Research Scientist - Crop Breeding Optimisation

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Role highlights

• Join CSIRO Agriculture & Food’s Breeding Innovations Group
• Great opportunity to actively foster a collaborative culture, empowering teams to achieve   research excellence
• 3 year fixed term position based at Black Mountain, Canberra

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge. 

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity

We have a dynamic and inclusive team within the Breeding Innovations Group within CSIRO’s Agriculture and Food research unit. We are seeking applicants for the role of Research Scientist – crop breeding optimisation. If you take pride in your interpersonal skills and your ability to apply expertise in statistical machine learning, we would love to hear from you. 

As the Research Scientist, you will develop innovative solutions that address technology gaps, such as landscape scale optimisation of GxE interactions, epistasis and multi-objective breeding to support accelerated crop breeding and pre-breeding platforms for the Australian crops industry. You will be expected to deliver on externally funded research projects, partnering with industry stakeholders and also support internal, strategic innovation toward accelerating genetic gain in crop breeding and production systems.

This position will be based in Canberra, ACT at our Black Mountain site and will be part of a team of other experts in statistical crop breeding. You may be required to travel occasionally as part of collaborations with external partners and to attend domestic and international conferences.

Your high-level duties will include:

• Carry out innovative research of strategic importance to CSIRO that will, where possible, address identified technology gaps and lead to novel and important scientific outcomes with a clear path to impact for the Australian crops industry.  
• Draw on professional expertise, knowledge of other disciplines and research experience to recognise opportunities for innovation and generate new theoretical perspectives by pursuing new ideas or approaches and networking with scientific colleagues across a range of disciplines.
• Work collaboratively as part of a multi-disciplinary, regionally dispersed research team to carry out tasks in support of project objectives.
• Liaise with clients to determine their needs and take personal responsibility for client satisfaction.
• Manage, unify and analyse data using relevant data science techniques according to FAIR principles. Data streams will include canola, wheat and barley genotype and phenotype data as well as pedigree and environmental data sets. This will require close collaboration with members of the team and external partners.
• Other duties as directed

Role particulars

Location: Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT

Salary: AU$114k - AU$123k per annum (pro rata for part-time), plus 15.4% superannuation

Tenure: 3-year specified term

Reference: 99966

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential criteria

• A PhD in statistics, computational genetics (or an equivalent combination of qualifications and research experience) and relevant postdoctoral experience in the fields of Bayesian statistics, statistical machine learning, computational and quantitative biology, statistical simulation and optimisation.
• Demonstrated experience applying statistical machine learning to solve complex multi-objective optimisation problems, including Bayesian evolutionary and Gaussian Process models, linear mixed models and generalised regression models.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake original, creative and innovative research that expands the scale and performance of existing methods by generating and pursuing novel ideas and solutions to scientific research problems.
• Practical knowledge of Australian crop breeding, specifically canola, wheat and/or barley.
• Evidence of advanced programming skills in languages and statistical software packages relevant to biostatistics and bioinformatics (e.g. R, Python, Fortran, Matlab, SAS, Stata or equivalent) and experience in the use of high-performance computer resources and parallel computation.
• Demonstrated skills in handling and analysis of large-scale biological datasets for application in crop genomic prediction and selection to enable landscape-scale optimisation of GxE interactions, epistasis and multi-trait selection. 
• Demonstrated experience handling different types and representations of genomic data (e.g. transcriptome, proteome, genome sequence, SNP), environment and other data modes (image, spectral, time series, spatial and temporal).
• Demonstrated experience working in multidisciplinary teams, handling multiple tasks, and managing time.
• A demonstrated publication history of authorship on high-quality scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and/or reports, grant applications or inventorship on patent applications.

For full details about this role and the desirable criteria, please review the Position Description

Not sure if you meet all the criteria?

While it is CSIRO policy that the successful candidate must meet all the essential criteria, there are many ways to demonstrate this. Don’t let the list discourage you. If you are unsure about applying, please reach out to the contact person in the Position Description. 

Setting you up for success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact your TA Partner and let us know how we can support you.  

Life at CSIRO and flexible working arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO.

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian Citizens, New Zealand Citizens, and Australian Permanent Residents only. Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.   

Child safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy.

How to apply

Please apply online and submit a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and CV that demonstrates your motivation and ability to meet the essential requirements of this role. 

Applications close

4 June 2025, 11:59 pm AEST