Chargé.e de recherche en soutien bioinformatique

Introduction

The University of Lausanne is a higher teaching and research institution composed of seven faculties where approximately 14,300 students and nearly 3,800 collaborators, professors, and researchers work and study. Ideally situated along the lake of Geneva, near Lausanne's city center, its campus brings together over 120 nationalities.

Presentation

The Department of Fundamental Microbiology offers a research assistant position in bioinformatics support.

Job information

Expected start date : between 01.09.2026 and 01.11.2026 (flexible)
Contract length:  1 year (renewable for up to 4 years)
Activity rate : 100%
Workplace : University of Lausanne

Your responsibilities

We are looking for a motivated bioinformatician to support the research groups in the Department of Fundamental Microbiology, and in particular, in association with the National Centre of Competence in Research Microbiomes. Combining computational, modeling, engineering and synthetic approaches, the NCCR Microbiomes aims to understand the unifying principles of microbiome functioning, to develop tools to diagnose microbiome status, and to devise strategies to intervene and restore imbalanced microbiomes. The selected individual will (i) establish and implement bioinformatics workflows to analyze microbiome sequencing datasets and provide open data accessibility, (ii) support and guide bioinformatics analysis and data management of NCCR-related projects across research groups, (iii) collaborate with other NCCR Microbiomes groups in development of microbiome data analysis, (iv) carry out their own research in the context of microbiome research.

The selected individual will be integrated in the research group of Prof. Philipp Engel, but will further work in close collaboration with the NCCR data management staff and other NCCR bioinformaticians (e.g. at the ETHZ). We offer a stimulating and international research environment with access to state of the art computational facilities.

About 50% of the work time will be dedicated to providing bioinformatics support for NCCR Microbiomes projects. 10% will be dedicated to teaching NCCR Microbiomes-related Master student courses. The remaining of the working time may be dedicated to personal research within the group of Prof. Engel.

Your qualifications

Candidates should hold a PhD in life sciences with a focus on bioinformatics in the fields of microbial ecology and evolution/microbiome research. A strong background in experimental design, statistics, shotgun metagenomics and microbial genome analyses is mandatory, so is a strong expertise in running and setting up bioinformatics pipeline in HPC environments. Research experience with several different microbiomes (e.g. soil, plant, human, or animal microbiomes) is an asset. Proven experience of UNIX, Python, and R scripting is mandatory.
A good command of the English language, a high personal motivation to collaborate and support research projects, and strong communications skills are expected. 

What the position offers you

Our vision is to carry out research at the forefront of our field, while creating a friendly and inclusive environment, in which young scientists from different backgrounds can strive and feel empowered.
We offer plenty of opportunities for professional training, teaching, networking, outreach, and publishing. 

Contact for further information

Prof. Philip Engel
Phone number : 0041 21 692 5612

Your application

Application deadline: Applications will be evaluated as they are received.

Please include your full application (motivation letter, CV, list of publications and other artefacts (e.g., GitHub or open data pages), and the contact details of two referees in Word or PDF format).
Only applications through this website will be taken into account.

We thank you for your understanding.

Specifications

Click here to view the specifications

Additional information

Seeking to promote an equitable representation of men and women among its staff, the University encourages applications from women.