Computational Structural Biologist

KINGS COLLEGE LONDON; London; On-site; GBP 53,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

As a leading institution, King's College London seeks a skilled researcher to provide vital support in structural biology. This role involves training researchers, managing databases, ensuring compliance, and contributing to high-performance computing projects. The successful candidate will work collaboratively to enhance research efficacy and facilitate innovative scientific pursuits.

Benefits

Professional development days

Qualifications

• Extensive experience with structural biology tools.
• Experience in scientific programming and software development.
• Strong documentation practices and familiarity with SOPs.

Responsibilities

• Manage applications to computational providers and develop analysis scripts.
• Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
• Develop and follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

Skills

Communication

Problem-solving

Flexibility

Teamwork

Software Development

Scientific Programming

Education

PhD in structural biology or related field

Tools

CryoSPARC

Relion

Alphafold

Slurm

AWS

Azure

Job description

Organisation/Company KINGS COLLEGE LONDON Research Field Medical sciences Chemistry Engineering Physics Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Leading Researcher (R4) First Stage Researcher (R1) Established Researcher (R3) Country United Kingdom Application Deadline 23 Jul 2025 - 00:00 (UTC) Type of Contract Other Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

About Us

The Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics is situated within the School of Basic & Biomedical Sciences (BMBS) and is part of the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. It is involved in a wide range of fundamental research projects at the interface between biology, biomedicine, chemistry and physics.

The Randall has also seen a recent expansion in the area of structural biology, encompassing cryo-EM, molecular simulations, NMR and X-ray crystallography. Structural biology is a rapidly evolving field, particularly in terms of associated software and hardware, and storage space requirements.

In parallel there’s been an expansion of AI-driven structural biology (e.g. Alphafold, prediction of disease mutations, prediction of molecular interactions).

These projects require specialist knowledge to provide access to, maintain and align research datasets, update essential software, aid data security and adherence to funder storage requirements, ensuring governance compliance and proper usage. Structural biologists at KCL have access to the e_Research/CREATE high-performance computing cluster (HPC) (docs.er.kcl.ac.uk) at King’s and associated research data storage (RDS) managed by e-Research.

About the role

As part of their support role, the successful applicant will be responsible for providing training and guidance to empower researchers to plan, implement, use and manage databases. On behalf of users, the post holder will manage applications to third party computational providers and develop a flexible and interoperable suite of analysis scripts for common applications that are deployable within the KCL compute environment (e.g. e_Research/CREATE) or in third party trusted research environments.

They will also be responsible for developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and ensuring they are being followed and to ensure that data are collected, stored and managed in full compliance with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements (including the General Data Protection Regulation, etc.), as well as all local and research Regulations (Ethics Board Approvals, Database submission, data availability etc.). They will be responsible for coordinating the data management activities within Randall and with the School of BMBS and external entities such as King’s College London IT or information compliance.

The post holder will be based locally with the Randall. e-Research colleagues will provide access and training in both infrastructure deployment and software engineering to maximise the impact of this role and ensure long term skills development.

The post holder will have regular communications with group leaders, senior researchers and other relevant stakeholders (e.g., Facility managers etc.) to ensure support to research. They will ensure that PIs and senior research staff are aware of computing issues which may affect their research programmes. The post holder will work closely with the research teams to ensure that provided solutions meets the needs of the teams.

The post holder will be working on several projects at any one time and will be expected to manage expectations from end users and implement creative time management skills.

The post holder will also be expected to take the lead on department-led funding applications focused on the development of structural biology-focused high-performance data analysis facilities and culture, as well as infrastructure funding; where appropriate the post holder will also lead and/or support similar collaborative efforts more widely across the School, Faculty or College.

This job description reflects the core activities of the role and as the College and the post holder develop there will inevitably be changes in the emphasis of duties. It is expected that the post holder recognises this and adopt a flexible approach to work and be willing to participate in training and to perform any other duties as may be requested from time to time commensurate with grade.

This is a full-time role 35 hours per week, and you will be offered an a fixed term contract for four years from the start date. The earliest start date is 4th August 2025.

This role will be based on site at all times.

Research staff at King’s are entitled to at least 10 days per year (pro-rata) for professional development. This entitlement, from the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, applies to Postdocs, Research Assistants, Research and Teaching Technicians, Teaching Fellows and AEP equivalent up to and including grade 7. Visit the Centre for Research Staff Development for more information.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

• PhD and postdoctoral experience in supporting structural biology projects
• Extensive experience of using, installing and optimising structural biology tools (e.g. CryoSPARC, Relion) including AI-driven software (e.g. Alphafold)
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; ability to accurately document technical details and convey complex information clearly to a variety of stakeholders
• Experience of conducting research with structural biology data and working effectively in a team
• Flexibility and adaptability to navigate change and embrace emerging trends and technologies
• Ability to solve problems and manage a complex case load of projects, making sure the needs of the department are addressed appropriately
• Experience supporting users with no technical knowledge
• Experience of scientific programming
• Project management and process oriented problem solving experience
• Experience of software development and designing data resources for different research applications
• Knowledge of computer programming languages
• Experience of working in a high-performance computing environment (e.g. Slurm) and/or with public/private clouds (e.g. AWS/Azure/OpenStack)
• Evidence of using good documentation practice and in writing SOPs

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit ’ pages.

Interview date is yet to be decided.

Grade and Salary:£53,149 - £62,422 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance

Job ID:118906

Close Date:23-Jul-2025

Contact Person:Prof Maria R (S) Conte

Contact Details:[e-mail]