Data Scientist for Imaging and Omics

The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s life sciences laboratory – an intergovernmental organisation with more than 110 independent research groups and service teams covering the spectrum of molecular biology.  It operates across six sites in Heidelberg (headquarters), Barcelona, Cambridge, Grenoble, Hamburg and Rome.  Our mission is to perform basic research in molecular biology; train scientists, students and visitors at all levels; offer vital services to scientists in the public and private sectors within the member states; develop new instruments and methods; and engage actively in technology transfer. EMBL stands at the forefront of innovation in biological research.  Renowned for our leadership in genomics, we offer an environment enriched with cutting-edge research, technology development, and advanced services.  

EMBL Barcelona is a research unit focusing on Tissue Biology and Disease Modelling.  We build tissues to understand them, either in vitro or in silico.  Our unit combines an interdisciplinary mix of approaches, integrating molecular and cellular data with gene circuits, tissue engineering, multicellular omics, 3D mesoscopic imaging and computer modelling.  Our 7 research groups span work on organoids, in vitro vascular models, disease modelling, self-organisation, and computational modelling of multicellular systems, with some of the groups combining both wet-lab and computational research.  Imaging and -omics based approaches are central to our endeavours of building tissues to understand them.

A particularly exciting technological frontier is the intelligent integration of imaging data with omics data, and EMBL is an active innovator in this area.  As part of the newly launched Data Science Centre, we seek to recruit a dynamic and skilled data scientist for shaping integrated imaging and -omics data workflows and advancing data FAIRification platforms and practices.

Your role

The successful candidate will work closely with research and service groups at all EMBL sites to contribute to the development of a local and pan-EMBL solution for integrated image and omics analysis, including management, workflows and core training.  While the position is based at EMBL Barcelona, you will be a fully integrated member of the EMBL Data Science Centre working across its European sites. Occasional travel to other EMBL sites is necessary.

Your duties will include:

• Supporting the implementation and development ofboth local and pan-EMBL pipelines for managing, processing, and utilizing imaging data.
• Developing platforms for integrating imaging with -omics data (such as spatial omics).
• Ensuring that FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles are embedded in our data handling processes.
• Contributing to onboarding and training of research staff to support their data management and analysis needs.
• Facilitating communication and seamless data flow between EMBL and non-EMBL scientists and imaging and genomics platforms.
• Continually exploring new methods, pipelines, and technologies to implement across EMBL initiatives within the image analysis field

You have

We seek a team player with relevant scientific and technical expertise, ready to learn and take responsibility for facilitating data science initiatives and research workflows. The ideal candidate would have a degree in a relevant discipline with multiple years of experience in image analysis, bioinformatics, and data management, and enjoy collaborative interactions across research areas.  Specifically, we seek candidates with:

• Experience building and executing workflows that may include imaging data from multiple modalities: brightfield, fluorescence (widefield, confocal, SPIM), electron microscopy, x-ray CT.
• A strong interest, and potentially prior experience, in handling spatial-omics data.
• Excellent command of Python, R and/or Julia along with standard open source image analysis platforms such as FIJI, BigDataViewer, Napari.
• Strong abilities in cross-disciplinary collaboration, communication, and training.
• The successful candidate is a motivated self-starter with a proven ability to work within a multidisciplinary team environment, and with excellent communication and organizational skills. A high standard of written and spoken English is mandatory. 

You might also have

An existing understanding of omics/genomics data from a computational viewpoint. An interest in facilitating core training for ‘-imaging’ and ‘-omics’ data science will be an asset, as would experience with databases and public repositories for imaging data, and an understanding of image data formats, metadata standards, and FAIR principles. A double or interdisciplinary background in computational science and imaging modalities for biological samples would be considered a plus, as would experience working with -omics data.

*Don’t meet every requirement? We are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply nevertheless.

Contract length: 3 years (renewable up to 9)

Salary: Grade 5 or 6 (salary starting from 3.176,42 EUR monthly after tax, before ~12% EMBL social security dedcutions)

Application Instructions:

Please submit your structured CV along with a cover letter that reflects your own voice and motivation. We are genuinely interested in understanding why you see this as the right next step in your career and whether you are prepared to relocate to Barcelona.