Molecular Geneticist (m/f/d) (80-100%)
Location: Zürich, Switzerland
Employment: Contract for 3 years with the option to convert to permanent employment based on excellent performance.
The Swiss Plant Breeding Center (SPBC) is seeking an experienced and versatile Molecular Geneticist. In this role, you will establish and optimize laboratory methodologies to translate genomic data into actionable insights, acting as a bridge between laboratory analyses and breeding decisions at Swiss private and public breeding organizations. Your primary objective is to leverage genomics to accelerate the development of resilient and high-quality crop varieties that are well-adapted to Switzerland. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the building of the SPBC and to be a positive force in the Swiss agriculture and food system.
Key Responsibilities
- Support molecular plant breeding and resistance screenings towards biotic and abiotic stresses across multiple crops to drive breeding program success and increase genetic gain.
- Molecular Marker Development: Design cost-efficient markers and validation experiments with breeders to enable routine marker-assisted selection in breeding pipelines.
- Lab Infrastructure: Design and maintain efficient lab workflows, including scoping and acquiring specialized lab equipment.
- Lab Management and Reporting: Design and execute complex experiments, ensuring all protocols meet stringent quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) standards. Prepare detailed technical reports and standard operating procedures.
- Genomic Analysis: Perform high-throughput DNA extraction and sequencing (NGS), PCR, and genotyping analysis with fast turnarounds.
- Bioinformatics: Build and maintain automated bioinformatics pipelines for processing genomics data, including high-throughput genotyping (SNP Chips, KASP) and genome sequencing (targeted approaches, WGS, RNA-Seq), including creating genome assemblies.
- Stakeholder Engagement and Training: Communicate effectively with stakeholders and train others.
- Innovation: Stay at the forefront of genetic technology to improve internal methodologies.
- Decision Support: Translate complex genomic data into actionable insights for breeding decisions.
Who You Are
- You enjoy lab work, developing and optimizing innovative methods and tools to solve practical scientific challenges in diverse plant species within a complex network of breeding organizations.
- You are an effective communicator who can interact with a wide variety of stakeholders.
- You are motivated by the application of new technologies and methods in practical breeding programs and understand that publishing papers is not the main emphasis for this role.
- You take pleasure in developing efficient lab processes and workflows that can be applied routinely.
- You appreciate sharing your expertise freely and openly.
- You thrive in a small team where everyone supports each other.
Technical Requirements
- Education: PhD (or MSc with >6 years of experience) in Molecular Genetics, Molecular Biology, Molecular Plant Breeding, Bioinformatics, or a related field.
- Laboratory Management: Broad knowledge of efficient laboratory workflows and the ability to coordinate lab equipment acquisition. Experience in good laboratory practice, lab information management software (LIMS), and leading team members in a laboratory setting.
- Genomics: Experience with generating sequencing libraries, genome assembly, alignment, and variant calling. Expertise in molecular cloning, primer design, and cell culture.
- Marker Design: Experience in designing genetic markers to enable marker-assisted selection for important traits.
- Scientific Computing: Experience with R and high-performance computing (HPC), including Linux environments and cloud computing (AWS/GCP).
- Languages: Proficiency in English and German or French.
The Swiss Plant Breeding Center (SPBC) is a newly founded, independent competence and innovation center for plant breeding in Switzerland, supported by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG). Its aim is to strengthen Swiss plant breeding and increase breeding efficiency. The center is tasked with networking the players in breeding and research and transferring research results into practical breeding programs. The SPBC provides breeders with technical support, know-how, and expertise, actively participating in planning and implementing innovations. The organization aligns its services to customer needs, welcomes all crop types and cultivation methods, covers broad areas of expertise through network partnerships, and is engaged in acquiring customer and third-party funding.
Our competencies include molecular genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, quantitative genetics, data analytics, trial design, breeding program design, and digital phenotyping. In all these areas, we focus on supporting breeding organizations to translate research results into routine applications.
Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.