Programme Officer – EMBL International Centre for Advanced Training

European Bioinformatics Institute; Hinxton; On-site; GBP 374,000 - 502,000; Full time

Job summary

EMBL is seeking a skilled administrator to support the EIPP within the Internal Scientific Training Team. You will report to the Fellowship Programmes Lead and work within the Graduate Office to foster a thriving academic community, ensuring well-being and success for PhD fellows.

You will collaborate across departments and with partner universities to manage contracts, registrations and recruitment platforms, while organizing trainings and events for the EIPP.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Life Sciences or 3 years of relevant experience.
• Excellent organisational skills and ability to work independently.
• Strong communication with wide range of stakeholders.
• Ability to handle confidential information and be service-oriented.

Responsibilities

• Serve as dedicated support resource for predoctoral fellows and supervisors; first contact for EIPP concerns.
• Administer contracts, monitor academic requirements and assist with University registration.
• Maintain online platforms for PhD recruitment and student management.
• Promote the PhD programme and recruitments (social media, website, brochures).
• Prepare statistics and Graduate Committee minutes.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders (student body, EMBL faculty, HR, Grants, Communications, IR, OR) and external partners.
• Lead projects to advance the EIPP and organize trainings/events.

Skills

English proficiency

German language

HR experience

Database management

Higher education marketing

Survey design

Data analysis

Education

Ph.D. in Life Sciences

Job description

Training the next generation of scientists is a core mission of the EMBL. EICAT’s Internal Scientific Training team coordinates EMBL’s Predoctoral and Postdoctoral programmes. Both programmes leverage EMBL’s interdisciplinary and dynamic scientific environment and, together with the EMBL Fellows’ Career Service and Fellows’ Complementary Skills programme, provide world class training and career development for our fellows. The EMBL International PhD programme (EIPP) is widely recognized as one of EMBL’s flagship programmes and hosts ca. 220 PhD students across the six sites at any given time.

Your role

You will join EICAT’s Internal Scientific Training Team, reporting directly to the Fellowship Programmes Lead. As a member of the Graduate Office (GO), you will focus on fostering a thriving academic community, ensuring well-being and success of our students, by sharing many of the tasks involved in the day-to-day operations of the EIPP in a collaborative manner with your GO colleagues. In addition, you will contribute to organizing EIPP trainings and events.

You will work closely with the Fellowship Programmes Lead and the Dean of Graduate Studies on EIPP-related matters and cross-cutting topics with other fellowship programmes (e.g., fellows management system, statistics, marketing, impact assessment etc.). You will also interact regularly with other colleagues in the Internal Scientific Training Team.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Serving as a dedicated support resource for predoctoral fellows and their supervisors, being the first point of contact for EIPP-related concerns
• Assuming responsibility for contract administration, monitoring academic requirements and assisting with University registration
• Maintaining online platforms for PhD recruitment and student management
• Promoting the PhD programme and recruitments, including social media campaigns, updating website and brochure content
• Preparing statistics and Graduate Committee meeting minutes
• Fostering communication with EIPP internal stakeholders, such as the student body, EMBL faculty, Human Resources, Grants Services, Communications, International Relations, Office of Resource Development etc.;
• Managing relationships with external stakeholders, e.g., Partner Universities and other collaborators;

Individual responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Working on projects as needed to advance the EIPP programme
• Organizing some trainings and events for the EIPP

You have

You a Ph.D. in the Life Sciences and/or 3 years of relevant experience such as working in a similar position in another organizationYou have previously demonstrated effective organisational skills and the ability to work independently and proactively. Excellent interpersonal skills are essential for this role, as is the ability to establish effective communication channels with a wide range of stakeholders. The ability to pay attention to detail and to ensure that matters are dealt with in a confidential, efficient and timely manner is also required. The position requires a high level of service orientation and a proven ability to work in an international team.

Qualifications should include professional proficiency in English

You might also have

• Proven experience in the human resources sector would be an advantage.
• Relevant experience in establishing and maintaining databases, previous exposure to higher education marketing and practical experience in survey design and data analysis is a plus.
• Fluency in written and spoken German is desirable, as well as fluency in other languages, especially French, Italian or Spanish.

Contract length: 3 years, renewable to a maximum of 9 years.

Salary: Grade 4 or 5, monthly salary starting from EUR 3.812,27 (after tax, and before 12.99% EMBL social security deductions) plus other paid benefits.

Why join us

EMBL is curiosity-driven, community-oriented and international. As an inclusive, equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity enables us to collaborate more effectively and be innovative in our approaches. We are, therefore, committed to creating an inclusive and flexible culture - one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation.

We encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing team – we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and personal experiences reflect the diversity of the populations that our science serves. We actively encourage applications from all genders and cultures, ethnic groups and all demographics to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights at this transformational point in our people strategy.

Enjoy lots of benefits:

• Financial incentives: Salary free of income tax, Monthly family, child and non-resident allowances, annual salary review, pension scheme, death benefit, long-term care, accident-at-work and unemployment insurances
• Flexible working arrangements
• Private medical insurance for you and your immediate family (including all prescriptions and generous dental & optical cover)
• Generous time off: 30 days annual leave per year, in addition to public holidays
• Relocation package including installation grant (if applicable)
• Campus life: Free shuttle bus (Heidelberg), library, subsidised on-site cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)
• Family benefits: Kindergarten (Heidelberg), 10 days of child sick leave, generous paid maternity/parental leave and monthly family & child allowances
• Benefits for international newcomers: Visa exemption, education grant for private schooling, financial support to travel back to your home country every second year and a monthly non-resident allowance.
• For detailed information please visit our employee benefits page here

What else you need to know

• International applicants: We recruit internationally and successful candidates are offered visa exemptions. Visit our International Applicants page, to find out more.
• EMBL is a signatory of DORA. Find out how we apply DORA principles to our recruitment and performance assessment processes here.
• Diversity and inclusion: At EMBL, we believe that diverse teams drive innovation and scientific excellence. We encourage applications from candidates of all genders, identities, nationalities and/or any other diverse backgrounds.

Closing Date

15/09/2026