The University of Portsmouth is a global employer of choice where exceptional people create, share and apply knowledge that makes a difference.
Experience the pride of being part of a select group – one of only four universities in the south-east of England to achieve a prestigious Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework. Additionally, we proudly rank among the top 140 universities globally in the Times Higher Young University World Rankings.
Ambition, Responsibility and Openness drive our every endeavour. Join our esteemed institution with a proven track record of success, and where dedication to excellence is key. We want people to make their mark in a professional community that truly values people, innovation, and achievement.
The Role:
The Institute of Life Sciences and Healthcare at the University of Portsmouth are seeking a driven Senior Research Associate to support the Sequencing and Bioinformatics Laboratory as a dedicated bioinformatician. The successful candidate will have a unique opportunity to work on a range of highly impactful genomics-based projects including clinical and environmental microbiology, translational medical genomics, engineering biology, forensics, and paleogenomics.
This role would suit a highly motivated researcher with interests in bioinformatics, data science and visualisation, design of novel analysis approaches, and development of robust pipelines. The successful candidate will have significant opportunities for involvement with cross-disciplinary research projects within and outside of the University, and opportunities to develop a research portfolio of their own.
Whilst we work with data from all sequencing providers, we provide in-house sequencing using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) platforms (MinION, GridION, PromethION P2 Solo, Voltrax). The preferred candidate will demonstrate experience and expertise working with data generated using this cutting-edge technology.
Working under the guidance of the research leader, the SRA will support these projects through a range of activities, including providing dedicated bioinformatics support to users of the facilities (including staff, research students, and external partners), management of requirements for upcoming and existing projects, providing general bioinformatics support and training across the department to facilitate R&I growth, management of data from the ONT sequencers, processing and management of data from sequencing experiments using existing pipelines, development of pipelines and databases in light of updated tools in the literature, management and use of the bioinformatics high performance computing (HPC) server, design of experiments, quality control analyses, qualitative and/or quantitative data collection and bioinformatics analysis, monitoring changes in the field with potential application to research across the laboratory, identification of potential opportunities for collaborative work or grants, and taking a contributing and leading role in the writing of research manuscripts.
The postholder will contribute to the conduct of the research projects, undertake design and implementation of sequencing experiments, and contribute to the analysis of the data in conjunction with other members of the project team. You may be required to manage the progress of the project in line with the project terms of reference. The postholder will contribute to writing papers for research journals and material for publications and to the growing research culture and wider academic work of the School.
The interviews are currently anticipated to be held on 29 September 2026.
This appointment is a fixed-term contract until 30 April 2028.
For internal candidates it may be possible to apply for this role under the Secondment Policy . If you wish to apply as a secondee, you must have approval of your line manager in advance of submitting your application form. Please confirm in your application that your line manager has approved this.
If you have any queries regarding this position, please Professor Sam Robson at [email protected]
Discover the advantages of joining our university. We offer a range of attractive benefits and opportunities to enhance your work experience:
- Competitive salary, including incremental progression within your scale.
- Generous pension scheme.
- Generous leave entitlement of 32–35 days a year, plus bank holidays, and an additional Christmas closure.
- Family-friendly policies supporting flexible working.
- Staff discounts and loyalty schemes.
- Staff car parking and discounted public travel.
- Excellent training and development opportunities.
- Staff wellbeing programmes.
- Recreation facilities, including discounted gym membership, food on campus schemes, use of the Library and staff social activities.
- Discounted learning.
- Start-up business mentoring from expert entrepreneurs via our Entrepreneurs in Residence programme.
- The perks don’t stop there - click ‘apply’ for further information on My Reward and Benefits
Salary Information:
New appointments will routinely be made to the entry spine point (minimum) for the advertised grade, from where the individual will (in addition to receiving annual cost-of-living-related increases) progress through the pay range to the maximum for the grade, within a reasonable timeframe. This ensures fairness, consistency and transparency in our pay structures. A higher starting salary or market supplement may be available for a truly exceptional candidate when circumstances fully justify a departure from our normal policy.
UKVI Statement
Prior to submitting your application, kindly ensure that you can either demonstrate or acquire the necessary right to work in the UK. If you currently do not possess the right to work in the UK, please be aware that our offer of employment is conditional upon you obtaining it.
ED&I Statement:
We are committed to upholding the University’s values of being ambitious, open and responsible, in an inclusive working environment that promotes dignity and respect.
Please note that this vacancy may be closed earlier than advertised, so early applications are advised.
