About Moa
Moa Technology is an innovative and rapidly growing crop protection R&D company.
Our mission is to create a new generation of safe, effective and affordable herbicides to help farmers produce high quality food for all. Our team of passionate and talented scientists, technicians, and operational staff uses disruptive proprietary technologies to quickly and accurately discover novel modes of action capable of breaking weed resistance to herbicides.
At the heart of our company are the Moa values which guide our work and our behaviour: determined, empowering and transformative.
The role
This is a full time role at either Junior Scientist or Associate Scientist level (depending on your experience) in our High Throughput Screening (Galaxy) team in Oxford, playing a crucial role in executing manual and automated in vivo high throughput screening assays for the identification of molecules with herbicidal activity using liquid handling robots. The team conducts high throughput screening testing up to 25,000 compounds a month on tiny living plants to establish if each compound is effective and may have a novel herbicide mode of action.
You will be responsible for working in a busy HTS laboratory to conduct compound screening and profiling, using state-of-the-art liquid handling robots and imaging tools. Your role will be laboratory based with responsibilities including:
- Day to day running of liquid handling robots for screening
- Using standardised protocols on state-of-the-art high content microscopy imaging tools
- Providing support to users of HTS instrumentation.
- Maintaining accurate and timely records of laboratory work (e.g. electronic lab notebooks).
- Clearly communicating results, successes and issues.
- Executing objectives and targets agreed with management and team leads, delivering work efficiently and effectively in line with company goals.
- Following written or established protocols under appropriate supervision, carrying out routine experiments accurately and making basic interpretations of results.
- Analysing data from established workflows, apply sound judgement to routine next steps, and escalate questions or concerns appropriately.
- Working in accordance with company policies, procedures, health and safety standards, and applicable regulatory or legal obligations.
- Contributing to reports, SOPs, lab meetings etc.
- Working collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams.
- You may also be involved in other activities to help the smooth running of our operations.
Knowledge and experience
Required
- At the Junior Scientist level either:
- Degree in biology, biochemistry or a related subject
OR
- A-Levels including Biology with ~1-2 years’ relevant laboratory or industry experience.
- At the Associate Scientist level, where more independence is expected, you will require:
- Degree in biology, biochemistry or a related subject and 1-2 years’ relevant laboratory experience.
- A master’s qualification may be advantageous but is not essential.
OR
- A-Levels including Biology, with 3-4 years’ relevant laboratory or industry experience.
- Good understanding of relevant scientific concepts and principles, with willingness to develop knowledge further through on-the-job learning and training.
- Computer literate with excellent communication skills
- Experience working with various MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, MS Teams/Zoom etc
Desirable
- Experience in plant research
- Experience using high-content microscopes
- Experience working using aseptic technique
- Experience with programming tools such as R and Python
Personal attributes and competencies
- A strong work ethic and willingness to learn on the job.
- A practical problem solver with stamina
- Honesty, openness and a team player mentality.
- Resilience and good organisation skills.
- Courage to question any actions incompatible with our collective values.
- Keenness to evolve with the changing needs of the business on a rapid growth trajectory.
- Willingness and ability to adhere to company ethics, work hours, policies, and standard business etiquette.
- You can:
- Work proactively and increasingly independently in a dynamic team and people from diverse backgrounds.
- Meet deadlines, demonstrating awareness of realistic time requirements for yourself and the team.
- Flag up concerns and come up with proactive solutions.
- Communicate and collaborate to foster open and honest relationships.
- Demonstrate independent thinking within the scope of the role, while seeking guidance where required.
What we offer
- Competitive salary
- Electric vehicle scheme
- Workplace pension scheme where the company will match up to 7.5%.
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Training and Development
- Group Life, Income Protection, and Private Medical Insurance
- 25 days Annual leave
- Additional Annual leave purchase scheme
- Bike2Work Scheme
We are committed to building a diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve. We recognise that diverse and inclusive teams build a stronger and more innovative company. Therefore, all qualified applicants will be considered for employment, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion/belief, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or maternity status, or veteran status. Due to the high level of candidates that we receive, we will only contact successful applicants for the interview stage.
How to apply
If you are excited by this opportunity, the work that we do, and the problems we are trying to solve, we’d love to hear from you. Please send an up to date CV with a covering letter explaining why you are interested in the role to [email protected], including the name of the role in the subject header.
We do not use ATS/AI to screen your application and it will be read by a real person.
Please note that you must be eligible to work in the UK, as we are unable to sponsor work permits at this time. Work permits from other organisations are not acceptable as proof of right to work in the UK.
