Strain Development Scientist - Scale-Up Biotech for Crops

Leiden Bio Science Park; Oegstgeest; On-site; EUR 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel allowance

Training budget

25 vacation days

Job summary

Bionomic, based at Leiden Bio Science Park, seeks a hands-on Strain Development Scientist to advance Bacillus production strains from lab to scalable production. You will design, modify and screen strains, applying data-driven experiments to improve titer, yield and robustness.

Requirements: MSc/PhD in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, Synthetic Biology, or related field, with 2–5 years in industrial biotech or microbial R&D.

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, Synthetic Biology, or related field.
• 2–5 years of relevant working experience in industrial biotechnology, microbial production, or applied microbial R&D.
• Strong track record in Bacillus strain engineering for microbial production, including construction, modification, and screening of production strains.
• Experience with bacterial genetic engineering and strain-design experiments, troubleshooting, and translating data into next steps.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

Responsibilities

• Design, construct, and screen Bacillus production strains using chromosomal integration, knockouts, promoter engineering, genome editing, and pathway optimisation.
• Improve strain performance for titer, yield, robustness, and reproducibility through well-designed experiments and statistics.
• Evaluate promising strains under production-relevant conditions and collaborate with fermentation teams for bioreactor validation.
• Troubleshoot bottlenecks and translate findings into pragmatic next experiments.
• Help build a systematic strain-development workflow with screening, libraries, and iterative design-build-test-learn cycles.
• Maintain clear experimental records and communicate findings across R&D and external partners.

Skills

Bacillus strain engineering

Data-driven experimentation

Strain development

Hands-on lab skills

Communication in English

Education

MSc/PhD in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, Synthetic Biology

Tools

Chromosomal integration

Knockouts

Promoter engineering

Genome editing

Cloning

Sequencing

Job description

Bionomic, based at Leiden Bio Science Park, seeks a hands-on Strain Development Scientist to advance Bacillus production strains from lab to scalable production. You will design, modify and screen strains, applying data-driven experiments to improve titer, yield and robustness.

Requirements: MSc/PhD in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Bioengineering, Synthetic Biology, or related field, with 2–5 years in industrial biotech or microbial R&D.