Principal Scientist - Computational Biology

Company Description

Syngenta Crop Protection is a leader in agricultural innovation, bringing breakthrough technologies and solutions that enable farmers to grow healthy and nutritious food while taking care of the planet. We offer a leading portfolio of crop protection solutions for plant and soil health, as well as digital solutions that transform the decision-making capabilities of farmers. Our 17,900 employees serve to advance agriculture in more than 90 countries around the world. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and is part of the Syngenta Group.

Our employees reflect the diversity of our customers, the markets where we operate and the communities which we serve. Regardless of your position, you will have a vital role in safely feeding an ever-increasing population while taking care of our planet. Join us and help shape the future of agriculture.

Syngenta’s Crop Protection Bioscience function contributes to the innovation of safe crop protection solutions through a deep understanding of biology. This detailed understanding of mode of action, resistance and bioprocessing is used to enhance product performance and sustainability. We collect a wide range of data across Bioscience and our digital teams employ a combination of advanced analytical techniques, including statistical, and machine learning models to support data-driven decision making.

Job Description

In Crop Protection Bioscience function we have an exciting opportunity collaborate with scientists across the Crop Protection business to build a vision of how to approach future challenges in crop health management using a digital first mindset. As a Principal Scientist in Computational Biology you will analyse ’omics data (genomics, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic) to derive insights and support advances in future product development. You will help with experimental design, asses the quality of data generated, develop and apply bioinformatics workflows, teach individual scientists how to use them and how to interpret the outputs, while supporting innovation, science and technology to deliver strategy. Key responsibilities will incldue:

• Learn and understand the Bioscience data landscape, key data attributes and experimental capabilities to identify opportunities for enabling and enhancing our science through the deployment of multi-omics approaches.
• Research and apply state of the art computational approaches to address challenges.
• Evaluate and develop new data analysis tools, validate and effectively communicate findings to technical/non-technical audiences.
• Identify data needs and provide recommendations to scientists, while ensuring the quality and data integrity.
• Work collaboratively to deliver and deploy new approaches, share learning, and drive innovation including technology foresight.

Qualifications

What we are looking for?

• MSc/PhD (or equivalent experience) in natural sciences with focus on data analyses and data integration of (multi) ’omics data, data science and/or machine learning.
• Postdoctoral experience in life sciences research or experience in an R&D environment would be a plus.
• A good understanding of experimentally derived biological data, data types and appropriate analytical methods, including multivariate statistics.
• Confidence in building, validating and testing machine learning models.
• Thorough understanding and hands-on experience with Python, R bioinformatics and data analysis packages used for ‘omics data analysis and data visualization.
• Familiarity with data and knowledge driven multi-omics integration techniques.
• Experience with shell scripting, version control systems and creating reproducible digital workflows.
• Awareness of and willingness to engage with new omics technologies (single cell sequencing and spatial omics, with the interest in in applying genomic large language models and knowledge graphs to discovery research.

Additional Information

Our site

Jealott's Hill International Research Centre UK is situated in pleasant semi-rural surroundings between Bracknell and Maidenhead and is the place of work for approximately 800 Syngenta scientists and support staff. Jealott’s Hill is one of the main global research and development sites and key activities include research into discovery of new active ingredients, new formulation technologies, product safety and technical support of our product range.

What we offer

• Extensive benefits package including a generous pension scheme, bonus scheme, private medical & life insurance.
• Up to 31.5 days annual holiday.
• We offer a position which contributes to valuable and impactful work in a stimulating and international environment.  
• The chance to work as part of a global team to address the current and future needs of the agricultural sector and help feed an ever-increasing population.
• A vibrant growth and learning culture and wide range of training options.

Syngenta has been ranked as a top 5 employer and number 1 in agriculture by Science Journal.

Syngenta is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in recruitment, hiring, training, promotion or any other employment practices for reasons of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital or veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. Learn more about our D&I initiatives here: https://www.syngenta.com/careers/working-syngenta/diversity-and-inclusion

Jealott’s Hill has Disability Confident certification.

We are committed to making all stages of our recruitment process accessible to all candidates and our Jealott’s Hill site are a Disability Confident Level 2 Employer. Please let us know if you need any assistance or reasonable adjustments throughout your application and we will do everything we can to support you.