Job Description

I’m excited to share that my team at EMBL has two open positions! 🚀
Alongside the Mathematical Modeling Specialist role, we are now also looking for a Scientific Community Manager

👉 https://embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/details/Scientific-Community-Manager_JR2392

This is a position close to my heart: it was the role I held before becoming team lead, and I’m especially joyful to see it reopen. It’s a unique opportunity to help build a collaborative environment, connect scientists across disciplines, and shape how data and knowledge flow in our community.
I know from experience that this job can be both impactful and transformative, and I can’t wait to see a diverse pool of applicants bringing their perspectives and ideas to it.
If you’re curious, passionate about science support, and enjoy bringing people together this might be the right place for you. Please consider applying, even if you don’t feel you check every single box.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lisanna-paladin-3913b6102_scientific-community-manager-activity-7376863359129841665-sNl3?

EMBL is Europe’s flagship research laboratory for the life sciences – an intergovernmental organisation with more than 110 independent research groups and teams performing scientific research in disciplines including molecular biology, physics, chemistry, and computer science. We are an international, innovative, and interdisciplinary laboratory with approximately 2,000 employees from many nations, operating across six sites: Heidelberg, Barcelona, Hinxton, Hamburg, Grenoble, 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.

The Data Science Centre facilitates research advances in data science by offering internal and external services, tools, and resources; developing common representations (data, conventions, workflows); and contributing to training and career development. It collaborates with all EMBL sites to advance training, integrated data management, workflow sharing, AI, public data services, and technical infrastructure.

Within the Centre, the Data Science Internal Support team offers a spectrum of services to researchers, including consulting, training, infrastructure, and community building around computational biology, statistics, data analysis, network analysis, and modelling. The primary audience is EMBL’s personnel, but synergies with external scientific communities and support services extend the team’s impact beyond EMBL.

We are now seeking a Scientific Community Manager to contribute to the engagement of the data science and computational biology community at EMBL, supported by the activities of the Bio-IT project. The role also offers opportunities to collaborate with Theory@EMBL, EMBL’s new AI initiative, and the Office for Scientific Information Management (OSIM), and the ARISE2 programme, ensuring that community activities connect with cutting-edge developments in theoretical biology, artificial intelligence, Open Science, and research infrastructures and core facilities education.

Your role

The successful candidate will work as part of the Data Science Internal Support team, and closely collaborate with other teams in the pan-EMBL Data Science Centre. 

You will:

• Play a key role in shaping the training programme, work with the community to identify new training needs and collaboratively develop materials and resources.
• Deliver or coordinate the delivery of consulting and training in computational research skills, with an emphasis on Statistics, Data Science, and possibly Machine Learning/AI.
• Collaborate with EMBL’s broader training ecosystem, i.e. EICAT (including the CCO), and the EBI Training Team, to align activities, share best practices, and support a coherent training strategy across EMBL sites.
• Disseminate relevant information throughout the community, also aiming at creating connections between community members.
• Develop and maintain resources and supporting infrastructure, e.g. shared coding platforms, scientific projects repositories, tools for collaboration. 
• Actively connect with key members of the broader scientific community to strengthen collaborations across EMBL and beyond.
• Foster engagement with strategic EMBL initiatives, including Theory@EMBL, the new AI initiative, OSIM, and ARISE2, to align community-led training and events with infrastructure innovation and open research trends.
• Collaborate with partners such as de.NBI, ELIXIR, and European Commission–funded projects, as well as communities like The Carpentries, CodeRefinery, Open Life Science, Bioconda.

This is a highly collaborative role with significant scope for self-determination, providing opportunities to shape the strategy and direction of the project according to both your interests and community needs.

You have

• PhD or equivalent experience in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Statistics, Data Science, or related fields.
• Working knowledge of multiple programming/scripting languages (e.g. Bash, Python, R) and scientific computing concepts (version control, cluster computing, workflow management, etc.).
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
• Keen interest in teaching scientific computing and data science skills.
• Willingness to lead community-oriented initiatives.
• Interest in learning from other research communities of practice.

You might also have

• Experience organising computational training courses/workshops/study groups.
• Demonstrated experience and/or formal qualifications in teaching computational research skills (e.g. Carpentries and/or RStudio instructor certification).
• Qualified experience with scientific community engagement/management.
• Project management experience.
• Experience with designing or maintaining websites (e.g. WordPress, GitHub/GitLab Pages).
• Social media/blogging experience.

Application instructions

Please apply online through www.embl.org/jobs, with:

• Your Curriculum Vitae following EMBL guidelines for impact narrative CVs. 
• A cover letter, including a 150-word statement on training: which topics you are qualified to teach and in which formats, drawing on your experience.
• Provide links (in the CV or cover letter) to code or data repositories that you curated, or training activities you led, as examples of your work.

Contract length: 3 years (renewable up to 9)

Salary: Grade 5 (monthly salary starting at €4,031.02 after tax and before 12,05% EMBL social security deductions) + other paid benefits based on personal circumstances

Additional Information

EMBL is an inclusive, equal opportunity employer offering attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation. The remuneration package comprises a competitive salary, comprehensive pension scheme, medical, educational and other social benefits. An excellent childcare facility is available on campus.

Why join us

EMBL is curiosity-driven, community-oriented and international. As an inclusive, equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity enables us to collaborate more effectively and be innovative in our approaches. We are, therefore, committed to creating an inclusive and flexible culture – one where everyone can realise their full potential and make a positive contribution to our organisation. 

We encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing team – we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and personal experiences reflect the diversity of the populations that our science serves. We actively encourage applications from all genders and cultures, ethnic groups and all demographics to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights at this transformational point in our people strategy.

Enjoy lots of benefits:

• Financial incentives: Salary free of income tax, Monthly family, child and non-resident allowances, annual salary review, pension scheme, death benefit, long-term care, accident-at-work and unemployment insurances
• Flexible working arrangements
• Private medical insurance for you and your immediate family (including all prescriptions and generous dental & optical cover)
• Generous time off: 30 days annual leave per year, in addition to public holidays
• Relocation package including installation grant (if applicable)
• Campus life: Free shuttle bus (select sites), on-site library, subsidised on-site gym and cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)
• Family benefits: Kindergarten (Heidelberg), 10 days of child sick leave, generous paid maternity/parental leave and monthly family & child allowances
• Benefits for international newcomers: Visa exemption, education grant for private schooling, financial support to travel back to your home country every second year and a monthly non-resident allowance.
• For detailed information please visit our employee benefits page here

What else you need to know

• International applicants: We recruit internationally and successful candidates are offered visa exemptions. Visit our International Applicants page, to find out more.
• EMBL is a signatory of DORA. Find out how we apply DORA principles to our recruitment and performance assessment processes here.
• Diversity and inclusion: At EMBL, we strongly believe that inclusive and diverse teams benefit from higher levels of innovation and creative thought. We encourage applications from women, LGBTQ+ & individuals from all nationalities. 
• How to apply: To apply please submit a cover letter and a CV through our online system. Applications will close at 23:59 CET on the date shown below. We aim to provide a response within two weeks after the closing date.

Closing Date12/10/2025