors Chris Lord and Andrew Tutt, we are seeking to appoint a creative and motivated Postdoctoral Training Fellow to study how drug resistance emerges in homologous recombination defective (HRD) breast cancers and how this could be targeted. The post would suit a candidate with strong functional genomics and DDR biology experience who has a strong desire to work on solving clinical problems. We strongly encourage researchers with published first author manuscripts from their PhD training period to apply. About you The successful candidate must have a PhD in biology, genetics or other associated subjects and a knowledge of cancer biology, experimental genetics and of DNA damage response biology. An understanding of the clinical management of cancers is desirable, as is experience with in vivo models of cancer. Candidates who are nearing completion of their PhD are encourage to apply, but confirmation of awarded PhD is required within 6 months of employment. The ICR has a workforce agreement stating that Postdoctoral Training Fellows can only be employed for up to 7 years as PDTF at the ICR, providing total postdoctoral experience (including previous employment at this level elsewhere) does not exceed 7 years. For general information on Postdocs at The ICR, more information can be found here. Department/Directorate Information The Precision Oncology Laboratory, led by Profs. Chris Lord and Andrew Tutt, focuses upon identifying and understanding tumour specific dependencies, such as synthetic lethal effects, as a means to design novel approaches to treating cancer (Heider et al. Nat Genet. 2025). We have made major advances in identifying synthetic lethal interactions involving, for example, PARP inhibitors (Farmer et al Nature 2005, Edwards et al Nature 2008, Pettitt et al Cancer Discovery 2020, Krastev et al Nature Cell Biol 2022), ATR inhibitors (Williamson et al, Nature Communications 2016) and Polq inhibitors (Zatreanu et al Nature Comms 2021). We unashamably focus on clinical problems such as therapeutic resistance and the development of new targeted therapeutic approaches in cancer and aim to generate pre-clinical information that informs the design and interpretation of clinical trials and the identification of novel targets for drug discovery programmes. The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, within the Division of Breast Cancer Research at the ICR, began 25 years ago and was the first centre in the UK entirely devoted to breast cancer research. Our goal is to advance research into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. It is located in state-of-the-art laboratory space, with excellent core facilities and is funded through a long-term renewable programme grant from Breast Cancer Now. The Centre is Directed by Clinician Scientist Professor Andrew Tutt. Professor Chris Lord, a Cancer Biologist is Deputy Director of the Centre. Our Breast Cancer Research Centre was awarded the 2022 AACR Teams Science awarded with our breast cancer clinical partners in the ICR’s CTSU clinical trial unit and Royal Marsden Hospital, and also received recognition in an award to the ICR for the 2024 Queen’s Anniversary Prize for transforming lives through world-leading breast cancer research. What we offer A dynamic and supportive research environment Access to state-of-the-art facilities and professional development opportunities Collaboration with leading researchers in the field Competitive salary and pension We encourage all applicants to access the job pack attached for more detailed information regarding this role. For an informal discussion regarding the role, please contact Dr Stephen Pettitt via email at [email protected]