User Research Officer

1000 European Molecular Biology Laboratory; Hinxton; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 76,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Pension scheme

Wellcome Genome Campus facilities

Job summary

EMBL-EBI on the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridgeshire seeks a role to lead Global Engagement user research and coordinate with data services, training and infrastructure teams.

You will map biodata communities in LMICs, identify gaps, engage stakeholders, and help develop partnerships, ensuring research insights drive resource development.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with biodata services and user communities.
• Ability to gather data resource requirements from audiences and communicate to delivery teams.
• Experience engaging biodata communities in Africa, Latin America and/or SE Asia.
• Ability to synthesize cross-field insights for resource-limited settings.
• Strong written and spoken communication; building relationships.
• Technical understanding of bioinformatics processes or operations.
• Experience breaking down low-resource problems into actionable requirements.
• Experience with communication campaigns and outreach.
• Experience building scientific networks and partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Lead user research within Global Engagement to identify stakeholders.
• Connect stakeholders with EMBL-EBI data resources and training teams.
• Conduct user research in LMICs to capture needs.
• Align work with data service teams and global engagement activities.
• Develop framework for distributed user research and knowledge sharing.
• Provide recommendations for new data resources or engagement channels.

Skills

Biodata services

Stakeholder engagement

Community outreach

Communication skills

Bioinformatics concepts

GitHub

Web development basics

Tools

GitHub

Web development basics

Job description

Your role

Reporting to EMBL-EBI's Deputy Director, funded by Wellcome and working closely with senior colleagues responsible for data services, training, infrastructure development, in this role, you will work alongside colleagues in EMBL-EBI’s Global Engagement programme to:

• Develop a stakeholder map of the current landscape of life science data communities and resources in low and middle income countries, and identify gaps in engagement of biodata communities (including users, contributors, and delivery partners).
• Coordinate outreach to existing and new biodata communities to understand user needs, experiences, pain points and opportunities with respect to the use and development of biodata resources
• Work with EMBL-EBI-based service teams to inform user research and raise awareness of new stakeholders or new needs identified
• Build and share new and specific understanding of global community challenges, identify priority use cases
• Advise the Global Engagement programme on potential collaborations and partnerships

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Leading the EMBL-EBI Global Engagement programme user research to find and engage new key stakeholders communities
• Connecting key stakeholders with EMBL-EBI data resources and training teams
• Running user research activities that enable key stakeholders from low and middle income countries to understand motivations and provide a forum for user needs to be heard
• Ensuring that your work is in collaboration with ongoing activities within EMBL-EBI data service teams and central global engagement activities.
• Developing a framework for distributed user research (some user research will happen within teams responsible for delivering specific resources), expertise and insight sharing with Global Engagement programme
• Proposing, through user research, recommendations for the development of data resources and/or new engagement channels or events

You have

• Familiarity with biodata services and the communities who use them
• Ability to gather data resource requirements from audiences in the Global Engagement programme and communicate these to resource delivery teams
• Experience interfacing with biodata scientific communities in Africa, Latin America, and/or South East Asia
• Ability to combine experiences and intuition across multiple fields to build insights and perspectives adaptable to resource-limited settings.
• Strong communication skills with an appetite for building new relationships, and keeping existing relationships and communities engaged
• You may also have Technical understanding of bioinformatics processes or operations evident through software engineering / web development projects, research/data service experiences, publications and/or GitHub repositories
• Demonstrated ability or experience to deconstruct complex low resource problems into basic units and map these to requirements
• Experience with internal and external communication strategies such as communication campaigns, social media engagements
• Experience building strategic partnerships, or communities, evident through establishing/managing scientific networks and communities

Contract length

Project based contract for 3 years

Salary

Grade 5 or 6 monthly salary from £3,452.05 or £3,861.91 after tax plus generous benefits and financial allowances based on personal circumstances. Excluding personal pension and insurance contributions.

*** We will review applications on a rolling basis and in the event that we identify a suitable candidate sooner, we reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier that the published closing date ***

Why join us

Do something meaningful At EMBL-EBI you can apply your talent and passion to accelerate science and tackle some of humankind's greatest challenges. EMBL-EBI, part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, is a worldwide leader in the storage, analysis and dissemination of large biological datasets. We provide the global research community with access to publicly available databases and tools which are crucial for the advancement of healthcare, food security, and biodiversity.

Join a culture of innovation We are located on the Wellcome Genome Campus, alongside other prominent research and biotech organisations, and surrounded by beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. This is a highly collaborative and inclusive community where our employees enjoy a relaxed atmosphere. We are committed to ensuring our employees feel valued, supported and empowered to reach their professional potential.

Watch this video to see how EMBL-EBI makes an impact.

• Financial incentives: 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 - including hybrid working patterns
• 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 public holidays
• Relocation package including installation grant (if required)
• Campus life: Free shuttle bus to and from work, on‑site library, subsidised on‑site gym and cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)
• Family benefits: On‑site nursery, 10 days of child sick leave, generous parental leave, holiday clubs on campus and monthly family and child allowances
• Benefits for non‑UK residents: 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. Please take a look at our International Applicants page for further information.

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 29/09/2026

Whether you're a scientist, IT specialist, accountant or administrator, you'll help us tackle the challenges of improving human health & biodiversity in the face of climate change on a global scale. Please visit this page to find out more about the benefits at EMBL. No problem. Our special status enables us to hire talented individuals from across the globe. So far we have 76 nationalities. We would love to make it 77!