Bioinformatician (Completing the Plant Tree of Life Project)
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) is a leading plant science institute, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and major visitor attraction. Our mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth. We are working to end the unprecedented extinction crisis and to help create a world where nature is protected, valued by all and managed sustainably. We will achieve these goals by drawing on our leading scientific research, unrivalled collections of plants and fungi, global network of partners, inspirational gardens at Kew and Wakehurst, and our 260 years of history.
RBG Kew is establishing a new benchmark in plant biology by completing the plant tree of life, mining Kew’s collections with novel genomic methods and generating DNA data unprecedented in scale and diversity. Over the past six years, we have assembled genomic data for over half of the 13,600 genera of flowering plants, making them publicly available on-line and using them in an extensive scientific research programme. We have recently secured major new funding and are now building a team to finish the job. We’re looking for a highly motivated, collaborative expert to play a central role in delivering the bioinformatic requirements of the project.
The successful candidate will join an established, vibrant, multi-disciplinary team of scientists. In collaboration with existing project informaticians, you will be responsible for analysing and managing project data, as well as developing software to enable the construction of a complete tree of life for plants.
You will be an excellent bioinformatician or software engineer with appropriate professional experience and a proven background in genomic data manipulation and management, ideally in a research environment. You will have a track record of helping to design and build robust bioinformatics pipelines, with experience of high-performance computing, relevant programming languages (such as Python) and relational databases. Expertise in phylogenomics is desirable but not essential. You will be a proven team player, with the ability and appetite to deliver project outputs, outreach, and to train and support researchers and students as required.
The salary will be £32,000 - £37,000 per annum (pro rata), depending on skills and experience.
This role is based at Kew with the option of regular home working, subject to operational requirements.
Our fantastic benefits package includes opportunities for continuous learning, a generous annual leave entitlement, flexible working to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance, an Employee Assistance Programme and other wellbeing support such as cycle to work scheme and discounted gym membership. We also offer a competitive pension, an employee discount scheme and free entry into a wide range of national museums and galleries, as well as access to our own beautiful gardens at Kew and Wakehurst.
If you are interested in this position, please submit your application through the online portal, by clicking “Apply for this job”. https://careers.kew.org/vacancy/bioinformatician-completing-the-plant-tree-of-life-project-483936.html
We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from all sections of the community. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post.
No agencies please.
In addition to completing the online form, applicants must also upload 1) a letter of motivation and 2) a full CV, including details of publications and software.
