scientist

senior scientist

project manager

research scientist

senior research scientist

Centre-For-Process-Innovation

CPI is an exciting place to work with varied projects and initiatives. There is a huge focus on the people and health and wellbeing, you can tell the company genuinely cares. There are different health and wellbeing focuses each month and a people matter plan was recently launched to further support employees. 

There are many summer placement students, year long placement students, apprentices and graduates hired each year as well as STEM events with employees going to local schools/colleges/universities and students visiting CPI.

CPI also prides itself on being a learning organisation with many opportunities to grow and develop. This can involve development programmes (Management Development Programme, Innovation Development Programme, Professional Skills Course), making use of the good mentoring scheme, Lunch & Learns from internal or external speakers, vast range of e-learning or being sponsored for a qualification. 

The culture at CPI is a mixed bag but is improving. There are different business units in different locations (Wilton, Sedgefield - three different buildings, Darlington, Newton Aycliffe & a new centre being built in Scotland). This results in a different culture existing at each site. I would say on the whole it is a positive culture and there are clear initiatives to improve this with a staff survey been sent earlier this year and a company wide event held at the cinema (which was a fun networking opportunity as well) to address the points raised by employees in the survey.

The hardest part of working at CPI is the processes can be onerous and sometimes CPI is difficult to navigate/get to grips with due to its uniqueness, complexity and being dispersed across different locations. It can result in one site having one way of doing things and another a different way. This was something that was raised in the staff survey and there is now a move towards continuous improvement and making sure all sites are working the same way.

The most enjoyable part of working at CPI is the people. People are friendly and helpful. There are also many talented, knowledgeable people at CPI so it is a good place to network and share knowledge from people.

CPI's original leaders did a great job of building the company during its first decade, but since new leadership has naturally started to take over there's been a remarkable change in culture. The ethos in the company is now very much one of control and power (not innovative at all!), which has resulted in really quite aggressive leadership and management tactics towards staff. Managers generally are more focused on their own careers rather than helping their teams. Regarding pay, the pay grades are completely opaque and unknown to staff. Promotions are put forward by line managers which go to a group of 4 (senior) people; after this there's no clear process how this is done and many believe it's done on how much these 4 people like you. Even if you do get a significant promotion, the associated pay rise is often underwhelming. This clique-style culture expands beyond this and into much of leadership (which is about 40+ people, if you look at the leadership meeting attendee list - lots right?). It's up to the reader if they'd like to join CPI, but it's probably best for those who have an already established career who are looking to move into the public sector.

The work is varied, although there is no planning, organisation and communication is horrendous. You'll do well if you like to work in chaos! They are trying to improve the culture however Redcar requires a significant overhaul of its staff.
Lots of job creation for those at a senior level.

They claim to care about health but there is no flexible working, they might advertise health initiatives as long as they don't cost money and its breast cancer awareness scheme they can piggy back. 
Depending on your manager you can negotiate flexible working, and diverse tasks, the rest of us have rigid rule and inflexibility and zero opportunity to progress.

There are opportunities to get involved with placement students, secondments across sites, plenty of training opportunities if you are prepared to search and prepare lots of justifications.

Pay rises based entirely on performance, no factor for inflation. Left in 2024 after even top performing bracket was a real terms pay cut. 

No clarity in what is required for promotion, all criteria written in corporate jardon, and interpretation different manager by manager. 

Loved the people on my team and was sad to leave them. 
Heard through the grape vine there was mass layoffs at end of 2024, but people given settlements so wasnt classed as "redundancies".

I dont recommend CPI for lab based roles, anyone who grafts in the lab doesnt get the visibility by management to get promotions

CPI has potential to be what the UK needs, but unfortunately in my opinion fails to deliver at every level for what the UK industry needs

There is the capability to earn a good wage, which may seem good, but does not lead to job satisfaction.

The workers tend not to gel well and there is a lot of bitterness at all levels, but an apathy to create change for the greater good.

I would say it is a good first job for someone out of university but not a career if you take pride in what you do.

Loads of different projects to work on, everyone is friendly and very helpful and can work from home if you have no lab based work that day. I would say salary falls behind just a bit and it seems like stress increases as you move up the ladder. 

Exciting range in projects to work on, great flexibility for work life balance and development opportunities are there when you push for your own development and have a good manager. Benefits such as maternity packages etc could be improved and base salary for research based roles.

The company is a good place to work, with different and interesting projects run in the fermenters.
These fermenters range from 5 - 10,000  L and have had fermentations producing enzymes, antibiotics, alcohols, pesticides and other diverse products.  You don't know what will 'come through the door next'.

Excellent management team
Friendly environment 
Always working on new projects
Opportunities to work with various partners e.g. universities
opportunities for collaboration with the centres

Varies massively from site to site, such as atmosphere and environment- as well as workload.
If you get a good manager, the place is great to work- lots of opportunities, progression and varied projects.
If you don't, it can be stale and sometimes it is cliquey/ favourity.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Scientist 8 salaries reported	£27,155 per year
Senior scientist 8 salaries reported	£40,338 per year
Project manager 4 salaries reported	£38,737 per year
Research scientist 9 salaries reported	£31,556 per year
Senior research scientist 4 salaries reported	£39,775 per year

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