Research Assistant (Re2)

Barcelona Supercomputing Center; Barcelona; On-site; EUR 40,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Restaurant tickets

Private health insurance

Relocation procedures support

Flexible working hours

Training plan

Job summary

Barcelona Supercomputing Center’s TechBioLab seeks an experienced administrator to support the Principal Investigator, coordinate complex research projects, and liaise with legal and external collaborators. The role ensures smooth operation of the Life Sciences Department’s projects and timely execution of milestones.

Responsibilities include organizing meetings, tracking resources, and maintaining clear documentation while working with multidisciplinary teams in a high-profile federated data

Qualifications

• Experience coordinating and managing research projects, including administrative and technical support roles.
• Familiarity with funding mechanisms, grant writing, and project proposal preparation in national and international research programs.
• Proven ability to work with multidisciplinary teams.
• Fluency in English and Spanish is essential, both written and spoken.

Responsibilities

• Support the Principal Investigator (PI) by managing administrative and technical tasks, ensuring efficient project execution and alignment with strategic goals.
• Assist in planning resource allocation and tracking the progress of research projects involving multiple partners.
• Act as a liaison between the PI and BSC legal services, researchers, and external collaborators to facilitate communication and coordination.
• Organize and participate in project meetings, teleconferences, reviews, and other relevant events, ensuring effective follow-ups and documentation.
• Maintain communication with project stakeholders, including participation in regular meetings and discussions to ensure alignment with project objectives.
• Provide essential administrative support of TechBioLab members to ensure the laboratory operates smoothly and efficiently.

Skills

Project coordination

Grant writing

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Communication in English/Spanish

Education

University Degree

Tools

Project specifications

Job description

Context And Mission

The Technologies for Biomedical Research Lab (TechBioLab) is part of the Life Sciences Department of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and brings together specialised teams with a focus on developing infrastructures that support Life Sciences research. This includes software components for bioinformatics, research data management – especially in healthcare – and scientific and technical benchmarking of research software in close collaboration with various communities and projects. Special attention is given to technological developments enabling the analysis of sensitive data in federated settings. Complementing these efforts, the Lab also contributes to the development of Trusted Research Environments that enable the use of research data on single sites under specific, configurable usage conditions.
The Laboratory also coordinates the Spanish National Bioinformatics Institute (INB). The INB is the major bioinformatics platform in Spain and represents the Spanish node of ELIXIR. ELIXIR is a pan-European organization founded in 2014 which aims to integrate and harmonize European bioinformatics infrastructures. ELIXIR coordinates the participation of more than 22 countries; engages with other strategic European initiatives and projects, ESFRI, Research Data Alliance, EUDat, and EGI; promotes specific training activities and workshops on ELIXIR resources, partners with industry, and plays a key role in shaping the bioinformatics landscape.
Since 2018, the INB has two overarching objectives: to deepen the alignment of its activities with ELIXIR, and increase the translational impact of INB actions towards the Spanish National Health System (SNS). For the latter objective, the INB has created and supports the Translational Bioinformatics Network (TransBioNet), which aims to structure, bring together, and work with bioinformatics groups in healthcare settings with a particular focus on the Health Research Institutes (IIS) recognized by the Carlos III Institute of Health (ISCIII).
The INB also coordinates the Data Science programme within the Spanish Infrastructure for Personalized Medicine associated with Science and Technology (IMPaCT in Spanish), which aims to establish an interoperable framework for biomedical data integration and analysis, addressing questions from clinicians through the implementation of computing systems in health environments. This programme will prepare clinical data in Spain for secondary use, including medical imaging, structured and non-structured clinical data and genomics, considering all the legal provisions for each possible use and setting. This programme involves the liaison with diverse stakeholders, including hospitals, the ISCIII, companies in the biomedical sector, the Spanish Medicines Agency and biomedical researchers, among others. All developments will be aligned with the European initiatives in the area, including those from ELIXIR, 1+Million Genomes, the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health and data-sharing projects such as FAIR4Health, HealthyCloud and TEHDAS. The INB manages a portfolio of bioinformatics resources, including platforms, databases, individual tools and web-services. This portfolio, known as Service Delivery Plan (SDP), constitutes the scientific-technical contribution of Spain to ELIXIR.
The candidate will join a dynamic Life Sciences department team, working in the highly cooperative, multidisciplinary, distributed context of ELIXIR and INB (Spanish National Bioinformatics Institute/ELIXIR-ES) and related national initiatives.

Key Duties

• Support the Principal Investigator (PI) by managing administrative and technical tasks, ensuring efficient project execution and alignment with strategic goals.
• Assist in planning resource allocation and tracking the progress of research projects involving multiple partners.
• Act as a liaison between the PI and BSC legal services, researchers, and external collaborators to facilitate communication and coordination.
• Organize and participate in project meetings, teleconferences, reviews, and other relevant events, ensuring effective follow-ups and documentation.
• Maintain communication with project stakeholders, including participation in regular meetings and discussions to ensure alignment with project objectives.
• Provide essential administrative support of TechBioLab members to ensure the laboratory operates smoothly and efficiently.

Requirements

• Education
  • University Degree (some relation with Life Sciences and/or IT will be an advantage).
• Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience
  • Experience in coordinating and managing research projects, including administrative and technical support roles.
  • Familiarity with funding mechanisms, grant writing, and project proposal preparation in national and international research programs.
  • Proven ability to work with multidisciplinary teams.
• Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience
  • Background in bioinformatics is an advantage.
  • Experience in developing project technical specifications.
  • Experience coordinating research proposals and projects funded by the European Commission’s Framework Programme, the Spanish Plan Estatal, or bilateral contracts with companies.
  • Fluency in English and Spanish is essential, both written and spoken.
• Competences
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Ability to understand scientific literature and software documentation.
  • Strong organizational skills, ability to work autonomously, and take initiative.
  • Capability to represent the team in international project meetings.
  • Ability to work under pressure and meet strict deadlines.
  • Ability to support others, engagement and community building.

Conditions

• The position will be located at BSC within the Life Sciences Department
• We offer a full-time contract (35h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
• Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
• Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
• Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
• Starting date: 16/10/2026