Plant Metabolic Engineer for Decarbonised Biosynthesis

Ellison Institute of Technology; Oxford; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary dependent on experience

25 days annual leave + bank holidays +

Pension 7.5%

Private Medical Insurance

Cycle to Work Scheme

Life Assurance

Employee discounts

Innovation incentives

Job summary

Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford seeks a Scientist to join the Cell Based Production programme. The successful candidate will advance plant specialised metabolism engineering, taking projects from discovery to scalable production of plant-derived products for health and medicine.

The role requires a PhD and strong experience in plant metabolism, analytics, and synthetic biology, with IP awareness and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams to drive real-world impact.

Qualifications

• PhD in Biochemistry, Plant Biology, Biotechnology or related discipline.
• Strong background in plant specialised metabolism.
• Experience in specialised metabolite analytics.
• Experience in plant metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to modify outputs.
• Proficiency in applying advanced plant biotechnology approaches to interrogate and reprogram metabolic networks.

Responsibilities

• Design and conduct research focused on understanding and engineering plant specialised metabolism in plant cell cultures to produce high-value plant natural products with applications in health and medicine in a highly collaborative environment.
• Develop and apply novel engineering and synthetic biology strategies to optimise biosynthetic pathway flux and product tolerance.
• Collaborate with EIT Oxford AI and Robotics teams to establish model-driven engineering and rapid iteration of engineering cycles.
• Drive rigorous experimental design, execution, and data interpretations, ensuring robust and reproducible scientific outcomes.
• Deliver research progress through stage gated milestones.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to incorporate cutting edge research techniques into experiments.
• Present scientific work at seminars within EIT and at external meetings, including contributing to discussions on developments within the field.
• Recognise and act on opportunities for the creation of IP and cooperating in patent protection and in impact delivery.
• Conduct research ethically, in compliance with EIT policy, regulatory guidance, and best scientific practice.

Skills

Plant metabolism

Metabolite analytics

Synthetic biology

Metabolic engineering

Automation & robotics

Education

PhD in Biochemistry/Plant Biology/ Biotechnology

Tools

Mass spectrometry

Automation platforms

Job description

Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford seeks a Scientist to join the Cell Based Production programme. The successful candidate will advance plant specialised metabolism engineering, taking projects from discovery to scalable production of plant-derived products for health and medicine.

The role requires a PhD and strong experience in plant metabolism, analytics, and synthetic biology, with IP awareness and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams to drive real-world impact.