Make your mark for patients

We are looking for a Competitive Intelligence Specialist who is curious, thorough, and collaborative to join our Intellectual Property team, based in our UCB office in Slough, UK.

About the role

You will support our intellectual property teams by searching scientific and patent literature, preparing clear reports, monitoring filings, and sharing insights that help guide strategic decisions.
You will also contribute to awareness activities, support due‑diligence work, and help improve how we manage and share information across the organisation.

Who you’ll work with

You will be working in a team that collaborates closely with intellectual property attorneys, competitive intelligence colleagues, scientists, and other specialists across UCB.
You will also interact with external partners, including database providers and peers at conferences, to stay informed about new tools and industry developments.

What you’ll do

• Search scientific and patent literature to support assessments of landscapes, patentability, and freedom to operate.
• Prepare clear, structured reports highlighting key findings for attorneys.
• Monitor relevant patent filings, legal status updates, and regulatory developments.
• Share insights and updates through bulletins, dashboards, and internal communication channels.
• Support training for colleagues on how to search for patents.
• Contribute to projects that enhance internal databases and information services.

Further responsibilities, depending on experience in a similar position, could include for instance:

• Conducting more complex searches.
• Assisting the attorneys in their due diligence activities.
• Coaching and training UCB teams (outside of IPD) interested UCB staff to help themselves search for patents.
• Liaisons with external database suppliers on technical and financial aspects.
• Taking the lead on particular IPD-CI projects.

Interested? For this role we’re looking for:

• A degree in biological or life sciences, biochemistry, molecular biology, gene technology, or related fields.
• Ability to interpret scientific and patent information and summarise key insights clearly.
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail when analysing and reporting data.
• Curiosity, willingness to learn, and comfort working with new tools and technologies.
• At least basic knowledge/understanding of key word searching in commercial patent and literature databases (e.g. STN, Patbase, Pubmed, Espacenet)
• Ideally some knowledge of Biological sequence searching (e.g. GenomeQuest, NCBI)
• Ability to collaborate across teams and work effectively with diverse colleagues.

Are you ready to ‘go beyond’ to create value and make your mark for patients? If this sounds like you, then we would love to hear from you!

About us
UCB is a global biopharmaceutical company, focusing on neurology and immunology. We are over 9.000 people in all four corners of the globe, inspired by patients and driven by science.

Why work with us?
At UCB, we don’t just complete tasks, we create value. We aren’t afraid to push forward, collaborate, and innovate to make our mark for patients. We have a caring, supportive culture where everyone feels included, respected, and has equal opportunities to do their best work. We ‘go beyond’ to create value for our patients, and always with a human focus, whether that’s on our patients, our employees, or our planet. Working for us, you will discover a place where you can grow, and have the freedom to carve your own career path to achieve your full potential.

At UCB, we’ve embraced a hybrid-first approach to work, bringing teams together in local hubs to foster collaborative curiosity. Unless expressly stated in the description or precluded by the nature of the position, roles are hybrid with 40% of your time spent in the office.

UCB is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions will be made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable laws.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on EMEA-Reasonable_Accommodation@ucb.com. Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments; we will not be able to support you through this channel.