Industrial Microbial Strain Engineer for Enzyme Production

Cranleigh Scientific; Oxford; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

HydRegen seeks a Genetic Scientist – Microbial Strain Engineering for its Biology R&D team in Oxford. You will develop plasmid and microbial strain libraries to support enzyme biocatalyst production and help scale up next-generation biocatalysts.

The role requires hands-on industrial experience in non-GMP microbial genetics, multi-gene expression, and genetic construct design, collaborating with fermentation, analytical science and production teams.

Qualifications

• Proven hands-on industrial experience in non-GMP microbial genetics for enzyme production.
• Practical experience with multi-gene bacterial expression and enzyme-yield optimisation.
• Experience with cloning, DNA assembly and mutagenesis.
• Experience with genome-engineering approaches such as CRISPR/Cas and/or FLP/FRT.
• Experience optimising gene expression and designing genetic constructs.
• Bioinformatics skills relevant to construct design and experimental work.
• High-quality laboratory records and safety documentation.

Responsibilities

• Develop plasmid and chromosomal systems for multi-gene recombinant enzyme expression.
• Identify and engineer genetic targets affecting transcription, translation, and metabolic burden.
• Apply knock-out/knock-in, gene editing, pathway engineering and DNA assembly.
• Optimise promoters, ribosome binding sites, terminators and copy number.
• Design experiments and characterise constructs using PCR, sequencing, and bioinformatics.
• Maintain genetic toolkits, plasmid libraries and strain collections.
• Use data from fermentation and analytics to guide design decisions.
• Prepare SOPs, reports, biosafety records and documentation.

Skills

Microbial genetics

Gene expression optimisation

Cloning & DNA assembly

Genome engineering

Bioinformatics

Laboratory documentation

Data analysis

Independent planning

Education

Bachelor's degree in biology, microbiology, genetics, synthetic biology or related discipline

Postgraduate degree (desirable)

Job description

HydRegen seeks a Genetic Scientist – Microbial Strain Engineering for its Biology R&D team in Oxford. You will develop plasmid and microbial strain libraries to support enzyme biocatalyst production and help scale up next-generation biocatalysts.

The role requires hands-on industrial experience in non-GMP microbial genetics, multi-gene expression, and genetic construct design, collaborating with fermentation, analytical science and production teams.