• Role: Senior Molecular Scientist (DNA barcoding and population genetics)
• Salary: £30k p/a + benefits
• Location: Hybrid- York, UK
• Working pattern: Monday - Friday (Flexi in agreement with line manager)
• Contract: Permanent

SRG are partnered with a leading science company with focus on crop health, food safety and environmental science. They are seeking a Senior Molecular Scientist to join their team.

As a Senior Molecular Scientist, you will play a key role in the development and delivery of science in the Detection and Surveillance Technologies (DST) team. You will be primarily responsible for the effective delivery of project work using DNA barcoding to identify plant health pests and pathogens to species, and phylogenetic and population genetic analysis to investigate movements of pests and pathogens. This role will involve laboratory work (DNA extractions, PCRs, troubleshooting), desk-based analyses (phylogenetic tree building, population genetic analysis to e.g. identify population structure, population admixture, kinship analysis) and report and paper writing. There will also be the opportunity to contribute to other projects across the team and Business.

What you'll be doing

• Deliver on projects, including planning, conducting experiments, analysing data and contributing to project reports.
• Undertake DNA sequence analysis to deliver DNA barcoding results, including working Sanger sequence data, generating sequence alignments and tree building, using external databases such as GenBank, Q-Bank and BOLD to generate species identifications, and consulting the relevant scientific literature.
• DNA alignments and phylogenetic analysis based on tree-building, with an understanding of different methods used for these.

• Population genetic analysis to inform on pest population distributions and potential routes of movement. This may include population structure analyses, population admixture, and kinship analysis. Markers used may be microsatellites, SNPs, and you may be involved in marker choice.
• Offering guidance, expertise, and support to fellow staff members within the area of knowledge.

• Liaising effectively with customers to ensure projects are delivered to their satisfaction.

• Preparing and delivering talks, presentations and training to visitors, colleagues, external customers and at national/international conferences.
• Contribute and lead bid writing and develop scientific project ideas.

What we're looking for

• A BSc/MSc in a relevant subject with 3+ years' experience or a PhD and 1+ years' experience. PhD grads also encouraged to apply.
• Self-motivated scientist with an ability to deliver project work to cost, time and quality requirements.
• Experience in, and an in-depth knowledge of nucleic acid-based diagnostics, DNA sequence analysis, and population genetic analysis.
• Proven experience and knowledge of generating sequence alignments and tree building, with some understanding of the pros and cons of particular alignment or tree building tools.
• Experience and understanding of the informed use of external databases such as GenBank, Q-Bank and BOLD to identify DNA reference sequences to species, and how to consult the relevant scientific literature to verify these.
• A background (theoretical or applied) in population genetic analysis, willingness to test out new analytical approaches.
• Proven experience of report-writing, strong data analysis and presentation skills.
• An ability to engage with various stakeholders and communicate work effectively and with clarity, both verbally and written.

Carbon60, Lorien & SRG - The Impellam Group STEM Portfolio are acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.