User Support Bioinformatician (Maternity Cover) Full-time NEW

About the team

We are looking to recruit an enthusiastic User Support Bioinformatician for a maternity cover position, on a time-limited contract of up to 12 months. The role will deliver high-quality user support, training, documentation and relevant AI/LLM applications as part of the European Nucleotide Archive, one of Europe’s leading life science databases.

You will work in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA)-BioSamples Team at the EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI; www.ebi.ac.uk/), located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge (UK).

This is an opportunity to contribute to a world-leading scientific database. You will interact with a diverse range of users and help improve our user experience across the board. Your growing awareness of user needs will help you to contribute to the shaping of our services and innovation around them.

Your role

As part of the ENA-Biomples team, you’ll work as part of a team of existing bioinformaticians, helpdesk staff and developers to deliver the highest quality service to our users. This role’s tasks will include:

• Assisting external users in depositing and validating data, through expert advice on our different web and programmatic submission interfaces;

• Maintaining, updating and refactoring the ENA user facing documentation;

• Working closely with internal teams to improve a “chatbot” LLM for the ENA helpdesk;

• Developing internal dashboards to monitor and optimise responses to our helpdesk using AI tools

Opportunities will be provided for self-growth. These include working in a highly-skilled team on the Wellcome genome campus, a hub of scientific and technical expertise with many trainings and seminars available.

You have 

• A BSc, MSc, or have equivalent experience in biological sciences, computer science, bioinformatics, or a related field

• Planning and delivering on projects

• Understanding of life science data resources

• Experience in using AI tools for coding and automation

• Broad knowledge of molecular biology and sequencing technologies

• Relational database management systems and SQL query language

• UNIX command line operations

• Knowledge of XML format and schema

• Knowledge of JSON format and schema

• Programming in Python or other scripting language

• Excellent oral and written communication skills

• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team

You may also have

• Experience analysing, resolving and responding to helpdesk queries

• Experience working with Github, JIRA and other development management tools

Benefits and Contract Information

• Hybrid working arrangements
• Generous time off: 30 days annual leave per year, in addition to eight bank holidays
• Campus life: Free shuttle bus to and from work, on-site library, subsidised on-site gym and cafeteria, casual dress code, extensive sports and social club activities (on campus and remotely)
• Family benefits: On-site nursery, 10 days child sick leave and holiday clubs on campus 
• Salary: Monthly salary at £3303.40 after tax
• Contract type: Supernumerary – this contract type will be required to pay class 3 National Insurance Contributions (approximately £18.40 a week, please check UK HMRC website).
• Contract duration: This is maternity cover position for 9 months, with the potential to extend up to 12 months.
• International applicants: We recruit internationally and successful candidates are offered visa exemptions. Read more on our page for international applicants.
• Diversity and inclusion: At EMBL-EBI, we strongly believe that inclusive and diverse teams benefit from higher levels of innovation and creative thought. We encourage applications from women, LGBTQ+ and individuals from all nationalities.
• Job location: This role is based in Hinxton, near Cambridge, UK. You will be required to relocate if you are based overseas.

To apply, please submit a covering letter and CV via our online system. Applications will close on 16/07/2026.

Tagged as: Life Sciences