Microbial Genomics Bioinformatician

European Bioinformatics Institute; Hinxton; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Relocation package (if required)

Private medical insurance

30 days annual leave

Family allowances

Job summary

EMBL-EBI’s Ensembl Microbes team seeks a skilled bioinformatician to maintain and expand microbial genomes, ensuring accurate annotations and reliable data delivery. You will contribute to pipelines, collaborate across Ensembl subteams, and engage with external partners.

The role includes hybrid working within the EMBL-EBI Wellcome Genome Campus, with opportunities to influence microbial genome annotations and participate in international collaborations.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent in bioinformatics, biology, computer science or related field.
• Prokaryotic/microbial biology knowledge.
• Strong Python, production-quality code.
• Experience building pipelines with Nextflow or Snakemake.
• Relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL), UNIX/Linux, HPC/cloud.
• Genome analysis/annotation tools and formats (FASTA, GFF3).
• Software dev best practices: Git, testing, code reviews.
• Familiar with AI-assisted coding tools and evaluating outputs.
• Excellent English communication, detail-oriented, and independent as well as collaborative.

Responsibilities

• Maintain microbial genomes in Ensembl, load new annotations and diagnose issues.
• Coordinate releases in a release-based environment with Ensembl subteams.
• Evaluate new microbial annotation tools and provide enhanced annotations.
• Contribute to functional annotation pipelines and improve representation.
• Design, build and test efficient technical solutions.
• Create and maintain clear, up-to-date documentation.
• Contribute to code reviews and team meetings.
• Collaborate with EMBL-EBI groups and external collaborators.

Skills

Python

Git

Code quality

AI-assisted coding

English communication

Team collaboration

Education

Master’s degree or equivalent

Ensembl platform experience

Tools

Nextflow

Snakemake

MySQL

PostgreSQL

Unix/Linux

Cloud/HPC

Apache Parquet

Job description

EMBL-EBI’s Ensembl Microbes team seeks a skilled bioinformatician to maintain and expand microbial genomes, ensuring accurate annotations and reliable data delivery. You will contribute to pipelines, collaborate across Ensembl subteams, and engage with external partners.

The role includes hybrid working within the EMBL-EBI Wellcome Genome Campus, with opportunities to influence microbial genome annotations and participate in international collaborations.