Research Operations
The Research Operations team plays a critical role in ensuring the quality, accuracy, and integrity of Beacon’s drug and clinical trial data. The team is responsible for sourcing, reviewing, and curating publicly available information from clinical trial registries, company disclosures, and academic publications, and transforming this into high-quality content through defined processes and rigorous quality control. Working across in-house researchers and external partners, Research Operations ensures content is delivered in line with agreed standards for accuracy, timeliness, and completeness. The team also supports Beacon users through query resolution, content creation, and operational oversight, while fostering a culture of critical thinking, continuous improvement, and accountability. Strong collaboration, proactive problem-solving, and a commitment to high standards underpin everything the team delivers.
Our job roles: Find your fit
Research Associate
The Research Associate is a key support role within the Research Operations team, playing an important part in maintaining the quality and integrity of Beacon’s drug and clinical trial data. The role focuses on quality control of newly created and updated records, ensuring data is accurate, consistent, and aligned with defined policies and processes. Research Associates work closely with researchers and wider teams to provide feedback, support content delivery, respond to queries, and contribute to written outputs such as newsletters and digests.
This role is well suited to someone with an academic background in life sciences who is naturally curious, detail-oriented, and proactive, and who is keen to develop their scientific knowledge while gaining hands-on experience in a fast-paced, data-driven environment.
Researcher
Plays a key role in building and maintaining Beacon’s drug development intelligence by identifying, analysing, and curating data across preclinical and clinical pipelines. This role involves monitoring a wide range of scientific and commercial sources to ensure Beacon content remains accurate, comprehensive, and up to date, while collaborating with internal teams and external stakeholders to deliver trusted insights that support decision-making across the biopharmaceutical industry.
Senior Researcher
Oversees Beacon’s research teams and operational processes, ensuring the consistent delivery of high-quality content in line with agreed standards of accuracy, timeliness, and completeness. This role combines strong people leadership with ownership of product quality and process improvement, supporting the development of researchers while driving efficient, scalable research operations across the business.
Research Manager
The Research Manager plays a key leadership role within the Research Operations team, overseeing the delivery of high-quality drug and clinical trial intelligence for Beacon. This role is responsible for leading a UK-based team of life science experts focused on antibody and small molecule content, ensuring outputs consistently meet client expectations for accuracy, timeliness, and depth. The Research Manager is accountable for team performance, stakeholder communication, and continuous improvement across processes, while fostering a culture of critical thinking, collaboration, and high engagement. This role suits an experienced life sciences professional with strong people management skills, a solid understanding of the drug development process, and the ability to lead teams in a fast-paced, quality-driven environment.
Meet Rachel Hourigan, Research Manager
After graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry, I had an extensive background knowledge in life sciences and was eager to apply it in a real-world setting. When an entry level role at Beacon came up in 2022, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to translate my scientific knowledge into a commercial environment.
I began as a Research Associate, working across several modules, including cytokine, ADC, and microbiome. I assisted in producing bespoke Ask-An-Analyst requests and helped maintain the integrity of the Beacon database. I then had the opportunity to lead up our first disease dataset, Autoimmune (previously Immune Tolerance). This allowed me to develop subject-matter expertise, present at international conferences, manage an offshore research team, and strengthen my overall research and operational skillset.
For the past year, I’ve been in the research operations product development team, building out new modules and improving our existing offering to users. I am now a Research Manager within this team, so I’ve been exposed to many different roles and responsibilities – a journey I've enjoyed at every stage!
My time at Hanson Wade has been super positive, offering me continuous opportunities to grow professionally and personally. I’ve been lucky to work with some inspiring individuals in a supportive and friendly environment full of great Waders!